Thanks for all the explanations gents. Another question, possibly related, I hope, to the subject of this thread, which I've always wondered about with my CJ gear. I've had 3 CJ preamps over the years, my current one being the wonderful Classic SE. About the only thing I haven't "loved" about all three is the volume control being so sensitive, as I mentioned in an eariler post in this thread. What I mean is that the loudest position I ever get to is at about 9 o'clock -- leaving about 270 degrees of the turn unused. The upshot of this narrow range is that the minutest turn seems to raise or lower the volume rather too much for my allegedly "fine" motor skills, making it hard to get that "just right" setting for any given CD. I tend to think that CJ does things for a reason, and that this is by design, not by happenstance. But can anybody tell me what the advantage, if any, would be from a sonic standpoint on having so much of the volume dialed in at the very start of the range? I thought it might be related to the hiss issue, but apparently not.