No Pain No Gain?

the following statement is true:

"no gain, no pain"

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).

Greg, I was not referring to my system's noise floor, which is very low. Only if you put your ear on the tweeter and turn the volume past 3 quarters you start hearing a little hiss. If you sit back 8 feet, you can't even hear it anymore. I was referring to theoretical S/N. Anyhow, I don't think the ML is faulty in any way.

Thanks Larry for your explanations. You're right about the matching of inputs, and currently I have only one. So much of it has to do with my perceived comfort of volume level and where the "dial" sits.