Can anyone explain how "HT bypass" works on a preamp and why this feature is useful for you?

[maxliii]

HALO P6 Preamp https://parasound.com/products/p6
Emotiva BasX TA2 https://emotiva.com/products/factor...eo-preamp-dac-tuner-with-integrated-amplifier

 

[Chrispy]

LOL would love to see an intelligent explantion of this fantasy, so am tuning into now.

 

[ironmine]

If you have an A/V receiver that decodes fancy modern movie formats, you may want to send the decoded signal from it to your pre-amps HT-BYPASS inputs to make use of your nice audiophile-grade power amps and front speakers.

This will offer a line-level pass thru that can be used to feed your power amps as if the DAC/pre-amp wasn’t there to begin with.

 

[Keith_W]

LOL would love to see an intelligent explantion of this fantasy, so am tuning into now.

???

It's a fairly uncontroversial feature. Let's say you have a 2ch system, and you want to use it as part of your HT. If you connect the PRE OUT on your AVR to an input on your 2ch preamp, it has to go through the 2ch preamp's volume control. A HT bypass feature on your 2ch preamp avoids this. It's the same as connecting the PRE OUT on the AVR directly to the power amp without the inconvenience of swapping cables.

 

[Chrispy]

???

It's a fairly uncontroversial feature. Let's say you have a 2ch system, and you want to use it as part of your HT. If you connect the PRE OUT on your AVR to an input on your 2ch preamp, it has to go through the 2ch preamp's volume control. A HT bypass feature on your 2ch preamp avoids this. It's the same as connecting the PRE OUT on the AVR directly to the power amp without the inconvenience of swapping cables.

Not about controversy, it's just somewhat silly to add another box like that. What is the 2ch box going to do particularly? If I need more amp I add power amps....but another pre-amp, no.

 

[ironmine]

Not about controversy, it's just somewhat silly to add another box like that. What is the 2ch box going to do particularly? If I need more amp I add power amps....but another pre-amp, no.

So, please explain - if you don't use the HT-BYPASS inputs on your DAC/pre-amp, in this case how are you going to watch a movie after you've finished listening to music?

Please explain in detail which actions you are going to have to make with your audio and/or movie setups or which additional audio gear you will have to buy? And how these actions or these additional purchases are not going to be more silly than using the the HT-BYPASS inputs and making use of your existing audio gear?

 

[Chrispy]

So, please explain - if you don't use the HT-BYPASS inputs on your DAC/pre-amp, in this case how are you going to watch a movie after you've finished listening to music?

Please explain in detail which actions you are going to have to make with your audio and/or movie setups or which additional audio gear you will have to buy? And how these actions or these additional purchases are not going to be more silly than using the the HT-BYPASS inputs and making use of your existing audio gear?

I just use my avr with/without power amps (depends which room). No magic in the 2ch gear (and I only have one system using my old 2ch gear these days, and it's simply 2ch to start).

 

[drmevo]

LOL would love to see an intelligent explantion of this fantasy, so am tuning into now.

One obvious case is having a cheap (but good enough for TV/movies/video games) AVR, that doesn’t measure all that well, and a decent stereo preamp or integrated.

Also, I don’t need my TV for its OSD to access all of the features on my preamp. Some adjustments I use often, like sub level or turning subwoofer on/off, need to be done with the OSD of my AVR, buried in a menu somewhere.

Tell me, what about that is fantasy or unintelligent?

 

[Chrispy]

One obvious case is having a cheap (but good enough for TV/movies/video games) AVR, that doesn’t measure all that well, and a decent stereo preamp or integrated.

Also, I don’t need my TV for its OSD to access all of the features on my preamp. Some adjustments I use often, like sub level or turning subwoofer on/off, need to be done with the OSD of my AVR, buried in a menu somewhere.

Tell me, what about that is fantasy or unintelligent?

