why do you dial the amp to maximum volume when using passive speakers...

[ine-kpro...]

ive seen many people place their amps on full volume and using the mixer or software to control the volume in a passive speaker and amp setup.

is there a sound quality reason behind this. do amps and speakers open up better when it is set like that or is it because engineers are too lazy to go to the amp to lower and raise the volume accordingly.

how would you setup a Hafler P3000 using a Dynaudio BM6p or BM15p monitors. would it matter what your general listening level is.

eg. if you usually listen at levels comparable to a conversation in a restaurant would you need to make sure that the amp is at full volume to achieve a better frequency response from your speakers when monitoring at those levels?

[Chris Parsons]

It has nothing to do with sound quality or frequency response, it's just a part of setting good gain structure and often setting your amp to full is not what you want to do.

[Matt Syson]

Hi
A vaguely technical reason could be that when the volume pot of the power amp is at max then the gain will be the same between channels. Lower down the range they are not necessarily calibrated (I don't mean the worthless 1-10 marks).
The 'law' of pots is pretty poor and I presume you want accurate monitor levels.
Now it is down to the mixer level pot which is hopefully somewhere in the 10'oclock - 2' oclock area normally and TRACKING between them OUGHT to be reasonable and certainly better than the marks on a amplifier front panel unless it has REAL switched attenuators in say 2dB steps. (Many amps have simple pots with a cog wheel to make it feel like a switch). Proper gain structure helps reduce inaccuracies due to inferior components. Attenuators with 24 (or more) switch positions are expensive but one of the few ways of getting accuracy in a simple setup.
Matt S

[danasti]

Originally Posted by ine-kpro...

how would you setup a Hafler P3000 using a Dynaudio BM6p or BM15p monitors. would it matter what your general listening level is.

The most important thing to do is not to blow your speakers.

Can you hear your amp when nothing is plugged into it except for the speakers when it's turned all the way up? In general turn it up until you "hear" it, even slightly hear it - then go down a little bit from there. Turn it off and plug in your main outs. Check for noise without audio. Now run some audio through it.

[ine-kpro...]

keeping your amp at max or close to max volume, does that reduce the life of your amp.

[Reptil]

no. imagine amps without a volume knob

[dementedchord]

Originally Posted by ine-kpro...

ive seen many people place their amps on full volume and using the mixer or software to control the volume in a passive speaker and amp setup.

?

and as such have personally witnessed some one who knows nothng about gain staging.... not withstanding later comment onchannel balancethrough stepped attenuators...

what they've managed to do is amplify any noise in previous stages by not alowing the output of the device to operate in its safe zone...

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by Matt Syson

Hi
A vaguely technical reason could be that when the volume pot of the power amp is at max then the gain will be the same between channels. Lower down the range they are not necessarily calibrated (I don't mean the worthless 1-10 marks).
The 'law' of pots is pretty poor and I presume you want accurate monitor levels.
Now it is down to the mixer level pot which is hopefully somewhere in the 10'oclock - 2' oclock area normally and TRACKING between them OUGHT to be reasonable and certainly better than the marks on a amplifier front panel unless it has REAL switched attenuators in say 2dB steps. (Many amps have simple pots with a cog wheel to make it feel like a switch). Proper gain structure helps reduce inaccuracies due to inferior components. Attenuators with 24 (or more) switch positions are expensive but one of the few ways of getting accuracy in a simple setup.
Matt S

+1

I'm running Dyn BM15p's with a Hafler and the outputs are wide open. Never had a problem.

[Bat Head Sound]

One reason for running your amps wide open is so that you don't have to hit them as hard on the input stage, which leaves you with more head-room.

[squeegybug]

Originally Posted by dementedchord

and as such have personally witnessed some one who knows nothng about gain staging.... not withstanding later comment onchannel balancethrough stepped attenuators...

what they've managed to do is amplify any noise in previous stages by not alowing the output of the device to operate in its safe zone...

Yes. The reason to attenuate amp inputs is to allow the primary gain controller to be used through it's entire sweep.

This will minimize channel tracking errors and background hiss.

Turn the amp all the way down, loop a pink noise sample, set your controller at 70% of full travel, then adjust the attenuators until you get 83 dB, or somewhere in that range.

Steve