It would bug me if: 1. The high output phono stage was sarurating the first amplification stage on your pre-amp (signs could be loss of dynamics, blown fuses or speaker damage due to clipping). 2. I thought there was a chance that I'd really hammer my power amp and speakers if I forgot and left the volume in the cd player position and then dropped the needle. Were it I, the high gain would make me crazy from wondering about sound degradation and worrying about blue smoke. I'd drop a couple hundred in some attenuators if needed, after contacting the vendors to ask about the best/cheapest way to drop gain a bit.
phono stage question
I plugged my Lyra Helikon cartridge into my VTL 5.5 MC stage and the gain was so high I could barely move the volume control. I then plugged into the MM stage of the same preamp and it sounds OK and I have good use of the volume control. Is this OK ? The Helikon is MC cartridge. Is this unusual ?