too many knobs!! help!

[davestradamu]

hello, now that i have fooled you into thinking this thread is about some monster silver-face with 100 knobs, i would like some help.

This question concerns the volume/gain knobs on my DAC, pre and amp.

The volume knob on my DAC is full on and bypassed
The volume knob on my pre is what i use to control volume
The gain knobs on my amp are almost all the way full. (i only have 75wpc into maggies so i thought that might help)

I have played around with different methods of adjusting the volume and each sounds different, but i cant decide which is best.

High level on preamp? <- makes slight hiss
High level on amp? <- slightly less hiss

either way the noise floor is still very quiet compared to other systems i have put together.

what do you guys do with your separates if your amp has gain knobs?

cheers!

 

[pflyer]

I don't have that option with the set-up I have. I used to have adcom and ended up doing what you did (adjust - try - repeat). I can't recall exactly where I had them set, but I ended up with everything set toward the middle settings and tweaking. I'm sure someone else will be along soon with more help.

 

[wizargoz]

My experience has been to crank the pre about half-way, then use the amp for volume control. Works well for me...

 

[voltcontrol]

I set everything to keep output at around 0db max and use the pre as volume control.

 

[davestradamu]

I set everything to keep output at around 0db max and use the pre as volume control.

how can i test the output and measure db? would 0 db simply be the 12'oclock position or about halfway?

thanks for the help.

 

[century tek]

0 db is actually wide open. A simple power amplifier with no level controls is considered 0 db at the output.