I am totally new to this site. I am not a very experienced audiophile but obviously love my music and I have some old equipment. I know that B & K is out of business but I still have their equipment purchased in the '90's and still using it at home.
I have a B & K Reference 20 pre amp and a ST 1400 series II amplifier, among other amps, the ST 1400 is currently in for repair probably due to my issues explained further ahead. The volume display on the pre-amp goes from -40 (or so) to +15. My question is, what is safe maximum volume, is it 0 (zero) or can I increase to +15 or before I start to clip the speakers?
I have damaged several amps first due to my lack of proper speaker setup (ohm rating - I was running two sets of speakers through one speaker selector receptacle - so making 4 ohm instead of 8 ohm with an 8 ohm setup) ans then with the B & K volume in the + settings, but now need some clarification if I can use +5, +6, +7 / +10 etc. A friend advised that Zero was usually maximum and that anything over Zero was potentially harmful. If you're familiar with B & K pre amp, the dial does not function the same as other volume controls. There is no "12 o'clock" setting with 12 o'clock being neither plus nor minus volume. I know most of you may laugh at my lack of understanding BUT that's why I'm on here...
Thanks,
TL
