Valve amp + amplifier preamp

[skularatna]

I want to use my valve amp for music and use the Yamaha DSP-AX863SE for films. It was suggested that I could connect the valve amp to the pre-out and when doing the setup on the Yamaha i simply set the front speakers to preout.

I have a few questions though. Someone suggested I set the volume level on the valve to a 12 O'clock setting when doing the setup of the yamaha. However, even on a very low volume the valve is pretty damn loud.... to simplify it has 10 positions and even on the 2nd position its very loud, at the 3rd you can hear it all the way downstairs. I'm on the 3rd floor. So here's my dilemna, when it comes to setting the speaker levels for the surrounds to get the best performance, wouldnt my front two speakers be too loud? Or will the Yamaha allow me to set the levels, which means aving the valve volume on 12 O'clock shouldn't matter? Basically I dont want the fronts to overpower the rears, I want them to all blend in. And I want the surrounds to only pickup sound at the right moment, I.e only if there is a "surround sound"

I hope I'm making sense ?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Absolute sense. Just set it to a level at which you feel comfortable, then run the set-up on the Yamaha. The auto set-up on the receiver will compensate for whatever setting you choose - we just usually say 10 o'clock or 12 o'clock as it's any easy setting to remember, and is in the sector of the volume range where most amps sound best.

In your case the second or third position of the volume control sounds fine.

 

[skularatna]

Awesome! Thanks Andrew. If for some reason the 3rd position ends up being too low for movies, doubt it will as it's loud for music, but maybe film audio is recorded differently to music? In any case I can keep playing around until i get perfect sonic nirvana .