My amp is the Berning ZH270. It has a volume control of it's own, but if I dial back the volume on the Berning the music is not as full or dynamic. By running the volume all the way up on the Berning you take that control out of the circuit. This sounds better, but the gain is very high on the amp. On Cd's I can only run the volume of the Cortese up to about 9 o'clock and on LP's I can only run the volume up to about 8 o'clock. That is not much room for volume, but using the low gain switches really hurts the sound of the music in my system. I agree each person has to use the gain swiches to their advantage. I spoke with Mick about this and he says the problem is that so many amp designers run the gain up on the amps to allow for use of a CD player straight into the amp, or for other reasons. This is why Mick is trying to give the gain choices he does.