Accuphase Home Audio Amplifiers & Preamps

Accuphase Home Audio Amplifiers and Preamps

Home audio systems include audio amplifiers and preamplifiers. These units work in tandem to create clear, detailed, and precise sound from any source. Accuphase, an audio-equipment-manufacturing company that was founded in Japan in 1972, offers a range of home audio amplifiers and preamps.

Amplifiers exist in many applications: hearing aids, televisions, phones, and computers all use amplifiers. Home audio amplifiers build sound quality in the home. Whatever the origin of the sound, it begins as a small digital or analog signal. Amplifiers boost the power of the signal to produce a robust sound that is reminiscent of the original sound package. Amplifiers are programmable to enhance the original signal.

To understand the workings of an amplifier, you must understand the property of sound. Sound is air vibration measured in Hertz. The human ear detects vibrations from 20 to 20,000 Hertz. The low and high ranges are harder for the ear to collect and send to the brain. The mid-range Hertz vibrations dominate human hearing. Artists use low- and high-range Hertz to accent mid-range sounds. A home amplifier takes a small signal and adds power to it through the voltage available in a home system. The amplification process is programmable in-home amplifiers by a set of dials. However, the amplifier is limited by the voltage available to use in the amplification process. This limitation potential is called gain. A preamplifier is necessary because it brings the faint low and high ranges to a level at which the gain potential in the amplifier can recreate the accents of the original recording.

A home preamplifier takes a small signal and magnifies the low and high Hertz vibrations to a level that accents the mid-range sounds. The buried Hertz vibrations that make sounds robust suffer from the limitations of the human ear. The purpose of the preamplifier is to release those tiny vibrations so the human ear can translate them into the rich panorama of sound the artist intended. The preamplifier has a separate power source, usually the 120-volt home system, that allows it to select and accent those hidden sounds and move them toward the amplifier as equivalent to the mid-range sounds.

An integrated amplifier for home use is an amplifier unit that contains a preamplifier. An integrated unit does not take up the space of two separate units. Brands like Accuphase offer power amps, which don't have preamplifiers, and integrated models, which do. Often, integrated amplifiers have additional ports for input and output so that they can function as central control points for a home sound system. However, with an integrated system, the preamplifier and amplifier share the power source, limiting gain potential.