Please Recommend a Low Gain Solid State Amp ARC

30dB of voltage gain is slightly higher than average, while an amp with around 24dB gain may be more typical - but the difference is only 6dB, and that won't buy you much additional range on your volume control (very little, in fact). The real issue is the volume control not resolving the low-end of the attenuation range well (combined with the high gain of the preamp), but there isn't much you can do about that. If you are going to change amps, try to find one closer to 20dB gain if possible, or at least try to maximize the gain difference.

Another option is to use a truly transparent signal attenuator designed for use in high-performance audio systems. By strange coincidence, I happen to be making just the thing ;-)

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

Honestly, Audio Research in my opinion has not produced a solid state amplifier that can compete with the McCormack's soundstaging & musicality except for the AR 100.2 which has been tauted as one of their best solid state amps. Their forte has mostly been in tube gear with some exceptions.

Right now I have the opposite problem you are experiencing. My active preamp is not providing enough gain for my current amp for the exception of the CD player & most always the CD player has more gain than the other source components. If you mostly listen to CDs it would nice if you could find a quality player with built-in level control to alleviate your problem. If push comes to shove I would prefer your situation.

Personally I don't like AudioResearch preamps coz they have too much gain. McCormack or Wyred4Sound preamp will work much and much better again. Remember there's no preamp sounds good just by itself, but one matching your system.

Thank you for your help. Steve, I do really enjoy the DNA-125. It is a wonderful amplifier, and I can see why people often partner it with Vandersteen speakers.

Is anyone here familiar with the ARC SD135? According to Kalvin at ARC, it has about 16db of gain when used with single ended connectors. The SD-135 seems to be an obscure model as I cannot find much information about it. I do not think it was reviewed by any of the audiophile press. However, from the online posts I have read by its owners, the SD-135 seems to be a highly well-regarded amplifier.

all you need is attenuation and no gain or maximum to +6db. look for the volume control db range which is far more important.