audio research ls25 mk1 volume issue

I guess you fixed the buzzing issue you had?

I think you are kind of lucky. I get tired of preamps that are too loud with the vol nob on 1/8 the way up. Maybe you are right in the sweet spot?

88 is a fairly low output speaker too.

The position of the volume control is arbitrary and has nothing to do with "being hard on your tubes." The actual listening level will be determined by a combination of factors, namely: the output of your source component combined with the amount of gain provided by the preamp and gain of the amplifier and the efficiency of the speakers.

Earlier posters are correct that for practical reasons it is preferable to run your LS25 near 12 o'clock where there are many more subtle steps of adjustment available on the control than at 9 o'clock where there are relatively few. If you count the steps available between each of the indicator lights on the volume control you will find that there are only 2 or 3 steps between the lights down at 8-9 o'clock and there are as many as 6 steps between the lights at 10-2 o'clock. It is easiest to do this with the remote by quickly tapping the VOL + button.

ARC uses a high quality resistor network for volume control rather than a traditional potentiometer and they do this for better and more consistent sound quality across the entire range of the control. On older preamps with a potentiometer, you would actually get better sound quality as you turned the knob up higher because there would be less of the "pot" present. Getting rid of the pot entirely and running the preamp wide open would be better still. The LS25 (along with other modern preamps that use a similar scheme for volume) sound much more transparent like a preamp run "wide open" at all times.

The LS25 gives you the ability to optimize the volume range for each individual source by using the low, medium or high GAIN setting knob (6,12 or 18 db). Go through your sources and set the GAIN knob so that each source can be run with comfortable listening levels occurring between 10 and 2 o'clock on the volume control.

This feature can also be useful to make switching between high output digital sources and low output sources. like phono, more seamless.

With the highest gain setting selected, I'm always between 12:00 and 3:00 (LOUD!). LS25-> VT130SE -> Ohm 100+sub or Maggie SMG+sub or Verity Parsifal Encore. Just a somewhat back-ended attenuation scheme on this pre.

Marty