Tekton Double Impacts

@grannyring Excellent and enlightening points Bill! Your participation here, knowledge and experience are of great value to people like me who are learning about sound, components and systems. Invaluable actually! Please DO keep posting specs as you learn them as we ALL benefit from this. Frankly, most will not do these types of upgrades BUT it is the knowledge that you pass along that allows us to look at components and determine what it is that makes them sound the way they do. SPECS MATTER!!! Bravo Bill!!

Doing modifications to speakers is a total waste of time.......only because I haven't gotten up the nerve to do it myself yet! 🔉😀🔉

I actually think the idea of upgrading the crossovers on my SE's is a great one, I just need to find a pair of cheap speakers to experiment on first. If I was more capable I'd be working on it now but I can't bring myself to pull apart my new speakers. I will someday though. 

I give much thanks to Bill for his knowledge, inspiration and guidance.

I recently spent a couple days critically listening to david_ten’s system with his new Double Impact SEs and thought that some here might find my observations/opinions of the sound I heard of interest. My suspicion is that many of you happily own the base DIs and are perhaps considering moving up to the SEs at some point. Outside of a few SE owners posting here, there are no formal reviews out there that I am aware of, so you might appreciate my evaluation of the SE’s performance as a "Tekton Outsider". I do not own Tektons nor any of the same brands of gear/cabling as David so am I hopeful that that will add some objective credence to my written evaluation here. Although I am no reviewer (that may become painfully obvious shortly!), I have been in the hobby several decades and have heard many fine systems during that time, so please take the below for what you feel it to be worth.

David’s primary system consists of a Pass XP-20/XA-30.8 combo, a Sonore SignatureRendu streamer feeding a Denafrips Terminator DAC via USB, and, of course, the Tekton SEs. Cabling is SOtM ethernet, Stealth USB, Cardas Clear Reflection XLR ICs, and Audience SX speaker cables. Power cords are Triode Wire Labs Obsession. There were two passive power distribution units in place who’s branding escapes me.

All music was streamed from Tidal via Roon during the evaluation. For those of you that may not know, David’s musical tastes are eclectic to the extreme IMO. He appreciates much of the same female-vocal centric acoustic tunes, jazz, small ensemble, and classic rock as I, but adds a heavy does of more modern, progressive music replete with synthesizers and all manner of non-traditional electronic "instruments" that has, thus far, been beyond my musical palette. Yet, I loved the sound I heard no matter the musical pedigree and actually discovered quite a few titles that will be added to my Tidal favorites at home. Point is, David’s widely-varied musical preferences demand A LOT from speakers and gear and nothing I heard while there failed to impress me through the SEs.

David just acquired a Lyric Ti140 MkII integrated tube amplifier and had three single-ended ICs on loan to evaluate their match with the new Lyric: Audience SX, Synergistic Research Level 3, and Shunyata Alpha. The main audio purpose of my visit was to provide David with my opinion of the sound quality of the Pass vs Lyric amplification and with the aforementioned cabling when paired with his SEs.

Since David visited my home and we did some listening to my system a few weeks back, there was also a social aspect to my visit, including meeting his amazing son and his sweet dog Cyrus. What a great gig for me: listening to a friend’s top drawer system while enjoying great hospitality and all that was on me was to give my opinions on what I heard. Who wouldn’t love that!

We started the evaluation with David’s new Lyric integrated and Audience SX single-ended ICs in place vs David’s usual Pass/Cardas combo. Immediately, I was impressed with the vivid mid and upper energy and the presence I was hearing from the SEs. Not at all the buttoned-down, polite, constrained sound I had heard in a dealer demo of the Magico S1 Mk II/Constellation rig just a day earlier. The SEs live and breath! Immediately, I was struck by the ethereal quality of female vocals, strings, and percussion. It was already clear that I was going to enjoy my time with David’s system.

The sound of the SEs with the tube amplifier had the trademark tells of a great tube amp - liquidity and what I call "wetness". A vivid, dynamic sound with nary a hint of edginess, glare, or hardness no matter the music nor the recording. The soundstage was wide, vocals at realistic height, and there was the feeling of instruments/performers existing in a believable soundscape with clear individual identity, yet not spotlighted, instead integrated into a cohesive whole. I hate to use the word "palpability", but that’s what I heard, in spades. Depth and layering were not the best I have heard and I perceived a limitation of harmonic density and command in mid/low frequencies, but it was easy to forget this and focus on the beauty and authenticity of the aural experience with the Lyric driving the SEs.

