How to match preamp gain to amp sensitivity?

If all you want to do is match the preamp gain to the amp sensitivity you don't need a continuous control like a pot (may affect audio quality) or a stepped attenuator (expensive). All you need is a couple of resistors (dividing network). Use some cheap resistors from Radio Shack to determine the values you need, and then substitute exotic resistors, of the same values, if you think it matters.

Don't worry about "overloading" the power amp input. Your use of the preamp volume control prevents that. The disadvantage of too-high preamp gain is that the volume control will be very low down in its range. Working near the top of its range is good both with regard to audio quality and user convenience.

That makes perfect sense Eldartford. I am using an Ayre K-5x that belongs to a friend which I soon have to replace as he wants it back. It's a very nice sounding unit with about 4db of single ended gain which works pretty good with my ARC amp. I wouldn't mind a touch more gain though as the Ayre is usually operating pretty high on the scale, but as you mentioned this is probably for the better.
That said would a gain on 10 or 12db be a LOT louder with less finess in the volume setting or would say 20db be a LOT louder. I'm not exactly sure how preamp gain affects the loudness of the final product coming from the speakers. I do know that a change of 6db in speaker sensitivity is like doubling amplifier power (so to speak) but I can't be sure if it's the same for preamps and amps.
Thanks

If you are looking at a passive unit, I own and can recommend both the Placette products (excellent attenuator with 125 steps for volume control) and the Sonic Euphoria PLC (excellent dynamics). Both have 30 day in home trial programs.

-Rick

Alun - One easy (and not too expensive) thing you might try with your current preamp, to get a sense of what you want to look for in terms of gain, is (assuming you're using unbalanced connections) the Harrison Labs in-line attenuators. Parts Express (www.partsexpress.com) sells them in 3, 6, and 12 dB versions. In my experience, they're pretty transparent -actually better than the more expensive Rothwell attenuators. And once you have them, they come in handy for non-critical sources or secondary systems.

And in terms of overall system gain - it really doesn't matter whether it comes from preamp gain, power amp gain, or speaker sensitivity - the bottom line is, do you have good range of control on the volume adjustment, without problems of noise, etc.
Rich

Hi Rich, I don't know if I've mentioned it but there are attenuators on the back of my ARC D250 and I am going to try it a bit more before deciding on pre or passive. I did it for a short period but no critical a-b ing. It did prove to me that the Ayre is pretty good but it will be going back to it's home in a week or two.
My CD and phono stage have plenty of gain and I can't open up the attenuators to max position at all so I'm going to assume that they have plenty of gain.
I just got my manual for the amp and it's input sens is .8v RMS for rated output of 240 watts! This makes me think passive will work really well. Input impedance is 75K ohms and I have read somewhere that this could matter a lot. I must do some more research however.
Thank you for your replies