Conference napalm::guitar

    I tried this once with a cheap 'n' nasty stereo... it blew up!
    
    The ZOOM 9002 processor does come supplied with leads to allow you
    to play along with you fav tunes through your stereo, but I don't
    know if the out concerned form the Zoom is limited to line levels.
    
    Bob

    No matter what, this won't be an ideal system, but it can be done.
    As long as the power amp is not clipping you shouldn't cause any
    damage to the amp itself. I would make sure to run my guitar thru
    a compressor/limiter to tame the peak transients. 
    
    Stereo preamps/recievers accept line level signals from tape decks, 
    cd players, hi-fi vcr's, etc. The only signal going into a stereo 
    preamp that it not at line level is the signal from a turn-table. 
    These signals (the output of your magnetic cartridge) are much smaller 
    than line level signals and are amplified by an "RIAA" preamp circuit 
    which drives the them up to line level (~1v rms).
    
    The best way to play through a stereo is to run through a preamp
    (ie. a Sholz Rockman, Zoom, Roland GP8, Boss ME5, etc.) and into
    a tape input. Listen for distortion from your amp or speakers. 
    This will be a function of the amps headroom and the ruggedness of
    your speakers. If your speakers are wimpy, the cones are likely
    to suffer from longer excursions than they are designed to handle.
    This could cause the speakers to self-destruct. If you hear any
    hints of distortion (other than overdrive/distortion created 
    intentionally by your preamp) then run the stereo at a lower volume.
    
    I routinely play through a Mesa Boogie preamp, into my stereo PA
    system (which is really nothing more than a glorified stereo sytem).
    with great results. I'm using very rugged components, though, and
    compression.
    
    Mark 
    
    

Your best bet would probably be to go through some preamp/amp like
has already been mentioned.  I have a rockman, and have on occasion
run it through the stereo.  (however, the biggest benny with these
types of small i.c. amps is the abiltiy to play the stereo, back
through the amp, thus play along with a tape deck, record/cd player.
Excellent for learning material, or working with recording projects
on early mix downs when one is looking for a good solo to write down,
or work in some rythm, or midi instruments.)

as far as unsightly, gawd, how could a guitar amp ever be unsightly.

Women,, can't live with, can't shoot em!  :)

    This is a very strange coincidenece.I just brought my Realistic
    reciever down to the store last weekend for service.It's a 
    45 watt per channel reciever and what I do is plug into a mic
    jack in one of my tape deck which is connected to the reciever
    and put a blank tape in and put it in the record mode.
    I've always done this w/ my peavey foundation bass,but in
    the past few weeks I picked an Ibanez SR800le Bass w/
    a preamp in it and have routinely been playing thru my stereo.
    Sounded Awesome, but the bottom line = I THINK I BLEW IT UP!!!
    I was listening to music one day and all of a sudden the music just 
    cut out on me, then came back for a couple seconds then came back
    on then cut out again.This went on for a few days until finally 
    I couldn't get one source to come through the stereo. I don't know
    If playing My Bass thru the stereo caused this or not but 
    I will find out soon enough.
                                     Rick

    You can't hurt the electronics in the stereo, but NO home
    stereo speaker is strong enough to handle the S/N and attack
    of guitar & bass.   DO NOT DO IT!!!
    
    Unless you got money to burn......
    
    Jay
    

	What's the difference between a live guitar (properly limited)
	and a Van Halen track off a CD player?  Not much, I bet (if 
	you've got Eddie's chops).  Just to be on the safe side, I keep
	my stereo's amp set so that my signal peaks don't exceed the
	-3dB level.  Most of the time I also use the compressor/limiter
	in my VCR as insurance - it's expensive to rebuild those JBLs.    

>	What's the difference between a live guitar (properly limited)
>	and a Van Halen track off a CD player?  Not much, I bet 
    
    Proper limiting is part of the trick...playing uncompressed instruments
    through stereos is real tough on the speakers.  Also EQ, I have yet to
    hear any normal (i.e. not mega$$ audiophile) speakers reproduce extreme
    low bass (anything much below 100 Hz) which is present on guitars and
    basses (open E on a guitar is about 80 Hz, 40 Hz on a bass).  Most
    albums really don't have much energy below 100 Hz.
    
