[sdiy] OT question about interfacing (impedance mismatch?)

[John Luciani]

On 10/17/06, John Mahoney <jmahoney at gate.net> wrote:
> A friend called to ask me a question that I'm unable to help with.
> (Surprise! Not. ;-)
>
> He has connected his old iMac G4 (with the dome base and chrome
> monitor arm) to his home stereo, and the volume is annoyingly low.
> Yes, the volume in the OS control panel is at maximum. Yes, different
> cables have been tested.
>
> Not sure if this matters, but the iMac's "headphone / line output"
> has a source impedance of 44 ohms. We don't know the input impedance
> of the stereo's CD inputs, but surely it's nothing unusual.
>
> Does anyone know what the problem is and how it can be addressed?
> Could this be caused by the CD inputs having impedance that's too
> high? [Insert "too high" joke here.] An additional preamp could be
> used, but that's a last resort workaround. How about a direct box?

It is probably a level problem not an impedance problem. The CD input
is probably
expecting a higher voltage than the headphones require.

(* jcl *)

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