Now, these are some fine responses. Al, your advice is ever highly informative and always a pleasure to read (in my posts and many others). Doug, you turned me on to bridging the Pathos Classic amps I have a Cambridge Audio 840W which I'll probably do the same with as funds allow but the desire to NOT have an active preamp is largely based on money. The expense of a really good preamp is a deal breaker for me. I've had a few decent ones from Celeste (by SIM Audio), Perreaux, and Antique Sound Labs and all were easily bettered by not having them in the audio chain. I believe I had a Theta Miles and then a Consonance Droplet 5.0 with these 3 preamps. I do pay attention to cabling and had quality cables/cords on hand so the preamps were handicapped in this way. The sound was just obviously more open and detailed without the preamps. And I didn't hear a reduction of dynamics or bass weight without the preamps. Both of these CDP's had plenty on their own. Perhaps a top notch preamp would take my system(s) to the next level but I just can't afford it. And Erik, I like your advice. I'll look into the Jensen Transformers. Thank you all very much!
can you alter the gain of an amplifier?
I never use active preamps and prefer sources with built-in volume controls over passive preamps when possible. I've had great success using cd players by Consonance, Theta, & OPPO directly in my amp(s) but find that sometimes, even with the volume full up, the sound level is just not loud enough. With my big, solid state amps, I know I'm not out of power, just not enough gain (this was particularly problematic with an Aleph clone). I was wondering if it's possible/feasible to alter the gain of an amp to achieve better results using a passive volume control or the on-board volume control in the source? I won't be doing the work myself. I just want to know if a decent repair/mod shop could make the alterations. Thanks!