cd player volume too limited with my amp?

That is unusual generally folks have the opposite problem- the volume being to high on the cdp causing it to(in particular with digital volume)drop bits. If you have any audiophile friends in the area try one of there lower wattage amps and see what happens, something could be wrong with your cdp, hard to say. Good luck with it ~Tim

It sounds like your CD player has to much gain. if you used a preamp in your system you could eliminate this problem. otherwise a lower power amplifier would also help reduce the extra volume.

what kind of CD player do you have? You or your dealer maybe able to lower the gain internally.

You would need to use a preamp, have the CD output lowered, or you could find an amp with a lower input sensitivity...that probably matters more than its actual power rating (since a 180 watt amp should only be twice as loud as an 18 watt, assuming other things being equal). There is also a chance that someone makes (or will make...custom) analog attenuators with resistors to work with your CDP's output level (something like the EVS ultimate attenuators). It's an option that would be cheaper than a good preamp and probably sound better than your digital volume control, if done correctly.

You could go to an amp with gain controls for each channel like the EAR 534 tube amp (50wpc). A lesser power amp would still not necessarily help in your situation depending on how much of the power of the amp you are using now at the CD gain control. At 2 a 50 wpc and a 100 wpc amp sound pretty much the same - it may not lower things enough.