audiobrian OP
If you have EMM Labs SACD player with high/low output switch on the back, you could put it on high 3.6v and just use a good quality passive preamp, for the best sound, true to your source.
https://www.emmlabs.com/images/legacy/Brochures/CDSA_brochure.pdf
Because you have more than enough output (3.6v) from it to drive the D'Agostino's into full power clipping.
Nelson Pass,
"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."
Cheers George