The psychological factor

aewarren,

I think your right that every preamp has a sweet spot below which the sound is compromised.  I think I found it.

On my Parasound A21/P5 combo, I typically listen with the volume control at 9 position, at night even less.  If I go above 11, it starts to feel uncomfortably loud.  Maybe it's my getting older -- I don't like the screaming volume level at hard rock concerts either.  Or, maybe its the limits imposed by my speakers, Martin Logan 60 XT?  Maybe they are best a laid-back volume?  Or it could be my room acoustics, or some combination of the above.

I find the time of day is synergistic with the control position.
So 8.00pm when I'm wide awake I set it at 8.00.
By 11.00pm I'm getting dozy and find 11.00 best.
But if I really get into it and listen until 3.00am then I set at 3.00 - good and loud, so I don't fall asleep.
I'm thinking of getting a motorised control that automatically moves the control slowly to the right so I don't have to keep getting up from my chair.

People with remotes don't have this trouble  Their settings are like   24, 37, 54 or 116.
Perhaps squares will sound best - 25,   49,   81  or whatever.
If that's right then cubes and fourth powers must be better or settings that are powers of more than one root, 64 would be good.

Remote users, please let us know!

My ARC  LS15 pre amp has a remote that is very convenient and I can also control the volume with my Exogal Comet plus DAC through my phone or the remote that came with the Exogal
I typically set the Exogal to 100 and let the LS 15 do the volume control. I wish my SVS Ultra 13 Sub had a remote though. For my listening, it's not the the quanity of volume, but rather the quality of the volume 

The situation will be different with resistor ladders and the like, but don't conventional pots (e.g. ALPS) have an optimal sonic operational range, which is usually about mid-way between min and max?