Turning the volume up

Maggie,

Nope. Elizabeth is referring to what "full range output" means. That is, the maximum output from a CD player via fixed RCA outputs was decided to be 2V.

More here:

http://www.lavryengineering.com/wiki/index.php/Line_level

Best,

E

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think @elizabeth is referring to the AC voltage required to produce 1 mV of power peak-to-peak.

2 volt output on digital sources is a curse! One volt would be much more useful and still capable of driving most amps to full output!

I have an Audio Note IQ3 cart (6.5 mV) mounted on my Nottingham Interspace Jr. TT's tonearm and I have to increase the gain as well. 

Very common for an analog front-end because vinyl requires more gain (power increase of the signal) than your digital sources.   

As @tkr pointed out, the output of your cartridge although low is within normal range.    Explore other MM cartridges with higher output but don't be surprised if you still find yourself turning up that volume control knob.

Enjoy!

I use this outboard attenuator on my CDP to lower the volume to match my phono. You are better off using the volume in the upper range of the dial on your preamp. BTW, between 12 and 1 is perfect!
http://www.schiit.com/products/sys

Thanks everyone for responding.

dweller- good point, unfortunately I found out the hard way. It happened yesterday and scared the s..t out of me. 

Just don't forget to turn volume down after playing LPs.

+ 1 tkr!

No. In fact, it’s the digital source that is at "fault" here -being too loud after a short travel of the volume control. It's all good!

No. 

I know this might seem like a very dumb question but I need to turn the volume knob to 12 -1 o'clock just to get a volume anywhere close to my digital source at 9 o'clock. Is this bad for the amp or speakers to turn up so high?

I googled your cartridge, and it seems to be a moving magnet. Output is 3.5 mV, which is lowish for a moving magnet, but well within normal range. Cartridge output varies wildly, and if you are happy with the sound of your vinyl, there is IMO no point in doing anything but turn up the volume. 

I'm using the ultra tracker cartridge. 

-Which pickup are you using?