Do I have to match an Audio Note Conqueror 300B power amp with an Audio Note preamp?

Hi ! Must all Audio Note power amp ( e.g Conqueror 300B S.E ) match back wth thier own Audio Note pre amp ? if yes. Whats the advantages ? How to justify ? Whats other pre amp works well wth them ? How to determine whether is the best match ? technically..i have no idea. Currently i am using Conrad Johnson PV10al. I heard this PV10al is a polarity inversion design. Well..how to get the best out of it ? thx..

i was told that audionote's power amp has low gain

so better to use back their preamp

tubejunkie wrote:Hi ! Must all Audio Note power amp ( e.g Conqueror 300B S.E ) match back wth thier own Audio Note pre amp ? if yes. Whats the advantages ? How to justify ? Whats other pre amp works well wth them ? How to determine whether is the best match ? technically..i have no idea. Currently i am using Conrad Johnson PV10al. I heard this PV10al is a polarity inversion design. Well..how to get the best out of it ? thx..

If you want to "undo" the polarity inversion.. there are two ways to do so.

Assuming if u use a CD player/transport & If you have an external DAC, most DACs have the invert feature. Just activate it and it will neutralise the amp's own inversion

Otherwise, the "old fashioned way" is to reverse (or invert) the speaker wires going into the speaker terminals. Do the same for both sides. If your speaker setup is bi-wired, you must do for both woofer & tweeter terminals otherwise you will end up accidentally shorting your amp's output.


Do not electrically invert the interconnect wires between preamp & poweramp at all costs. You'll risk damaging your preamp or poweramp or both.

ya pakleng..i heard of that too..thx. Well, mugenfoo..got ur points. unfortunately i dun hv an external dac yet. but i will try to swap the speaker's cable once i got back my pre amp for service nxt wk.. By the way, what's the sound different between polarity invert and ' out of phase' ? e.g pre amp reverse signal to power amp...it is considered 'out of phase' too ?? but so far my system didn't sound 'out of phase'..thx for sharing..

ok, first of all , for connections between pre-amp to power amp, you must never never never never never disturb or flip them. Bad sh!t will happen.


OK, getting back to the in-phase or out-of-phae. This refers only to "relative phase" between the left & right channels. If one channel is "out of phase" compared to the other, the sound will be really nasty like the noise is buzzing in your head kind of feeling. This happens when one speaker connection is reversed compared to the other speaker.


When you swap BOTH the speaker connections, you are changing the "absolute polarity" of the sound. To hear the difference between the right or wrong "Absolute Polarity" , you will need a damn good system with high enough resolution for you to hear the difference.
If you try both ways and there is no difference in the sound (according to your ears), then don't worry about it and just enjoy the music.

Things to hear out for when u strike the correct "Absolute Polarity". Vocals will sound more airy, & abit more forward. Bass dynamics slightly punchier. I say SLIGHTLY because you really need a decent system to be able to reveal the differences.

mugenfoo wrote:ok, first of all , for connections between pre-amp to power amp, you must never never never never never disturb or flip them. Bad sh!t will happen.


OK, getting back to the in-phase or out-of-phae. This refers only to "relative phase" between the left & right channels. If one channel is "out of phase" compared to the other, the sound will be really nasty like the noise is buzzing in your head kind of feeling. This happens when one speaker connection is reversed compared to the other speaker.


When you swap BOTH the speaker connections, you are changing the "absolute polarity" of the sound. To hear the difference between the right or wrong "Absolute Polarity" , you will need a damn good system with high enough resolution for you to hear the difference.
If you try both ways and there is no difference in the sound (according to your ears), then don't worry about it and just enjoy the music.

Things to hear out for when u strike the correct "Absolute Polarity". Vocals will sound more airy, & abit more forward. Bass dynamics slightly punchier. I say SLIGHTLY because you really need a decent system to be able to reveal the differences.

bro..thx for all the info.. will try it once i got my system back. good day !

good luck...

I matched my Audio Note 300B conquest monoblock with Audio research SP11 preamp and the result is amazing!

nice to hear that. do u use AN speaker ?

solokharimau wrote:I matched my Audio Note 300B conquest monoblock with Audio research SP11 preamp and the result is amazing!

Cool..... driving what speakers may i ask ?

Hi, I use a pair of TAD 2402 horn speaker.I think the best match for SET amp is still horn speakers.And to maximise the full potential of the system ,the choice of valves used in the preamp and power amp is inportant as well.