Having such a low quality avr? OTOH you'd have to work hard to find that cheap an avr where it was an issue generally.

Most "decent" integrateds measure about the same, they're just another form of integrated. With newer separates you might get better numbers, but audible?

 

[drmevo]

Having such a low quality avr? OTOH you'd have to work hard to find that cheap an avr where it was an issue generally.

Most "decent" integrateds measure about the same, they're just another form of integrated. With newer separates you might get better numbers, but audible?

Having a lower quality AVR is what, unintelligent or fantasy?

There are feature-rich, serviceable/functional AVR’s that are not audibly transparent. Here’s one - in fact, it’s the one I own and bought for less than $400: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...channel-4k-8k-dolby-av-receiver-review.17204/

 

[Chrispy]

Having a lower quality AVR is what, unintelligent or fantasy?

There are feature-rich, serviceable/functional AVR’s that are not audibly transparent. Here’s one - in fact, it’s the one I own and bought for less than $400: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...channel-4k-8k-dolby-av-receiver-review.17204/

Unintelligent if you have really poor gear. OTOH most avrs are fine. Just wondering what your example might mean in terms of brand/model....

Audibly not transparent (i.e. audibly) how particularly?

 

[drmevo]

Unintelligent if you have really poor gear.

Wow, what a pretentious position. It performs just fine for TV. It’s not optimal for music. Does that make it really poor when I paid $330 for an 8K 7.2 AVR?

Just wondering what your example might mean in terms of brand/model....

Audibly not transparent (i.e. audibly) how particularly

I don’t know what you mean by either of those sentences.

 

[maxliii]

???

It's a fairly uncontroversial feature. Let's say you have a 2ch system, and you want to use it as part of your HT. If you connect the PRE OUT on your AVR to an input on your 2ch preamp, it has to go through the 2ch preamp's volume control. A HT bypass feature on your 2ch preamp avoids this. It's the same as connecting the PRE OUT on the AVR directly to the power amp without the inconvenience of swapping cables.

Might you be wiling to share how you arrange the audio and movie system with the HT preamp?

 

[Chrispy]

Wow, what a pretentious position. It performs just fine for TV. It’s not optimal for music. Does that make it really poor when I paid $330 for an 8K 7.2 AVR?


I don’t know what you mean by either of those sentences.

LOL talk about pretentious. Good audio is good audio....tv/movies have some excellent audio, and can exceed typical 2ch releases. Ignorant much?

 

[drmevo]

LOL talk about pretentious.

It’s pretentious to point out how low-cost a piece of equipment was? What are you talking about?

Good audio is good audio....tv/movies have some excellent audio, and can exceed typical 2ch releases. Ignorant much?

What’s ignorant is assuming everyone else must have the same priorities as you. I don’t assign the same value to the audio quality of TV and movies that I do for music. I just don’t care, but the surround effect and subwoofer integration are nice to have sometimes. Other people feel differently, and that’s fine - I don’t feel some weird need to be judgmental towards them.

 

[dlovesmusic]

Ht bypass is indeed quite a common feature and comes in handy.

My use case. My anthem mrx1120 receiver does my 7.2.4 atmos movies and gaming. I preout main speakers through rca from the anthem to my benchmark LA4 preamp set to ht-bypass to my power amp to speakers.

I also have my 2.2 setup with the LA4, sharing the same power amp, main speakers and 2 subs.

I also have a Freya + tube preamp connected through xlr to the LA4 set to ht-bypass for the same 2.2 setup when I feel like some tube magic

 

[maxliii]

Ht bypass is indeed quite a common feature and comes in handy.

My use case. My anthem mrx1120 receiver does my 7.2.4 atmos movies and gaming. I preout main speakers through rca from the anthem to my benchmark LA4 preamp set to ht-bypass to my power amp to speakers.

I also have my 2.2 setup with the LA4, sharing the same power amp, main speakers and 2 subs.

