Gain staging

    Hi guys!


    I'd like to know how to do proper gain staging with my two setups. First setup, only for home use (around 70-80 dB):


    Kemper (unpowered Toaster) Monitor and Direct Out (stereo option) -> Stereo Amplifier -> 2 cabs, each with one Kone

    What's better? Cranking the Amplifier with relatively low volume on the Kemper's Master volume or vice versa?


    Second setup, only for home use (around 70-80 dB):


    Kemper S/PDIF Out -> Audio Interface S/PDIF In -> Audio Interface Out -> Studio Monitors

    This is more complex as there are more volume sources/pots/faders involved. I've somewhere read that it's best to crank Studio Monitors and to do the levelling via the remaining volume sources. Is this true? How would you do the gain staging? To be more precise I'm talking about listening not recording.


    Thanks in advance!

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    (One of) the golden rules tells to boost the signal as close to the source as possible (without clipping) to maximize the signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio.


    Other, more practical point of view, is the usability: which one is easier to access and use, KPA or amplifier/Interface volume.


    Active studio monitors are rather common and it is impractical to use their levelling (if they even have any, e.g. my Neumanns don't) so that's why those are set for the maximum needed level to still not sacrifice SNR.


    So I would go workflow in mind avoiding any added complexity. I have KPA hooked to both Interface and Kabinet and Interface having both studio monitors and headphones and DAW as input as well so I use all/any of those, which ever requires least amount of work to do the job! :)