Ohhwy61,
Come on man, those were my words! I wanted to say it first- not fair.
Of course, the power of your amps has nothing to do with the loudness, it is a gain structure of both- preamp and power amp.
I have Avantgarde speakers, and know exactly, what you mean.
I was also told, that it's better to have lower gain in the preamp, than in the power amp.
Attenuators are an option, but will come with some, maybe negligible, degradation of signal.
But, a reduction of your system gain will afford you immense benefits- much lower level of background noise, more precise volume control, etc.
Please, do yourself a favor and contact Victor Khomenko of BAT, maybe they will be able to reduce gain in your preamp- you will benefit also from having less connections in the system (b/w attenuator and amp/preamp)
As a matter of fact, Victor has Avantgarde Trio and (surprise, surprise) BAT electronics in his personal system, so he should know how to help you
Cheers