ark@rabbit.UUCP (11/02/83)
One of the interesting things about CDs is that, while they have a greater dynamic range than records, there is an absolute upper bound on the output level. There has to be -- you can't get higher than all 1-bits! I would expect the manufacturer to specify this maximum output level as part of the product. Thus, it should not be hard to determine if your amplifier can ever be driven into clipping by a CD. What may be harder is determining if you will clip often. This would depend on the average level of CD recordings, your own listening preferences, speaker efficiency, and so on. To give you an idea of some numbers, my preamp will produce 1.5v output with 200mv input (volume control up full). My power amp will produce full output with 1.75v drive. The input stages will not clip until 10v in. I presume it would be necessary to crank down the volume under those circumstances to prevent the output from clipping, but that doesn't matter because the power amp will clip long before then. I expect these specs are typical of decent preamps. Thus it would appear that the only output level worry you might have with CDs is driving your power amp into clipping. If you have an overload light or level meters, you should be able to determine this pretty quickly.