Marty, i ran into the same problem when using a couple of previous Preamp / Processor's. Some of them simply do not have the required gain that we really need to make things stroke. This can be evidenced by looking at the output levels that Sound & Vision obtained when comparing the Anthem AVM-20, Aragon Stage One and Sunfire Theater Grand Mk III. While these are the specs for subwoofer output, one might logically assume that similar specs could be carried over to their full range outputs also.
The Aragon could only put out a MAXIMUM of 2.2 volts prior to clipping. While this is enough to drive most amps to full output, one would have to have the gain levels pretty much cranked and have a relatively strong input signal from the source to "make the system rock" in this case. If this sounds familiar to you, it was the same situation that i had been put in previously also. While the gain control on one unit that i had would read out up to a +10 mark for "full blast", i consistently found myself running the control at 0 or even +2 just to get reasonable volume out of the system. With the same discs, power amps and speakers being used, my current Pre / Pro allows me to keep the gain set at -25 or so. This results in volume levels that will literally shake the house during loud passages and / or have a lot of low frequency content.
In the same Sound & Vision review, the Anthem and Sunfire units were both capable of well in excess of 8+ volts of output prior to clipping. As such, both of these units have more than enough gain to drive any amp that you want to. There is enough amplification and headroom here to easily compensate for weakly recorded signals and / or sources that simply do not output sufficient signal to really "drive" the preamp hard enough to sustain high level output.
Given the fact that you have "matching" preamp / power amp, i would "assume" that the manufacturer took steps to make sure that they were compatible with each other. While you mention trying other DVD players, cables & inputs, etc..., exactly what inputs have you used ? You only mention digital inputs, which leads me to believe that you have not tried the analogue outputs from the DVD player into the analogue inputs of the Pre / Pro. While i can understand wanting to take advantage of the higher quality DAC's in the Pre / Pro, if you haven't already tried this, it might be worth a shot.
Just as a side note: Have you ever read the manual ? You might look for notes on if the unit has "input trim" adjustments for the digital circuits. Some units come set very low from the factory. They do this on purpose so that one would have a harder time overdriving the input of the Pre / Pro. If they did not do this and someone was using a very high output source with a strong recording, this would tend to clip the Pre / Pro, sound like hell and potentially do damage to it and possibly the amp / speakers also. As such, they adjust the controls conservatively and hope that an owner will either read the manual and / or experiment with the unit enough to make it work as they would like.
Have you ever contacted your dealer and / or Sim Audio about this problem ? Sean
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The Aragon could only put out a MAXIMUM of 2.2 volts prior to clipping. While this is enough to drive most amps to full output, one would have to have the gain levels pretty much cranked and have a relatively strong input signal from the source to "make the system rock" in this case. If this sounds familiar to you, it was the same situation that i had been put in previously also. While the gain control on one unit that i had would read out up to a +10 mark for "full blast", i consistently found myself running the control at 0 or even +2 just to get reasonable volume out of the system. With the same discs, power amps and speakers being used, my current Pre / Pro allows me to keep the gain set at -25 or so. This results in volume levels that will literally shake the house during loud passages and / or have a lot of low frequency content.
In the same Sound & Vision review, the Anthem and Sunfire units were both capable of well in excess of 8+ volts of output prior to clipping. As such, both of these units have more than enough gain to drive any amp that you want to. There is enough amplification and headroom here to easily compensate for weakly recorded signals and / or sources that simply do not output sufficient signal to really "drive" the preamp hard enough to sustain high level output.
Given the fact that you have "matching" preamp / power amp, i would "assume" that the manufacturer took steps to make sure that they were compatible with each other. While you mention trying other DVD players, cables & inputs, etc..., exactly what inputs have you used ? You only mention digital inputs, which leads me to believe that you have not tried the analogue outputs from the DVD player into the analogue inputs of the Pre / Pro. While i can understand wanting to take advantage of the higher quality DAC's in the Pre / Pro, if you haven't already tried this, it might be worth a shot.
Just as a side note: Have you ever read the manual ? You might look for notes on if the unit has "input trim" adjustments for the digital circuits. Some units come set very low from the factory. They do this on purpose so that one would have a harder time overdriving the input of the Pre / Pro. If they did not do this and someone was using a very high output source with a strong recording, this would tend to clip the Pre / Pro, sound like hell and potentially do damage to it and possibly the amp / speakers also. As such, they adjust the controls conservatively and hope that an owner will either read the manual and / or experiment with the unit enough to make it work as they would like.
Have you ever contacted your dealer and / or Sim Audio about this problem ? Sean
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