Question about Gain, amp power and volume

I think you are under the impression that there is an increase in sound quality with a higher volume knob setting. Not true. Keep the playback volume level where you like it. It's determined primarily by your listening room and the distance to your speakers - any amplifier over 20 watts has the potential for being too loud for the average listening room. Your system in someone elses room "9-oclock" may be too high and in another's "3-oclock" may not be loud enough. By all means, get rid of the attenuators.

Most any amp will sound best wide open. Volume controls (Esp. cheaper ones) are rather non-linear at the lower ends of their ranges. So I can see why he wants to run it more wide open.

Ed's is on point - in fact some manufacturers will even admit to this, that the pre-amp sounds best with the volume between 10 & 2. Also the volume control on many pre amps is not linear, the gradiations being much smaller as you rotate the dial going from as much (or more) than 3dbs per click to 1db. Its much easier to fine tune such a volume control if the effect of the output seen by the amp can be reduced. Personally, I agree with Sean re attenuators except for those circumstances where the input sensitivity of the amp and the speakers is so high as to make the preamp residual noise too apparent. Its a matter of your priorities - which way to go. Best way is to think it out before you buy your stuff, however unlikely it is that this will happen.

Ed brought up a good point and i agree. Having said that, i would rather have too much gain and have to keep the pot turned down than to have to run it at max and still be shy on volume. This is the kind of thing that boils down to component design and versatility. Since the manufacturer doesn't know the electrical characteristics of the mating amplifier, they try to cover all bases. Having said that, those with tube based preamps and SS power amps are in the worst boat. That is, they've got so much gain that they have to keep the pot turned WAY down most of the time. In order to increase volume control resolution / reduce the "touchiness" of the volume jumping around, they have to insert some type of attenuator in line. Now you've got two attenuators in line, which can only sound worse. Sean
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I must agree with Sean in that it is not necessary to have so much power to have really quality audio so you really don't need to turn your knob past the eleven o'clock position to get maximum performance.

One interesting note is that your volumn control really does not increase the signal as you start from the lowest position but rather this is the setting that most restricts the signal.

There is lots of terminology for this, but suffice it to say that the pre delivers the signal at miximum volumn and the volumn knob proceeds to restrict the signal so that what we call full voulmn is the signal with least restriction. There might be, perhaps some thing to be gotten by minimal restriction of the signal, especially if your volumn control knob is a less than a satisfactory one.