Avantgarde Trios too loud with my amps

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.

I rarely recommend what I personally use, but the Lamm SET amps are very synergistic with the Avantgardes and will allow you to hear why both products are highly regarded.
You should probably get some help from some one who knows the speaker in setting them up properly. I've had the Duo for six years, and there are significant differences with small changes in set-up, wiring, and adjustment of crossover to woofers. They can deliver life-like sound, sound lackluster or make you run away screaming, depending on small changes in set-up.

What Whart said - the Lamm SETs are a match made in heaven with Avantgardes. OP also might consider a preamp (like Cary SLP-05) with L&R gain controls, plus a master volume control.

The speakers are worth the effort!

It's not the amount of power, it's the gain structure of your system when listening to your digital source. Contact BAT about lowering the preamp's gain. Alternatively, SMC makes a device that reduces system gain by 12dB that works in either balanced or single ended systems. You could insert it before your preamp.