What were your thoughts on converting the amp to the V1 specs?
Although I have no experience with Coda amps or ML speakers, it seems to me like it could very possibly be a worthwhile change.
As you appear to realize, most of the time most users are just using a small fraction of an amp’s maximum power capability. And on brief dynamic peaks that may require close to full power, 300 watts into the nominally 4 ohm impedance of your planar speakers at your listening distance should result in a volume at the listening position of around 110 db!
And that would apply even if the speaker did not incorporate a 200 watt bass amplifier, which of course it does.
In saying this I’m assuming that the specified sensitivity of the speaker (91 db/2.83 volts/1 meter, which for its 4 ohm nominal impedance corresponds to 88 db/1 watt/1 meter) is reasonably accurate.
Also, I note in the manual for the speaker that "power handling" of 250 watts per channel is specified. So the speakers apparently wouldn’t even be able to handle anything close to the 600 watt/4 ohm power capability of the amp in its present "v2.5" configuration, that you had described earlier.
Regarding the comparison of volume control settings with the McIntosh amp that you mentioned, the volume control settings that are used are dependent on the gain of the amp, not on its maximum power capability. And while there tends to be a **loose** correlation between those two parameters among various amplifiers, there are a great many cases in which higher powered amps have lower gains than lower powered amps.
Best regards,
-- Al