I really appreciate the thoughtful responses to my question. I'll start running in the direct mode. If anyone owns this amp and has knowledge of tube compliments or any other improvements I can apply, let me know. If I have 1 minor quibble about it, the bass is a little lean. Perhaps a particular tube on the input side would beef it up a little. I'm astonished at how quiet this amp is.
McIntosh MC240 Question
I'm the owner of an MC240 amplifier. You can run this amp in a couple of different ways. It can be run direct with gain controls for each channel. In this mode with the gain controls wide open, I barely have to raise the volume of my preamp in order to achieve good listening levels. The alternate way to run it is direct without the amplifier gain controls. In this mode I need to raise the preamp volume control considerably more to achieve a reasonable listening level. I'm wondering what the explanation is for the difference given that gain controls wide open or running without those controls should be the same input level. If anyone out there owns this amp, maybe you can explain this away for me. I really like the amp for its all around balanced presentation. I plan to find a nice compliment of tubes for it. Any suggestions in this area are most welcome too. Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.