Low gain amp system matching


Dear Audiogoner,

Need your advise regarding system matching with low gain amplifier.

- Audio Note ANE Spe HE Signature speaker: 98.5 dB when placed in the corner (and that is how it's setup in my room). I believe the impedance of the speaker is above 6 ohm for most of the frequency band.
- Audio Note M3 preamplifier: gain of 15dB with input sensitivity specified as "126mV for 1V output".
- My source/DAC puts out 2V signal.

Given the above, a low gain amp with input sensitivity of 2V for full output would work in my system? The stepped attenuator of M3 has 36 steps. 
radiohead99

Showing 1 response by radiohead99

Thank you @kijanki for your helpful response. Correct, that the preamp gain is 18dB, not 15dB. I don't know which position of the attenuator will represent the unity gain on my  preamp. But there should be enough steps to attenuate the signal such that the amp input sees a reasonable voltage. But don't know if the usable range will be idea.

It sounds to me that if anything I may have to worry about too much gain rather than too little gain, right?