Altering Power amp gain

[AndrewT]

Hi all,
I have stated that I want all my power amps to have a gain in the range 50times (+34db) to 60times (+35.4db) to match my commercial amplifiers.

I am beginning to realise there may be advantages in following the preferred gain of 20times (+26db) to 26times (+28db) adopted by many on this Forum.

My pre-amps all have enough gain to get upto full output with ease (although my ears tell that is far too much gain).

What are the down sides and upsides to altering all my old amps to meet the low gain specification?

Don't be afraid of complex technical expanations, I know I can always ask for further assistance to decypher.

[richie00boy]

If you reduce gain on an existing amp, you increase the feedback factor.

Remember gain is always traded against bandwidth, so by reducing gain you increase bandwidth. This may push a design into instability.

One possibility is a simple attenuator to bring the sensitive amps into line.

If you are going for a full active system I can't see why you even need to match gain, just set levels as appropriate with the respective volume controls. The master volume will be ahead of the crossover, so no need to touch the amp levels any more.