The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Thank you both for your comments. I will try the An1x out with 
monitors tonight. It probably is the headphones. I'll let you know.
Shakti


- In AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Metlay" <metlay@a...> wrote:
> 
> Bruce Wahler said:
> > Hi Shakti,
> >
> >>Thanks for the reply Jimmy!
> >>
> >>> Are all the patches quiet or just some?
> >>
> >>All patches are low in volume.
> >>
> >>What are you using for an amp?
> >>
> >>I have been using headphones ( a couple different types)
> >
> > It could be a combination of the AN1x and the headphones you are 
using.  I use
> > a pair of Sennheiser HD580's, and while the volume is adequate, 
it's not
> > overly loud.  I was prepared for this:  All of the reviews said 
that the
> > Sennheisers really need a strong amp to drive them, because of 
their high
> > impedance.
> >
> > Years ago, most headphones were 8 ohms, and all headphone outputs 
on stereos,
> > etc. were set up to handle this load.  These days, headphone 
impedances are
> > all over the place, from around 30 ohm to tens of thousands of 
ohms.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > -BW
> 
> Sorry but no, you have it backwards, Bruce. Years ago, most 
speakers were 8
> ohms, and headphones were designed to be driven by the same amp 
circuit that
> fed the speakers without anything getting overloaded (the speakers, 
the
> headphones, or most importantly the amp itself, usually tube-driven 
in those
> days). To do this they had to have a very high impedance, 600 to 
2000 ohms, so
> they could be strapped across the amplifier with the speakers 
without
> affecting the amp load much.
> 
> When portable cassette players came out and required lower-impedance
> headphones to get decent level from their tiny battery-powered amps 
(and
> didn't hook up to speakers anyway), that's when impedances started 
to drop.
> 
> Many good headphones today still use a 600 ohm impedance, but 
others are
> specifically being designed with lower impedances. As an example, 
AKG still
> makes the excellent K240 M headphone, a 600 ohm phone that's often 
used for
> orchestral sessions where many headphones can be chained in 
parallel without
> the net impedance dropping too low (you can chain 75 sets and still 
have an
> 8-ohm load). But AKG also recently released the K240 Studio, a 
redesigned
> headphone with a 55 ohm impedance.
> 
> mike
> 
> -- 
> "Run for your lives! Lofty's figured out he's BIGGER than all of 
us!!"
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> metlay / atomic city / metlay@a... / http://www.atomiccity.com