Pre-amp for iPod?

[pmaier]

Hi,

when I recently tried to hook up my iPod with my stereo (AUX), I could barely hear the music playing. A friend suggested that I should get a pre-amp.

Does anyone have similar experiences?

Philipp

[Pixeldensity]

hmmm, mabye, but the inputs on your stereo shouldn't need a amped signal

[dmt1]

What gen ipod do you have?

If you have a gen2 and are going through the headphone jack, make sure you have the volume on your ipod turned WAY up.

If you have a gen3, DON'T use the headphone jack--use the line out on the dock. It bypasses the ipod's amp, sounds much better than the headphone jack, and bypasses the ipods volume control...

[MikeM]

The aux inputs on my stereo need an amped signal. I use them for my turntable and I have to use a pre-amp because the turntable has no amp.

But the iPod should be able to drive enough power to get a decent volume. If you're sure that you had the iPod volume up and that everything was connected well and without fauly cables, then go for a preamp.

[pmaier]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies. I have a 3rd generation iPod, but unfortunately my PC is not in the same room as my stereo, so using the line out on the dock is not really an option. If I turn the volume on the iPod up, I can hear the music, but as I said it's not very loud.

I'll try a pre-amp...

[NiTRO]

I'd just get another cable and dock. That way cradle your iPod at your PC when you want to and at your stereo system Then you'd be in business for a rather small investment!

[godcha]

If you don't want to use another dock then simply boost the volume of your iPod if you have a 'European' iPod.

I put all my mp3s at 89dB [using MP3Gain] and boost the volume of my [EU]iPod with 40% [using EsspeN's euPOD VolumeBoost] mostly for usage with a headphone.
I also connect it once in a while to my stereo set and noticed indeed that even if the volume of my iPod is maximized I still had to turn up the volume of my stereo set with 20 notches, almost maximized. Boosting the volume of my European iPod was the answer.

[Fundex]

why not use the dock at the stereo, and just use teh cable when pluging it in to the computer??? that seems like a fair idea... or just move the dock with the ipod thats what i do its not as if it is heavy or a hassle

[dmt1]

Yeah, I gotta agree with that....The dock is a true line out and sounds MUCH better than the headphone jack...It's worth moving your dock to the stereo--it doesn't have to be plugged in to the adapter--or buying an extra dock....

[musicpaul]

i have an ipod 120gb not sure what generation it is (2009) i have the same problem that when plugged in to the aux/phono or any input on me cambridge amp, the sound is very week and the volume is turned right up. i think a pre-amp or may be a dock station is the way to go. im researching the docs now as i have no knowledge of them.
P.

[musicpaul]

what about a dock.

[Cold Irons]

I use (or, before I got an AppleTV2, used) an iPod dock. On my older Home Theater system, I had to use a small pre-amp so that I didn't have to crank the HTS amplifier's volume way up. Once I added a small preamp between the dock & the HTS, it all worked OK.

Now, with a newer HTS, it provides a built-in preamp for each of the analog audio inputs - you can set the preamp amount for each input, so don't need my extra little pre-amp.