    Think about it, if music sounds "normal" over your typical boom box,
    it has to be processed pretty heavily....we're talking half a watt
    driving a pair of 4" speakers...
    
    							Brian

>	What's the difference between a live guitar (properly limited)
>	and a Van Halen track off a CD player?  Not much, I bet 
    
    Van Halen's signal coming off the CD is "limited", your's isn't.
    
    The CD can not overdrive your amp to the point of sending voltage down
    to the speakers.  Your unlimited guitar can.
    
    There are devices specifically for "limiting", however the mere act of
    recording a signal "limits" the signal.   You could look at a limiting
    or "compressing" device as a tool that allows you to shape the dynamic
    range in some way OTHER than what the recording medium imposes (like
    always reducing the signal to recordable levels rather than allowing
    distortion).

    
    I used to use the tape deck and receiver through stereo speakers for
    small rooms before I got a PA amp and speakers.  I play accoustic
    guitar and sing.  I've been asked to play at a small party, and I think
    it would be overkill to use my PA speakers, but I'd like to have a
    little amplification.  Any ideas?  Can I hook my PA amp up to stereo
    speakers if I keep the volume low?  Or just use a mic mixer, tape deck,
    receiver, and stereo speakers?  One advantage to using the home stereo
    receiver would be that I could put a set of speakers in different rooms 
    of the house at low volume instead of one pair of PA speakers at higher
    volume hoping to carry to other rooms in the house.  
    
    Justine

I've been playing my guitar through Klipschorns at home with no apparent damage
except maybe my ears.  ;-)

I think the potential for damage depends on the quality and construction of 
your stereo.

Jim

    regarding last 2, I have 2 sets of Klipsch speakers at home. One
    set is the KG4 which are home stereo speakers. The other set is 
    the industrial version of the Heresey II. These are stage monitors,
    so they are definately made to take the pounding of sound re-inforce-
    ment. I wouldn't want to place that much stress on my KG4's but
    the few times that I did use them for musical instrument, they
    sounded fine.
    
    I used to have a set of Altec Lansing "Voice of the Theater"
    speakers which were custom built to Altec plans, with 300 watt Altec
    15" speakers for woofers, and compression driven horns for mid-range
    and tweeters. I hooked up my P.A. to these cabs many times. They could 
    take anything I could throw at them.
    
    Like someone said, it all depends on what you have for a stereo,
    especially the speakers. A compressor/limiter is a good insurance
    policy for protecting your system.
    
    Mark

    
    	It's cool to see such touting of compressor/limiters as the
    solution to this type of problem. In your audio toolkit, it's like
    having a "pair of pliers" - There's some things you just wont be able 
    to do without one...
    
    	One time in our lab, I evaluated my Bass guitar (with a Dimarzio)
    using this sophisticated Tektronix Oscillscope, which had a signal 
    analyzer option. A little ticker tape would come out of this machine, 
    stating all the interesting attributes of the signal it just measured.
    One item on the printout was "peak voltage". I found that I could get 
    several *volts* outta that pickup, with a good hard string snap.
    
    	Put this into a "mic" input of a tape deck, or a "line" input
    of you HiFi amp, and you can see how an input expecting 10 or 100
    thousandths of a volt might get a little "overdriven" - depending
    on how you play and where your volume control is set ;') Turn it
    down and play softly and lightly - no problem. Crank it out and
    start bangin' on it - you'll easily send your tape deck's preamp
    and/or your power amp and/or your speakers into the non-linear zone!
    
    	This is where the fragile stuff start breaking.
    
    	Joe

I had read al the way back into the late 70's that double coil pickups put out
around 3.5 volts peak.  No doubt some are louder now.

And yep, that's way over what a stereo input wants to see.

Will