Super-sensitive volume controls - remedy?

I know live sound is different, but when I was running sound for my bands, I set the board to run at unity gain and then used the input trims on the power amp to control the gain structure. I almost considered a pro amp just to get that level of control, but I don't want to replace my Musical Design D-140. It sounds to me that the Rothwells would be accomplishing the same thing as the input trims.

Which brings me to a couple more questions. Where are all the power amplifiers that require so much gain from a preamp for this to even become a problem? I know I've never owned one, and I've had a few. If I purchased a Parasound power amp, would I still be using only a small portion of the volume control?

Thanks for the responses everyone. I guess maybe I need to rethink where I'm going with all this. The Parasound 2100 seemed like a good idea because of the number of inputs (including phono) and HT bypass and all. I actually don't have as many sources as I used to, but I've conditioned myself to want them just in case. Maybe if I found a passive like the Schiit SYS only with 3 or 4 inputs I may be able to set it up to do the front channels from my AV, my CD player, then get a phono stage........etc....etc...etc.

I have read some very negative things about the attenuators, but others seemed very enthusiastic about them, which leads me to be very cautious about going that route. I would especially not want to "work my way up the price ladder" for something that seems like a band-aid to me.

The Denon DL-160 I'm using has a 1.6mv output, and I get a comfortably loud volume level at about 10:00. I can't imagine how the Parasound would handle my Shure M97XE at 4mv!

My Rotel RC-995 was very high gain whether I used it with my B&K ST-140, Hafler DH-500, or the Musical Design D-140, which underscores my question: where are the power amps that need all that juice?

I don't think I'm a particularly difficult person to please when it comes to sound, but this sort of rampant incompatibility is frustrating.

Thanks for all your input. After posting, I did some searches for the attenuators and found that this issue comes up fairly often.

I am using the MM input for the DL-160 and can't imagine what the Shure would be like. As for speaker sensitivity, it obviously has played a part in this, however my concerns with the Rotel preamp occurred back when I was using Magnepans, and, as I recall, was just as bad, if not worse.

I may, as Jafox has suggested, call Parasound and see if they have a soulution, and if I find a pair of attenuators that aren't too awfully expensive, I may give that a shot.

I think I just need to do a little more homework before making my purchases from now on!

I understand what you're getting at, Atmasphere, but even back in the 70's and 80's I don't recall using any source that required turning the volume pot up much past 12:00 on any amp I ever owned. Of course, I have forgotten a lot of things about those days! Maybe direct from a tape head?

I may be missing some important electronic principle or oversimplifying things, but it seems that the maximum gain of a preamp could be lowered while using more of the volume pot to accommodate a wider range of output voltages from the various sources.