Preamp has too much gain

Very easy to fix, just need couple of high-quality resistor to construct a voltage divider.

Assuming your preamp has an input impedance of 100kOhm, then, to reduce the gain to 1/3, you can insert a 200kOhm resistor in series to the input RCA.

The gain will be reduced by 100k / (200k + 100k) = 0.33x, i.e. 1/3 in this example.

You can also use a high quality variable resistor, such as a Bournes pot then you can adjust the gain with a screw driver.

Wow, answers to a question I didn't even know I had. I have the same pre as Electra and always wondered why I could only turn it up to about the nine oclock position, (with zero being about 7 oclock), without it being too loud for your average listening session. My source is a Sim Audio Moon Eclipes, my amp is a Redgum, forget the model but it's about 150wps, speakers are Osborn Grand Monument Refs. Am I going to get a better/ different sound by doing some of the changes you have recomended, or does it really matter where the dial is set?

One of the few things that designers will agree upon is that the closer you operate to maximum volume then the better the sound. Volume controls always take away. The ideal system would have an overall gain (source + preamp + power amp + speaker efficiency) that plays a particular recording at the ideal volume level with the volume control all the way up.

I’m not talking about loud volume, but the maximum that a system will allow. The problem is that the level from recordings varies widely and we want to listen to different types of music at different volumes, so the maximum volume is often too loud.

If you consistently have the volume control way closer to the minimum than the maximum then the volume control is choking some of the life out of your system.

The electronics should be run at the highest possible gain, at a given supply voltage, where feasible. For example, if the line stage is designed for 20dB of gain, and you run it at 5dB, the THD will go up tremendously, and the circuit may even become unstable. The higher gain also gives you the best S/N ratio.

It's the right way to pad down the signal level, then to lower the gain. The noise in the system is typically 'White', so the less gain, the less useful dynamic range.