No Pain No Gain?


I am wondering if anybody has some useful advice as to the true function of gain settings and their sonic effects other than volume control. I have a ML 32 which has the possibility set set gain for each input at 0/+6/+12/+18db and an EMMlabs CDSA-SE cd player that has a high/low gain option (I believe +14/+18db). What would be the optimal setting? Or is it totally based on personal taste, or is this functionality only really for matching volume levels for several differing sources?

Any helpful comments on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Henry
mtkhl567
Thanks for all your response. At certain levels of higher gain settings I believe it amplified hiss levels, when they are already on the recording. So I am now inclined to have the pre-amp setting at 0 db gain with the EMMLabs player at high (+18db). I just love the absolute blackness, and silent parts - of musical passages - in Classical and Jazz recordings.

If and when I do get a record player, I guess we'll have to experiment with the gain setting/matching more carefully.

Regards
Henry
Mr Tennis, I'm no bodybuilder, but they would argue that the opposite holds true for them, no pain no gain :-)

But the Emmlabs unfortunately doesn't come with a no gain option. The lesser the gain, the higher you need to turn up volume, the more you get distortion and/or noise. The best result for my system for now is high gain setting on the CDP and 0db or 6db on the pre-amp, depending on the CD recording. Great that I can change that easily by remote.

Regards
Henry
the higher you need to turn up volume, the more you get distortion and/or noise
If so, there's something definitely wrong with the S/N -- the system noise floor is veru high, or gain stages, or...
I strongly suggest you check it out.
As far as the ML No. 32 is concerned, I don't think that either the gain setting or the input offset affects the sound. I believe that these controls are used to match relative levels of each input. I don't think the different settings engage different number of stages of amplification; they just set the selection of the resistors in the stepped attenuator. So, for any given volume level--whether set by going +6 on the gain and -6 on the offset, or just increasing the volume knob by 6db-- the same set of resistors are switched into the circuit.

By the way, I do miss the incredible flexibility and terrific implementation of volume/balance control of my Ref. No. 32 (currently relegated to back-up status).