Feeling that I had captured the sound character of the Lyric/SE pairing, we moved on to David’s Pass separates with the Cardas Clear Reflection XLR ICs. Holy cow, what major change in sound character! Out with the liquid, forgiving nature of the previous setup and in with a bold, forwardly tactile sound. I was shocked! Not that it was unpleasant sounding per se, only vastly different in its sonic presentation. David seemed a little addled as well. After a short time, he abruptly popped up from the listening sofa, realizing that he had forgotten to transfer the Obsession power cord from the Lyric to the Pass XA 30.8, instead mistakenly leaving in place the Audio Arts power cord that he was using to keep the Pass warmed up in during our time with the Lyric. Once the Obsession power cord was seated, the sound character changed to a much more similar sonic palette via the Lyric. Anyone clinging to the belief that power cords do not play a major role in a system’s sound character should have been there. The difference I heard is sure to completely dispel that erroneous misconception. I’m talking MAJOR sonic change. It became obvious that Triode Wire Labs’ statement power cord was leagues better than the lowly Audio Arts model.

Now the Pass separates/Cardas Reflection XLR IC combo immediately impressed me as more like-sounding to the Lyric in many ways, but as if on steroids. The added energy in the presentation and the more authoritative bass control of the former were obvious in comparison, defying the rated specs of 30 w/ch vs 70 w/ch respectively. Current vs voltage could explain this to a significant extent, but what was going on here was beyond that. There was simply more there there with the Pass . Vocals, strings, and percussion took on a more vivid personality, most definitely in a good way, at least to my ears and preferences.

The Pass separates with the Obsession power cords in place delivered a decidedly more rhythmic and involving presentation than the Lyric. The sound was superbly airy and clean and dynamic contrasts were more impactful and convincing. I never really sensed that the Pass gear gave up much of anything to the Lyric, excepting a slight degree of tonal liquidity and wetness. In exchange, the Pass simply grabbed me with its more percussive character. In fact, with both amplification chains, I would characterized what I heard through the SEs during my time with them as focused on the percussive aspect of the music vs the complex harmonics, overtones, and extended decay I have heard on some other excellent speakers.
Piano was clearly portrayed as a felt-wrapped wooden hammer striking strings. Quick and clean and tactile. Forward but never edgy or hard. What I felt was missing compared to my own system was some of the rich harmonic density, particularly in the lower registers. Everything sounded as if the woofers were just a bit too tight and stingy with extension and bloom. Not lean, just incomplete.

Enter the Synergistic Research Galileo UEF USB cable I brought along for the trip. Replacing David’s already excellent Stealth USB cable (itself ranked as a close tie for second place with my previous favorite Purist 30th Anniversary in a head-to-head faceoff during David’s earlier visit to my home), the sound with the Galileo UEF USB cable in place was simply better in every way, particularly in harmonic completeness and, without question, adding the heft and meat to the lower frequencies that I had felt to be absent before the change. It was as if the SEs instantly gained another octave in the low bass, providing a much more robust foundation for the rest of the frequency range.

Secondly, the Galieo USB cable added greater musical tension to the presentation. Ambient information was more audible and the added rhythm and pace showed a new, more harmonically-complete side of the SEs. Strings became more yin vs yang compared to before. Now I felt that the lower half of the SE’s cabinet (the woofer section) was matching the excellent upper half that had consistently impressed me from the get-go. I quickly found myself mesmerized by the SEs to the point of distraction, much like my oldest grandson’s zombie-like state when in his cyber-game world. Completely and entirely captivated.

At this point we both decided the critical listening/comparison portion of the visit had reached its apex, so we spent the rest of the time rifling through our Tidal favorites. No matter what David and I threw at this latest combination of gear and cabling, the SEs passed the gestalt of each track with what I felt to be a superbly engaging connection between the music and the listener.

I still feel that the woofers in David’s SEs are just at the beginning of their conditioning journey, but, with the addition of the Galileo USB cable, they definitely showed their potential to deliver low frequency sound quality at the superior caliber of their mid and upper registers. In total, David’s system was now delivering a sonic experience that belies typical superlatives, adjectives, and such. The best compliment that I can offer is that the SEs delivered the music on a level I have only experienced with a few much more expensive speakers, while soundly thrashing the majority I have heard in the process.

The $6500 asking price of these speakers is simply ridiculous. That is to say a ridiculously fantastic value...

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for that wonderfully detailed, descriptive and insightful review of David's system. I hope I'm fortunate enough on my next visit to NO that I get the pleasure of meeting David and hearing his system. 

