Please Recommend a Low Gain Solid State Amp ARC

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.

Since you have already made an attempt at lowering the gain of your SP-8 my guess is your source is where the real problem lies not the amp/preamp combination. If you are using a Theta with 7 volts output or some other digital source with high voltage that is what needs to be corrected.

Well, I really think the culprit is that SP-8. I'd be willing to forward some funds to help you pay for a new pre. :-)