Gain of Power Amp vs Playing at low volume


I have come upon comments on the gain of a power amp vs its ability to play music at low volume. here's what i read from a forum
"The power amp has 30 dB gain. For me it is sometimes a problem to play music quietly."

I did a google, and Gain = 10 log (Pout/Pin), where P = power

could anyone pls help me to understand why at 30 dB there will be a problem to play music quietly? So to play music at low volume without lost of details like late in the nite, what should be the ideal Gain?

Thanks
rc5al

Showing 1 response by shadorne

It depends on matching with the preamp. I have always used poweramps with channel gain adjust controls - so you can set the gain optimaly.

Perhaps you are reading about people using a poweramp without preamp => using the source as pre-amp and the poweramp volume control to set volume?