I am really enjoying my SE's driven by Aric Audios linestage and 300B SET but would love to hear what a Pass amp would bring to the table also. Maybe the XA-25 teajay is loving so much. 

Im glad to hear your take on their bass. I don't have nearly as many hours on my SE's as David does and while I can't say there really anything lacking in he low end I've been feeling there's more to come and your impressions give me hope that there is.

Its always a pleasure sharing ones system with likeminded others and hearing their systems as well. As much as I've gained from reading this thread nothing compares to actually hearing other systems in order to open your aural horizons and bring to light equipment  options you would have never contemplated otherwise. 

Thanks again for your impressions,
Tom

Dave,
+1 Tom's comments. Very well depressed and an enjoyable read.

David,
Congratulations on your excellent system.  You've put the wok and time in to achieve this level of success. 
Charles 

Dave - Excellent review! Very well written and clear. I already knew the Double Impacts (SE) are excellent so the message it conveyed most to me is how much the speakers can scale up and down based on the equipment they are used with.

You inserted a $3,000 Synergistic Research Galileo UEF USB cable and heard "...heft and meat to the lower frequencies that I had felt to be absent before the change. It was as if the SEs instantly gained another octave in the low bass, providing a much more robust foundation for the rest of the frequency range."  Wow!  I haven't had that kind of change with different cables but it shows how capable this speaker design by Eric really is! 

On the heels of the two most recent posts to this now legendary thread.

The last time I contributed to this post I was a couple of days away from delivery of my DI's. At that time my set consisted of a pair of MCIntosh MC 601', a Mac C2300 preamp and a pair of Focal Sopra 2's. I had long been a, "Mac Guy" but while doing some auditioning prior to the purchase of the Sopra's, I had a chance to listen to many other gear builders best work. Once the DI's were wired into the set up, I knew immediately that the Sopra's were going to be sold...they were that good at a fraction of what I had recently paid for the Focal's. 

After letting the DI's break in for a few weeks, I knew next that the Mac gear was soon to follow in the path of the Sopra's. Enter a pair of Pass Labs XA 60.8's and the XP 20 line stage. However now I needed a phono preamp, as the Mac 2300 was pretty versatile in that it had a better than average phono stage. Impressed by all the accolades many  on this thread were saying about Aric Kimball of Aric Audio that I reached out to Aric and picked up one of his MM preamps. Upon plugging it it and wiring it up, I was blown away with the sound that was coming from my turntable compared to the Mac!  Richness, detail, dimensionality, it was there in spades. However I was becoming less than impressed with the Pass XP-20 line stage. It was anemic compared to my neighbors Audio Research Reference 5 that I plugged in as reference. 

At this time I realized that I needed to go back to a tube preamp to get the sound that I desired and that fit my listening room best. Tube Research Labs, The Dude came up and was highly regarded by our very own Grannyring as being the best sounding preamp he has heard at any price point. Now I had to have one, but quickly learned that the company had folded after the founder's recent passing and finding one on the used market was going to be a test of my patience, which is in very short supply. I reached back to Aric and mentioned how much I loved his phono preamp and could he build me something that resembled The Dude in terms of its overbuilt everything and use of the best components available. He said that he would be more than happy to work with me on this, "cost no object" piece, but he would also send me one of his current preamps to listen to in the meantime and to use as a base point. Once I received and plugged it into the system and fed those fantastic XA 60.8's, the XP-20 was for sale. The synergy that I was hoping to gain by having two pieces of Pass gear was not there, but  Aric's preamp was sonic bliss! 

Fast forward to today and Aric has completed the preamp and is now letting it break in to fine tune the finished product. I am going to let Aric provide the details of the build and to field any questions, but excitedly he states that it is one of the best pieces of gear to come off his bench. Aric has been great to work with and is treasure in our little esoteric audio community! Those of you who are familiar with Aric and his fine products know very well what I am speaking of, and for those of you who are continuously, "chasing the audio dragon", you owe it to yourself to reach out to Aric! 

Oh, and by the way...The other Eric (who's masterful works we sing of), Tekton DI's continued to impress me and all those who are privy to my listening room to the extent that I have ordered the SE's and they are in the production queue!

Cheers and happy listening!

Brian

Tom, Charles, and Scott (sbayne),

Thanks so much for the positive feedback. I simply wrote what I heard and tried to keep it real.

