Luxman preamp into Mark Levinson amp?

Thanks for your input Kofibaffour. I wish I had more of a background in electronics. I try to coble information from experiencial evidence and anicdote. Not the best way to go. I connected an Audio Research SP8 to the ML and it was getting loud at 4 clicks of the attenuater. The AR can be stepped down internaly by 6db according to one source (the AI robot misinformation streem). Apparently the Luxman may have more adjustability regarding gain and sensitivity. The robot also suggested the problem may be resulting from 2 volts delivered from my McIntosh MCD 7007 CD player and reccomended using a passive attenuator between the CD and Preamp.

I just went thru the same with a Datasat processor and a McCormack amp. Datasat Preamp out is HOT, so I purchased some Harrison Labs FMOD 12dB attenuators. took some doing to rebalance the speaker array but it did the trick. 
 

I formerly had the 23.5 and it is a glorious amplifier. Always wanted a pair of puppies. Nice setup, let us know how it turns out. 

Thank you Seismic. I haven't gotten it out yet but my attenuater is a single pot volume so it will be simple. I suppose placing the attenuator between the amp and pre makes more sense than between the CD and pre. Thanks for your info.

Good morning Kofibaffour. Could you elaborate a bit on the term "true voltage source". I'm thinking the ability of the amp to double watts as load is halved suggests the amp comes close to pushing the full hous current threw the system. Is this kind of what you mean?

kinda @squirrely 

a true voltage source maintains its voltage regardless of the load.

Less robust amps start to run our of ability to deliver double the power with a resistance halving because their internal voltage sags when the speaker asks for more current.

the Levinson basically does't sag as basically doubles in power delivery even when resistance is halved