Attenuater Autonomy?


I received a new amp lately (Krell KSA-150), and have it hooked up to my pre, which is a old school AV processor (Proceed PAV). Everything sounds find, but my normal listening volume is between 3-7. I believe that on this unit  I can lower the whole attenuated range of the output signal to the amp, requiring me to turn the pre volume higher and thus make the amp work 'a little harder' to bring the music to my listening range. 

So my questions are 1) by making the amp work 'a little harder' will the music sound any different? I'm guessing no. 2) By doing this, am I burdening my system in any way that may not make a sonic difference. I am also guessing know. 3) The real question is, by doing this will I be able to attenuate the volume in smaller audible steps? Sometimes, my ideal volume really would be between 1-2 for some albums.

The reason I am bothering you all instead of just trying this out for myself is that my pre requires a TV to display its many settings menus, and righteously do not own a TV. I am also righteously too lazy to borrow one from a friend, unless I know for sure that it will work. - Thanks.
ubersujith

Showing 2 responses by georgehifi

Your Proceed has a very nice low output impedance of 20ohm, and should be used direct into your KSA150, as I believe your doing, any added preamp between the Proceed and KSA150 will degrade the sound quality. 

I believe there is an input pre-set level control on your Proceed, this should be set so that the Master Volume is at 1/2 to 3/4 full for normal loud listening.

This will give you the best (lowest) noise figures, as your using the max output from your source and not attenuating too much just to make it up again with the gain stage of the Proceed

Cheers George