Scott, I can tell you that I was more than a little hesitant to invest so much in a USB cable, but it brought such a profound improvement in sound quality to my digital front end (and to David’s) that I honestly don’t regret it for a second. Your inference that David’s system and the SEs in particular are able to fully flesh out and capitalize on such differences in cabling is spot on and I am glad that this came through in my writing.

Often the downside to that level of resolution is that such gear is less forgiving and I would be negligent not to state that I predict the SEs to be more demanding of upstream gear-and-cabling quality than the base DIs, which seem from all I have heard and read to be almost magical in their affability toward varying levels of upstream components/cabling. Perhaps David will weigh in on that, having now owned both speakers.

Thanks again guys,
Dave

$3k usb cables?  Give me break!  Okay now you've totally devolved this thread into hyperbole and confirmation bias ridden ridiculousness. 

And here they come. Please don't bring this vitriol to this thread. Please...

Dave

Vitriol? Dear God forgive me for having an opinion counter to yours. Exactly what does your post have to do with Tekton Speakers? Nothing. Exactly. You’re just chasing all the intelligent people away! : -) 

Ahh...does anyone realize that nothing like that is used at the recording end? They use bog standard digital cables from the likes of Mogami and Belden, with objectively good specs and performance. Digital transmission is not a Great Mystery, it is well understood, and, as evidence, we transmit digital data across the solar system now. I don't think that audio is the leading edge here.

This by the way is not to take anything at all away from the great speakers here!

Of course, professional studios do not use USB at all, so, there is that I guess.

Whether USB is preferable for digital and whether a person should spend thousands on a USB cable are interesting topics but they are not the topic of this thread.

I can understand the skepticism of a $3K cable (as many would be), but just state it as such and leave it at that unless you have experience with that specific cable in some regard.

Dave, thank you so much for sharing your findings and impressions on the SEs in this thread. I wasn't expecting that you would do so in public.

Thank you for such a detailed, thorough and complete write-up. Your not being previously exposed to a Tekton speaker or my components, room, and preferences, etc. makes your opinions and findings as an 'outsider,' as you put it,....carry greater weight and validity. There is nothing I can add or subtract from your 'review,' so I will not. It stands for what I also experienced and found in terms of overall performance, as well as the components and cabling we evaluated. On point! Believe me, I found out first hand and directly. No quarter given. : )  

It took time and energy and a commitment (as well as a supportive wife) to make the trip here to New Orleans....I am personally so very grateful and appreciative that you did. Please also thank your wife on my behalf.

To Dave's follow-up post...the DIs are revealing of components and changes upstream....this has been discussed multiple times within the thread and confirmed across the board by multiple owners of the DIs in disparate systems. Sometimes this is described in the negative...that a component is not 'forgiving.'  I prefer to frame in the positive, and for those interested in the SEs vs the DIs, I will say that the SEs are much, much more 'truthful' (than the DIs...which we find to be truthful to begin with) in their ultimate presentation of changes made upstream.
  
Charles and Tom and Terry and Prem, and now Dave, know this intimately and have been very helpful to me as I work towards getting the SEs, and my system, to a preference endpoint for me and my goals and my needs. The SEs are more demanding in this respect (also due to my wide music preferences which Dave mentioned in his post) but also much, much more rewarding.

What I have found, is that the system I put together with the DIs and which I was extremely satisfied with needs tweaking and possible reconfiguration to get to the 'rightness' I expect and demand from this hobby, and which the SEs are SO Supremely Capable Of!  

The SEs have moved the bar, and I want to clear it!

IMO, the DI, especially the SE, would be the perfect tool to assess all aspects of upstream components. Reading about listener’s nuanced experiences about supporting gear is a testament to the level of transparency that Tekton has achieved. 

I agree jcarcopo, I really am glad I bought my Impact monitors and this thread helped me decide. The talk of ridiculously priced cables, crossover parts etc takes away credibility of the posters who praised the speakers. And yes I tried some expensive to me stuff and walked away feeling scammed mostly. 

@laaudionut Brian, Thanks for sharing your journey with preamps in your system. It’s wonderful hearing from another very happy Aric Audio customer! I’m sure you are looking forward to your custom preamp and I, for one, would love to read a detailed comparison between Aric’s linestages and what they brought to your system vs the XP-20.

@travbrow I appreciate your comment very much.  If you choose to go down the placebophile yellow brick road you will convince yourself of anything to justify the excessive shrinking of your bank account.  Like @fetguy said this isn't rocket 🚀 science. Digital audio transmitted via USB is pretty simple to grasp and just simply works or it doesn't.  Many highend USB cables measure poorly and don't even carry a basic digital signal to their destination as adeptly as their mass produced brethren. 

