Attenuator recommendations

The answer is obvious.

YOU HAVE TOO MUCH GAIN !!!!!!!

Please provide your address and I will come over and beat you over the head with the "you have too much gain" stick.

The overall gain of the components you have chosen is too high for your speakers.

You need to choose components that are a better match for your speakers or get speakers that are less efficient.

It is a system. I hate to be rude but you seem to have trouble grasping that concept.

herman...chill out dude...explain me this:

my classe gain is 14db
the bat is 17db

perhaps I am understanding but I cannot imagine that a 3db difference in gain would result in the huge difference in volume I am hearing...

Tboooe,

How much did you decrease the input gain or as BAT calls it "Relative Volume" adjustment? Try setting it lower. If that is properly set, you should be able to use the main volume knob in a wider range. A CDP with 1.7V output is not high at all, so if even using a player with that output should not overload your preamp. Also make sure, you don't have the Fixed Gain mode "On" for the BAT preamp, cause that might bypass your input gain adjustment (I'm guessing???). If your Classe has 14 gain, and the BAT is 17 gain, that's really close. The Classe can go +/- 14 ticks of gain, so I am assuming the BAT can go +/-17 ticks of gain. So you should be able to lower the BAT to sound like the Classe in terms of gain input. Just go as low as you can, and slowly inch your way up on the BAT input gain. I think you should be able find the right setting after trial and error. If that doesn't work, something seems wrong with the BAT preamp then.

Good luck.

Tbooe

You will find that you are not using any of the gain your two pre-amps have. The main difference between the two will be how much each pre amp attenuates the signal at the volume control.

I would suggest buying the endler attenuators and you can use them
- at your pre amp input where the CD plugs into or
- at the amp inputs to lower the overall gain of the system.

They also work very well as a passive volume control and you can determine if you like your pre amp sound or just the sound of you amp direct.

Thye endlers were transparent to the signal, the rothwell is not.
- between your

Ok, I have chilled out. I guess I haven't been very clear in my responses. Downunder has said it best and I will try his approach.

The stated gain of the preamp is the gain with the volume control all the way up. You never use it this way so the maximum gain doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you put in a preamp with 1,000 dB of gain. I should not have said you have too much gain. I should have said that your amp already has enough gain to drive your speakers to uncomfortable levels.

In your sytem the output level of the preamp is less than the output level of the CD player. In other words, the preamp is always attenuating the signal.

You don't need a pre amplifier, you need a pre attenuator.

The problem is not the maximum gain of the preamps, it is that the amount of attenuation is not enough.