Amp advice sought

[Shadowbox81]

Hi

I'm hoping someone might be able to advise on the following problem I'm having.

I've recently taken delivery of a Croft 7 power amp and having hooked it up to my Forte Audio Model 2 preamp, I'm finding that I'm having to run the volume on the pre at pretty much close to it's minimum when listening to CDs (using a Cambridge Audio D100) otherwise the output is too loud. The situation in a little better when using my RP3 (running RuneAudio) via a Dragonfly Red but I've always found that to run a little quieter than the CDP. With the CDP and the min on the preamp vol being 7 o clock, I advance to 8 or 8:30 before it's too loud.

I'm enjoying what I'm hearing from the Croft so far but could do with a bit more volume control. Having scoped out the issue on the net, I've identified a few possible solutions and would appreciate some opinions as to whether they might solve the issue or indeed any alternatives:

1. Put a set of in line attenuators between either the CDP and pre or between the pre and power - Reports on the use of these appear to be somewhat mixed.
2. Change the stock tube in the croft for a lower gain option.
3. The Forte has a couple of trim pots inside - I could adjust these downwards but am wary of doing so.

Any thoughts appreciated?

[struth]

nice pre.. are you using rca's

[Shadowbox81]

Thanks. RCA are being used on both cd to pre and pre to power sets of ICs

[Haselsh1]

Yes Neil, it is a very common problem with Croft gear and the Croft gear I have also owned. I used 14db attenuators, Golden Jacks type and these improved things quite a lot. Stick with it though, well worth all of the hassle.

[Haselsh1]

Oh yes, I also changed the valve type for lower gain and it just wasn't a big enough drop.

[JimC]

Have you contacted Glenn himself?
I have always found him to be really friendly and helpful and he will know what to advise.

Cheers,

Jim.

[Shadowbox81]

Thanks for the suggestions guys

Shaun - where did you place the attenuators and have you noticed any difference in the sound? Interesting about the valve not dropping the gain enough. What type did you try?

Jim - Funnily enough, contacting Glenn was going to be option 4. I haven't contacted him as yet but may well do so as suggested

[hifi_dave]

Thanks for the suggestions guys

Shaun - where did you place the attenuators and have you noticed any difference in the sound? Interesting about the valve not dropping the gain enough. What type did you try?

Jim - Funnily enough, contacting Glenn was going to be option 4. I haven't contacted him as yet but may well do so as suggested

Rothwell on this forum, make a very nice range of attenuators suitable for this application and no, you won't hear them.

[walpurgis]

I've used attenuators in the past. Whilst their effect on the sound is very minor, it is there and I could hear it.

[IHP]

From the tubestore website...

The gain factor of a tube simply measures how much it amplifies the input signal. For example, the common 12AX7 tube has a gain factor of 100, while a 5751 tube (which is often used in place of a 12AX7) has a gain factor of 70. This means that if you plug a 5751 into a socket that expects a 12AX7, the pre-amp will have about 30% less gain.

I use a JAN GE 5751 though not for reasons related to gain, just think it's a fine tube. But as above, GC is your chap to help here.