I hope I'm fortunate enough on my next visit to NO that I get the pleasure of meeting David and hearing his system.

Tom, let me know when! It will be great to have you over and to compare notes on our different systems with the one common and brilliant component.

David, Congratulations on your excellent system. You've put the work and time in to achieve this level of success.

Charles, THANK You! You have been a leading influence in the journey. I am very grateful!!!

I've made a temporary cable decision for the Lyric integrated amp (though I'm thinking of changing it). I've taken a break from the Lyric cable synergy experimenting. Currently, I am working on the best pairing, within budget constraints, for the Pass separates and SE.

I will revisit the Lyric once I order and receive a new quad of power tubes.

The Mastersound demo should come together in my own system and room this month, thanks to the Distributor's efforts.

Once it's sorted out, I will report back.

@david_ten, it was certainly my pleasure to share the experience of the past few months.

Unfortunately, the day prior to my post yesterday I had written an even more lengthy and detailed write up, replete with all those audio superlatives, and the characteristics of each of the components I listed. However, upon hitting, "post your response", I received an error message and my effort on the matter was lost. So my post from yesterday was somewhat abbreviated. 

I will tell you, as someone who currently has Pass gear and the XP-20 specifically, that I was underwhelmed from the moment I introduced it to the XA 60.8's. Yes it was detailed and un-coloring, but the imaging was poor, the soundstage seemed compressed...it just did not sound,"musical" to my ears and taste. The moment I was able to to an A-B comparison using Aric's loaned preamp, I knew I was on to something special. The sound was much bigger, expressive, rich yet detailed, there was more space between the instruments..."that sounds live", was my wife's quote. And you know that is what we all strive for.

Aric expects to finish up work on, The Motherlode, as we have appropriately named it, and after I have given it ample time to break in and integrate with my Pass amps and DI's(soon to be the SE's), I will report back. I will share with you some of the features:

• Dual brushed aluminum chasis design separating the power supply and the control stage
  
• A huge toroidal transfer with several large Clarity TC filtering caps in the power supply
• the preamp will have a built in MM stage with two 6SL7 tubes and Jupiter output caps
• the line stage will have its own set of 6SL7 tunes and use two massive Dueland Cast PIO output caps
• TKD pots for both the volume and gain

Again, I am pretty excited to hear for myself, but Aric states that his initial listening was nothing short of mind blowing.

Thanks!

Brian

Iaaduionut, 
From the description of Aric's "Cost no object " preamplifier I do believe that it will provide truly superb sound quality.  Choosing the Duelund CAST PIO as coupling capacitors is an excellent decision,  truly top tier quality. Big power transformer and overbuilt power supply,  another excellent decision. How much line stage section gain will it have? I look forward to your listening impressions. 
Charles 

Brian,
Like you I've had nothing but great experiences dealing with Aric. Your preamp should be amazing. The single chassis 6SN7 linestage he built for me sounds great but yours should take things to a whole new level. Congrats. Please post pics when you can. While I'm very happy with the Audyn True Copper caps he used in my linestage and amp but your Jupiter and Duelund PIO caps should be really special. Enjoy!
Tom

charles1dad's-

When Aric and I were making all the considerations given what is was going to be paired with, this was his written quote, " I checked Pass XA60.8 specs, and we need 26 Db gain (so 6SN7 at 20 db is too weak), and then 50kohms single ended (RCA). The 6SL7 will rock in this position for all 4 tubes."

And truth be told, cost WAS some object. I wanted to do Dueland at every turn but that quickly escalated the overall cost. Aric was great in suggesting where I should not compromise, and where over spending was going to provide little to no ROI.

Tube regulated power supply? A very nice touch if that is being done. Fun stuff. 

Iaaduionut,
26 db of gain is a "lot" of gain for the line stage. Your speakers are pretty sensitive at 94 db . My speakers are 94 db as well and my Line Stage has 10 db of gain. Most often I am using the volume control (VC) in the 11AM to 2PM setting. With your 26 db of gain you may find your VC limited to a very narrow range of use and probably below the 10AM level or else it becomes too  loud. I trust Aric’s judgement but 26 db is a very high level of gain. Is the gain level adjustable?
Charles

charles1dad's,

Agreed, and so Aric made the gain adjustable so that I have more play in volume settings.

