Thanks for the info. It's just a shade over my head (the amp stuff is, I get the audio signal stuff), but it gives me a few "key words" to search for and keep an eye out for.

> Clipping can lead to the amp putting out twice the RMS rated power.
Ok, but aren't there "degrees" of clipping? Check out the attachment; I'm more visual so maybe this will help describe it. Looking at the upper peaks only in the examples:
A - The input
B - Amplified output with gain set just a bit too high. Two peaks.
C - Gain set just a little bit higher still. Now, "the clips are wider"; they are above output range for longer because they are amplified more.
D - Gain set to "disturb the neighbors", creating tons of peaks.
So, when you say clipping can lead to twice RMS being put out, does that mean one clip will lead to 2x RMS? Or does the amount of unnecessary output power increase as clipping increases, as shown in the pictures?

And about the range of available volume. Am I wrong in assuming that I should increase the amp gain so that 0dB is very loud because: That way, I can properly set the EQ (be diminishing the levels instead of increasing them), which lowers the overall output, and still have a large number of volume increments between "conversationally quiet" and "very too loud". If I set the EQ to diminishing levels now, I'll have to run at -12dB just to hear it, which gives me only a few volume increments before I hit 0dB.

Thanks again for the tips.