I think this is helping me understand what is going on here:
I am going to target approx 2.5V resulting output voltage for a given preamp, with the following options:
- The Exposure 3010s2d preamp comes in at 2V, which is close, but still needs some bump in voltage to get to 2.5V and does not simplify my system from two boxes to one.
- My Audio Refinement is 3.8V, so if I get a -3 db attenuator I get very close to 2.5V.
- The Exposure 3010s2d integrated has 1.0V preamp (if both inboard and outboard) and would need ~ 8 db increase to get anywhere close to 2.5V (this is just under 3x absolute value modifier over option #2) and still does not get my system simplified.
Calculations for #2 with -3db attenuators between AR Pre5 and Multi5:
- original output voltage: 1.0V RMS == Lv 0 11.59 dBv
- decrease Lv by -3 db: 8.59 Lv == 2.69 RMS
Calculations for #3 if I could introduce a +10db increase on the 3010s2d integrated:
- original output voltage: 1.0V RMS == Lv 0
- increase Lv by +8: 8 Lv == 2.51 RMS
All calculations from: https://sengpielaudio.com/calculator-db-volt.htm