I also have a Freya + tube preamp connected through xlr to the LA4 set to ht-bypass for the same 2.2 setup when I feel like some tube magic

Thanking for your sharing. How does the music system connect to the LA4, like the turntable, CD player? PS: wondering what the black curtain is on the wall, is there a TV behind?

 

[dlovesmusic]

Thanking for your sharing. How does the music system connect to the LA4, like the turntable, CD player? PS: wondering what the black curtain is on the wall, is there a TV behind?

my dac is connected through XLR to the LA4 to power amp, and RCA to the Freya +, which connects to the LA4 through ht-bypass

My turntable is a cheap Marantz automatic turntable with built in phono, I don’t listen to it much to be honest, but have it connected to the LA4 through rca.

Yes I have a 85” tv hiding behind the “sound dampening” curtain from Amazon. I would take it out when I do movies or gaming… I am not sure how much of a difference the curtain does to be honest. It’s about 1” thick and it seems to help with the reflection a bit…

 

[goat76]

I have a bit of a complex system where HT bypass is very important.

I use a Linn streamer as the heart of the system for 2-channel music listening, I like this Linn streamer/preamp as it puts everything under the same user-friendly interface when it comes to everything 2-channel audio such as Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Dezer, TuneIn Radio, and so on. The Linn streamer/preamp is connected to a 2-channel power amp that are driving the two front main speakers.

But I’m also into multichannel audio, so I use a Marantz Cinema 50 AV receiver that drives the remaining speakers in the system, and as I like to use the same main front speakers for this system, the pre-out signal from the Marantz goes “pass-through” the Linn streamer, so that the volume is controlled in the Marantz for all the speakers including the main speakers.

But it doesn't stop there. The power amp I use for the main front speakers is actually an integrated 2-channel amp, but as I use it as just a power amp for both music listening from the Linn streamer/pre-amp, and for movies using the Marantz, the integrated amp is set up for “HT pass-through as well.

So why using an integrated power amp in the first place, you may ask? The answer is that I use a third system which is a recording audio interface directly connected to the integrated power amp using it’s preamp for volume control.

As I said, the HT bypass/pass-through functionality is needed to make all the above possible, and using the same main front speakers for 3(!) different audio systems at the same time without the need for any re-connections of cables.

 

[dlovesmusic]

I have a bit of a complex system where HT bypass is very important.

I use a Linn streamer as the heart of the system for 2-channel music listening, I like this Linn streamer/preamp as it puts everything under the same user-friendly interface when it comes to everything 2-channel audio such as Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Dezer, TuneIn Radio, and so on. The Linn streamer/preamp is connected to a 2-channel power amp that are driving the two front main speakers.

But I’m also into multichannel audio, so I use a Marantz Cinema 50 AV receiver that drives the remaining speakers in the system, and as I like to use the same main front speakers for this system, the pre-out signal from the Marantz goes “pass-through” the Linn streamer, so that the volume is controlled in the Marantz for all the speakers including the main speakers.

But it doesn't stop there. The power amp I use for the main front speakers is actually an integrated 2-channel amp, but as I use it as just a power amp for both music listening from the Linn streamer/pre-amp, and for movies using the Marantz, the integrated amp is set up for “HT pass-through as well.

So why using an integrated power amp in the first place, you may ask? The answer is that I use a third system which is a recording audio interface directly connected to the integrated power amp using it’s preamp for volume control.

As I said, the HT bypass/pass-through functionality is needed to make all the above possible, and using the same main front speakers for 3(!) different audio systems at the same time without the need for any re-connections of cables.

I am quite similar actually.

When I want to listen to music in my 2.2 setup with just the LA4 preamp, only the LA4 needs to be turned on which triggers my power amp.

If I want to do movies or gaming with the AVR, the AVR is preout to the LA4 through rca ht-bypass.

If I want to listen to music with the Freya + tube preamp and roll some tubes, it is connected to the LA4 through xlr ht-bypass