Granted that setup, even before proper gain structure, naturally took less sound knowledge to get more headroom out of, but people compliment my sound a great deal in both regards, and are hard pressed to tell the difference, though I notice the final output on my current setup is slightly lower

This sound chain, since it’s properly staged with correct gain structure, sounds excellent and clean and allows for my EV ZLX and ELX 200 18 subwoofer to have equal to, or in some cases better than my previous setup which included 2 QSC K12s and the QSC KW 18 subwoofer

With the proper gain structure, it sounds fantastic and still provides punchy bass