Hey guys! First, thanks Brian for posting about the Motherlode! Secondly, the gain needed for a line stage is dictated by the amp- not the speakers’ sensitivity. An amplifier has a voltage and impedance requirement at the input - to drive it to full output. One amp can need 10 db of gain while another needs 25, and yet another 35. Respectively a phono stage provides over 40 db of gain to bring the cartridge level up to line level. There are many 6SL7 based preamps, and even 12AX7 preamps, and the gain is adjustable on the preamp output. On the same (but obscure note), a McIntosh schematic I recently looked at has no less than 4-1/2, 12AX7 stages- per channel. One single 12AX7 stage can drive a 6550 tube to full output. Now THAT’S a ton of gain ;-) Best regards, Aric

And thanks for the kind words as well Tom!

@grannyring, Bill, yes, tube regulated power supply. And thank you again for all of your input on both The Dude and more importantly, what specific requirements I brought to Aric in what I would prefer to incorporate his, Dude Killer, as we originally began referring to it as. The information, and your experience in particular, that you shared with me was extremely helpful.

@mac48025, Tom, I knew that Aric was doing something special for you as well as I was reading through this thread the last month or so. Just based on the piece of gear he loaned me, what he did with yours must sound fantastic! 

Perhaps Aric will throw up some pics of The Motherlode on his site when complete, if not, I will do so when I receive it and give it a proper audition.

Brian

  Motherlode! LOL! 

Bill,

Difficult to top, The Dude, in terms of audio gear monikers! 

You need to get a nice badge made up that you can stick to this beauty. 

Already have the badge on its way- chrome, engraved with stainless allen screws no less ;-) Will be putting it up on my site once it's complete!

Oh my! That is great. 

Hi Aric,
Good point, total system gain is what I was alluding to and of course the gain of the power amplifier needs to be known. My amplifier most probably has more gain than the Pass Labs amplifier.  In my system 18 db of gain from the preamplifier was too much(very loud at 10AM VC setting) 10 db is ideal (for my amplifier). Another consideration would be the front end (source) voltage output.
Charles 

Another variable regarding power amplifiers is their sensitivity as measured in volts would influence the correct gain level of the preamplifier. Some amplifiers can be driven to full output with 1 volt or even less (My amplifier sensitivity is 0.7V). Some amplifiers are less sensitive and may require 2 or 3 volts to drive to full output. The Pass Labs may be in this latter category.
Charles

Exactly! I tend to want to design with some headroom in mind as there's nothing worse than running out of gain while the amp is just starting to open up. Like a governor on a hot rod.... No bueno!

Can't wait to see pics of the Motherode Aric. I don't know what a tube regulated power supply is but it sounds cool to me. Can't ever have enough tubes if you ask me. 

I wish I understood how gain affects how amps and pre amps worked together better......that's one of the reasons I had Aric build my preamp and amp together, to avoid having to worry about such issues. I know this much I can't turn the volume knob much over 9 o'clock without it become too loud for me. 

Brian, you're right the preamp and amp Aric built me sound fantastic......if only they had a cool name like Motherlode! Lol. I'll call the preamp Moe and the amp Foe. What a pair they make 😀

On a different note, great call teajay, Steve Winwoods Greatest Hits Live is a keeper. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals is another new fav of mine.

Tom

Tom,
I don’t doubt for a moment that your pre and power amplifier combo sound wonderful. If you can’t use your volume control much above 9AM it does suggest that there’s more gain in your system than you need. Ideally you want to be able to use the volume at a higher setting as this allows more VC range flexibility and "finer" gradients of volume adjustments.

My initial Coincident Statement Line Stage had 18 db of gain and VC was very limited to 8 to 10AM. I sent it back and had the gain deduced to 10db. As I stated above this provided a much broader (useful) range of the VC. You can try Rothwell attenuators (plugs in RCA receptor between the preamp and amplifier. They’re available in various levels of db reduction i.e. 4,6,12 db. They’re pretty effective. Harrison Labs is another brand to consider. 
Charles

Tom,
If your 300b amp has similar sensitivity to my Frankenstein and If your Concert Fidelity DAC output voltage is 2 volts or higher (My DAC is 3.1V) and with your 94 db speakers you don’t require much preamplifier gain.  I've been down this road 😊.
Charles

Charles,
I'll have you look at it soon. I'm hoping to have the kitchen back together this weekend after having to rip drywall out to repair plumbing ( being under the weather today didn't help) I'll finally be ready to have you over for a listen and we can discuss then. Right now there's no way I'd get to 10 o'clock on my VC without earplugs. Never thought I'd have to think about lowering gain with an 8 watt amp.....lol. 
Tom