…and no more.
Why do classic volume knobs on naim preamps bother going past 11?
G
Because it’s a hangover from the days of vinyl, which has a lower output. It was very common to run at 1 or 2 to get a good volume. It’s just the way the pots work.
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Ta!
G
11 ? You are lucky !! 
My NAC72 goes from 7 all the way to about 5:30. 9:30 is, erm, ‘LOUD’ !
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My NAC52 starts at twenty-five minutes to the hour, and finishes at twenty-five past. It never really goes much beyond the hour mark - as it would be very costly to replace the plastic (clingfilm-like) membranes inside the electrostatic loudspeakers.
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What Graeme means is that the volume is deafening by 11.
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Pots actually work in the reverse way relative to thinking of “turn the volume up”: they are actually attenuators, fully clockwise unattenuated - effectively as if no volume control and amp on full blast all the time - while rotating anticlockwise increases attenuation down to the level we want (or diwn to nothing).
The problem is preamps with excessive gain - which indeed they needed with direct low level input from phono cartridge, but don’t need at all for digital, nor where an external head amp is used.
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A volume reading giving low minus db up to reference 0 unity, then plus db is infinitely more useful.
Because it is designed wrong?
If the volume knob goes to 5, one should be able to play with the volume knob higher than 10-11.
The 272, 222 and Unitis go to 100: much louder.
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I refer you to the movie Spinal Tap, which explains why some amps go up to 11.
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Most other amps only go to 10, Naim amps goto 11!
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The NC has a far more useful volume control. The volume can be increased in useful small steps and is usable up to 2-3 o’clock on the dial. Takes a bit of getting used to at first - almost seemed like something was wrong at first compared to SN3, it takes a big swing of the dial to get a large increase.
Only takes a short time to get used to though and the fact that you can make small changes is very useful.
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Running the last mile;-)
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You can just blow on my NAC72 volume dial and you’ll go from quiet to loud !!
I’m used to it, and careful… 
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I guess it all depends on the source level. I have had some, albeit temporary, sources where I needed to run at 2 to 3pm for a sensible volume.
Anyway the one thing that is important with analogue potentiometers for max SQ is to, from time to time, rotate completely clockwise then anticlockwise and back a couple of times.
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Wow I did not know that. No wonder sometimes when I physically change the volume (and not from the remote), it somehow appear to sound better and clearer. I can’t put my finger on this.
Yes it remove away any oxidation or any other contaminates that have developed on the wiper. You shouldn’t need to do too regularly, but every few months should be fine… like removing and re inserting connections a few times from time to time.
Got it… tks for this nice advice 