My Yamaha clips at 3/4 volume


I have a Yamaha M-45 and Aragon 28K preamp driving a pair of A/D/S L810 speakers. The problem is that the amp clips at 3/4 volume and a couple of times the preamp turned off. Does it sound like there's an issue with the preamp or the amp. When the clipping or whatever it may be happens the speakers have virtually no detectable distortion which leads me to believe that isn't the problem.
Do I just need more power for the L810's to satisfy my need for volume?
Thanks for any responses
westernnyer
Hi Western,
-By now you've probably figured out that "Class A" relates to selecting a more refined but lower-wattage element of your amp, and is unrelated to the speaker "A" and "B" selections. So, connecting the speakers to A is fine. As Elevick indicated, just use one speaker pair at a time with this amp. Also suggest you switch off the unused speaker channel.

-Are you saying that output volume with these speakers was previously higher using Yamaha A-700 or other gear, or that you want greater volume that you haven't obtained yet?


Elevick,
Glad to see your advice here as an M45 owner! If these are high efficiency speakers, should Western opt to power them in Class A mode if possible? What preamps did you use with M45?

Agree that opening up volume pot at amp input is the next thing to try.

But at a risk of muddying the waters, there are a couple of Yamaha amp reviews around that also noted clipping problems using newer preamps. The solution at the time was to increase resistance at the amp input level until the clipping was brought under control.

This would suggest that if setting the volume pot (for speaker A) wide open (fully counterclockwise, to infinity symbol) as recommended doesn't solve the problem, you might also then consider a test to go the other way.

That is, incrementally increase amp input impedance by turning the pot clockwise in steps, while turning up the preamp volume to keep overall output volume relatively constant.
I mainly used Classe, Sumo and a Creek OBH 12 pre-amps. Can you tell what I like in a pre? Simple, clean nothing tricky.