In order of your questions:
1. Yes.
2. It depends on the show. I think I usually ended up at -8 or -14, but depends on the mics. Roughly, set that somewhere where if the level knob is at 12 o'clock, it is peaking at around -12. Just a good general rule of thumb. You don't want it set too high-- always better to add gain than overload the preamp.
3. If you're using that for SBDs, set that to "LOW". But you will probably still need an attenuator. I recommend the dual female XLR>mini plug -24dB attenuator from Naiant. If you're running the CA-14 omni, also use LOW. Of course the problem you have there is you probably shouldn't go CA-14>batt box>mini plug input (since you're effectively adding power on top of power). I only tried to run small mics into it once and it didn't go that well. Do you know how much power that input supplies? Otherwise I think you'll need to get an attenuator to bring the sensitivity of that input down to line level. But I guess best to just try it with the CA-14 on LOW and see if it works, both with and without the BB.
4. Yes, turn that shit off.
5. You generally don't want to be in a position where you have to turn the levels down from 12 o'clock; OK if you need to turn them up from 12 o'clock (this was at least the case on the R-44, and I continued to do the same with the -26). But like I said, just get the sensitivity so that the levels are peaking "OK" and then feel free to increase them via the knobs.
Using one of these for the first time. Messed with it this morning and it seems pretty user friendly. A few questions though...
(I'll either be running CM33 XLR IN + SBD > attenuator > Mic (line?) in, or CM33 XLR IN + CA14 omni > 9100 > Mic (Line?) in)
-XLR input I assume I want the "link" setting for a stereo pair?
-XLR sensitivity - maybe this is because I've never used a recorder quite like this, but I'm a bit lost on where to set this
-Mic input sensitivity - it gives me a high/mid/low option?
-limiter & low cut filter - I assume I want to turn these off?
-In terms of setting of levels with the dials on the front, how much of this do you try to do, or is this primerily set by the sensitivity options you have to choose on the touch screen?
Any other tips are welcomed! I did some searching on the board, but didn't see a ton on the R26...so hopefully there are some of y'all who can help.
Really happy with what I heard monitoring my stereo cranked this AM, and with how it's operating / battery life thus far.
Thanks!!