AR SP8 mk2 high output volume

@Georgehifi I will not make decisions because they are necessary to respect the Nelson Pass Bible.

I'm saying that the easiest cheapest way out of your high gain predicament, with "gods" recommendation to back it up.
 
Unless you want to have sound quality compromises, by having two volume pots in the siganl path or voltage dividers ( Rothwell attenuators)  at the inputs of the A30 both causing impedance mismatching problems.
 
But seeing this AR pre seems to be some sort of cherished attachment, and your not keen to dump it
Then the A30 needs to be mod'ed properly, input switching and volume potentiometer disconnection, with 100kohm loading resistor to take it's place to ground and a 50% gain lowering, all done by a tech with view on stability still, is the only other way out!!

You can't have your cake and eat it too. So suck it up and do one or the other. because your just going around in circles unless you do.

Cheers George

Good to know the A30 volume pot does not degrade the signal when set lower than full. I learned something. 

@georgehifi Do you think I'm lying when I say that I like what I hear when I connect the AR? It's very easy for me to use the A30 as a built-in amplifier and keep the AR as a collector's item. Can I also buy a Dac with variable output or does this also contradict Nelson's Bible?

What is evident is that there is a discrepancy between people who, like you, are interested in helping and I am grateful. You affirm that using two potentiometers compromises quality but does not say to what extent it compromises it, or what should I hear anomalous as a consequence of that.
I remind you that the origin of this problem is that Guy Sergeant, the manufacturer of the A30, has put in his instruction book that this integrated amplifier can function as an EXCELLENT power amp, just by setting the potentiometer of the device to the maximum. This gives me to understand that if there is any compromise with the quality of the signal, it may be minimal.
Grateful for your help, but not for repeating the same thing many times, it becomes more true.

@georgehifi Do you think I’m lying when I say that I like what I hear when I connect the AR?

Not in the least, but you started this thread asking for answers to your high gain problem, you now have them and don’t care to look at what’s said here, and not just by me. Like I said your going round in circles.

Cheers George

in fact I made that query, and it was not me who began to question about the possible degradation of the signal because we are talking about an integrated amplifier. I think is you who does not mind looking at what is said here, because here more things are being said than what you say.

I just received a direct response from the creator of the A30 Guy Sergeant, who had asked this question about the signal degradation when you use the potentiometer of the device as a power amp.

This is what he said:

If you use the potentiometer at full or nearly full that effectively takes it out of circuit. It presents a high resistance (100 Kohm) so the signal takes the easier path into the amplfier itself.