Wow, I’m really impressed with all the help. I had forgotten I started this thread until today. Senioritis maybe, haha. It turns out it was user error after all. I remember checking for the mute button But it must have been on during the signal. I tested the same input on the amp with a different source preamp and it worked. For a few days until the power amp died. It was over 30 years old and was a stopgap given to me when my Krell died. So then I thought to test the preamp again and sure enough it worked into my headphones from the line level output.
Anyway thanks so much for all the intelligent and thoughtful responses. You guys rock!
Nolan