Avantgarde Trios too loud with my amps


I just bought a pair of Avantgarde Acoustic Trio speakers and run them on BAT VK-5i and BAT VK-60 monos!
The problem: They are still too loud at the lowest volume setting on my tube amps and listening to music at night is almost impossible since my kids are asleep.
I have my phono preamp under control since it allows me to change the output, but listen to my digital source ( ML 31.5 - 30.5 combo) is definitely too loud!

Does it mean I have to go and buy another preamp?
any other ideas are highly appreciated!

many thanks,

mckorzi
mckorzi
You can also easily go to one BAT VK60...have to take off the bottom cover, change a few jumpers and a wiring harness...call bat or your dealer here...
Chadeffect,
That was very sound advice.With a speaker of this caliber and sensitivity those simpler circuit amplifiers could provide some very natural sound and excellent tone.Something to think about.Mckorzi, if you read chad`s system page you`ll see he`s used a multitude of amplifier topologies. He speaks from well grounded experience.
Regards,
I would seriously consider other amps. I had duos with BAT 150s and it was to much I had much better sound with lower powered tube amps or even the pass aleph 3 for that matter. Trios being such a sensitive speaker were made to be used with the very low power tube amps that create such a beautiful sound but are not practical for most speakers.
Your BAT components are very good. I wouldn't be so fast to get rid of them. There are some things you may want to try first. Even though your amps are more powerful than what you really need, they’re very quiet and should work with your speakers.

If it was my system, the first thing I would try would be to switch both amps back to stereo. Not only would it cut the power output in half, you would then be able to do a vertical biamp. More likely than not, you would notice an improvement in sound quality as well. When you bridge a stereo amp it usually doesn’t sound as good.

Another way to go would be to call BAT and explain the situation. I would ask them 3 things. 1. See if you can use alternate tubes. 2. Ask if there is a way to lower the gain on your preamp. 3. Remove 1 power tube from each channel and go single ended. Under no circumstances would I do this without asking BAT first. I can do it with my VAC 30/30 but it may not be OK to do this with BAT.
Zd542,

You make some very good points if keeping the BATs, but the very quality these speakers show so clearly can only be found in flea power. Otherwise you may as well go back to low sensitivity speakers.

We are in pretty specialist waters here. Obviously you can use anything to drive Trios. I even had 1,000w monos on them!

The list of power tubes I mention in an above post (and other tubes of course) but especially those I mention will take the OP to places I'm sure he didn't know existed.

These low powered tubes present Timbre, organicness, soul, layering, dynamics, sweetness, beauty, image size etc in ways I have never heard in any other forms of amplification. Each tube bringing more or less of the above traits. So the ability to tune the sound to your own taste is almost infinite.

Those powerful tubes used in the BAT are for another problem these speakers do not have. You will miss some rare sonic virtues that are available.