Amp, Preamp, two volume pots, there can be only one!

Thanks for the input guys,

@mulveling the noise does not bother me much when the music sounds good so thats not really a problem, only problem is that Im controlling my volume with the preamps remote and the jumps are too high when the amp is fully open. Read somewhere that the pots balance is usually better in the later stages.

@theflattire I would also consider using only the amp but I have 4 sources connected one of which is the phono and since the preamp has the section I would need to alter my system quite a bit.

Try backing off on the amp volume control to where you can use the preamps volume between 9 and 12 o'clock.  That may eliminate the noise while not influencing the sonics. Another approach might be to have the preamp modified to reduce the gain if that is possible. 

There's no technically best answer here, since the actual gain isn't being adjusted.  I think @mesch answer is pretty sweet though.

That is, I don't think the amp volume control will affect the character of the sound at all, just noise, so make yourself comfortable and find the range that works for you.

It's generally true though that most preamps have much more gain than we ever really need, some of that is historical, so you can turn up the volume to hear the faintest of signals on a radio, but in modern times I think it's time for that to be rethought.

@neverlast With full output at only 300mV your amplifier is far too sensitive. Since it can only make 8 Watts, it has to be used on a high efficiency speaker. So you'll be fighting noise. So yes, that's a bit of a mismatch!

Usually SETs (or SEP in this case) have low gain so as to deal with this issue.

I rarely recommend a passive setup but this appears to be a situation where it would be handy. OTOH, finding an amplifier of similar spec that has a more real-world input sensitivity would help with the noise and you may notice greater low level detail as a result.

A volume control can't alter, distort, overdrive, add noise, etc.. to the signal, other than the impact on sound quality the control itself has. (Gain controls can, but not volume.) It can't add or take away noise. The problem lies elsewhere in the system. That said, all audio equipment is prone to the type of noise you are talking about under certain conditions. It doesn't mean anything is wrong. The simplest and easiest solution is to get some Rothwell attenuators that just go inline on a pair of interconnects. They are made for this specific problem and you shouldn't hear any difference in sound at all.