8pre inputs too quiet?

[WelchCompositions]

I just hooked up the 8pre for the first time and when I went to test its inputs I found I had to turn the channel volumes to about 95% to get a healthy signal level.

I am using a condenser microphone with phantom power on and the -20db pad off. My test signal was me speaking at a normal conversation volume about 6" from the microphone. I tried each channel individually and I also made sure the faders were all the way up in cuemix dsp. I cannot get a yellow bar on the front of the 8pres meters even with the volume maxed out. To get a yellow or red meter light I have to get closer to the mic or speak much louder.

I imagine nearly all signals I record will be louder than my speaking voice but I plan to use the talkback feature and I dont want to have to yell to make the person in the booth hear me. Also Im concerned having the volume so high will introduce hiss. Hopefully there is a solution to this or it can be confirmed this is normal behavior so I can begin looking into replacing the unit or buying gain stages for the inputs.

Can any 8pre users try speaking at a normal conversation level 6" from a mic and tell me what your results are? No store in my area sells these so I can't test a different unit.

Jim