Tad 1000's quiet?

Also want to make sure the power tubes are properly biased.

One or two el34's?

He states that it has always been this way and I asked what kind of tubes he has in it because as you said Johnny if HD is using 12au7's that could cause the low gain issue.

Brinmeliss, did you buy these pieces new or used? If you purchased them second hand did you contact the seller and ask if this had been a problem for them?

Something is definitely wrong. I had a tad 60 and a 150 and at 10 o'clock on my preamp my 86 db proacs were very loud. Have you turned the gain all the way up on the amps?

Has it always been this way or did it start recently?

Have you used either the pre or the amps with different equipment to narrow down the problem? I would try running a source straight to the amps since the have a gain control to see if its the amp. Also what tubes are you using in the preamp?

Did you run the iPhone straight into the amp bypassig the preamp?

Yes as zd points out run the 3.5mm headphone/rca cable to the inputs on your monoblocks. If I am not mistaken the tad 1000 each have a volume/gain control. Turn down the volume first and then slowly turn it up once you have music playing.

Shouldn't you have a pair of 6v6 tubes in the place of the el34? In not too familiar with this amp but having 1 el34 tube in each amps seems odd to me.

Just to make sure do you have the gain knob in the back of the amp turned all the way up? As I said I own the 150 pre and had the 60 tube amp. I would say tad gear is great value for the money and if you get it sorted out you may be very happy. Having said that I sold my tad 60 after hearing a class d audio SDS 470c. To me it sounded more like a tube amp even though its a class d amp.

Are they biased? Do you own a multimeter?

Ah Philly I used to live there I miss it.