SK - I also ran into this issue when running Zone 2 (as a pre-amp) from my Denon to a Sherwood receiver (functioning as the amp). Originally I had my universal remote programmed to regulate volume completely from the Denon, which turned out not to work very well as the way I had the volume set on the Sherwood (too low), the Denon had to be in the +5 or higher range to achieve the volume I wanted in Zone 2.
This resulted in clearly audible distortion even at very mild volumes. When I turned the Denon back down to ~-20 dB and regulated the volume from the Sherwood, the distortion disappeared and I was able to drive the M3s (Algonquins) to very high levels with no distortion.
What I was curious about is whether one could actually damage speakers by having the pre-amp voltage maxed and then listening at even modest gain levels on your amp?
Is the resulting distortion from this situation dangerous to speakers or just ugly to listen to?
Jason
