Is this normal.

[Andrew Lo]

Hi

I am new aorund here, so please bear with me.


I bought a Yamaha RXV2500 about a month ago. the set up is as follows;

front channel is routed through the line out into a Home theartre Direct imput) Musical Fidelity A5 Amp to drive Magneplaner 1.6 QRs

the Centre( B & W LCR60) & Surround( Maggies SS1) are driven by the Yamaha Interamps.

the sound is great.

My issue is that i have to crank up the volume to almost -10 dbs to get the any impact at all. INfact I can hardly hear any sound unless the volume is at least -35 to -30 dbs

( the volume range on the Yamaha is -80 to +10 bds.

is this normal?

When I use the Yamaha to drive all speakers, things are a little bit better. changing from auto set up and manual does make much of a difference

[L.J.]

Hi

I am new aorund here, so please bear with me.


I bought a Yamaha RXV2500 about a month ago. the set up is as follows;

front channel is routed through the line out into a Home theartre Direct imput) Musical Fidelity A5 Amp to drive Magneplaner 1.6 QRs

the Centre( B & W LCR60) & Surround( Maggies SS1) are driven by the Yamaha Interamps.

the sound is great.

My issue is that i have to crank up the volume to almost -10 dbs to get the any impact at all. INfact I can hardly hear any sound unless the volume is at least -35 to -30 dbs

( the volume range on the Yamaha is -80 to +10 bds.

is this normal?

When I use the Yamaha to drive all speakers, things are a little bit better. changing from auto set up and manual does make much of a difference

I asked the same ? about a month ago. It's only numbers. I listen to music at about -15 - -10, movies are the same. I even go up to 00 from time to time. As long as it sounds ok your good to go.

[paul_pci]

Yes, it's arbitrary numbers plus speaker sensitivity, meaning how loud different speakers play with the same amount of power into them. As always, you should calibrate the speaker levels with an spl meter and a calibration test disc.

[SlumpBuster]

My understanding is that the numbers are not arbitrary per se, but rather are a deviation from old style 9 o'clock/12 o'clock volume control. The way my non-scientific mind understands it is that the new volume "knob" is computer contolled and makes a linear increase in volume. Wher old style knobs were mechanical/electrical and result in an exponential increase in volume. i.e. on an x/y graph the new volume controls result in a straight line, where old/analogue result in a curve. This results in volume control being able to make finer and precise increases and allows for fine tuning and level matching among multiple channels. the result is you have to turn the knob more past the imaginary 12 o'clock.

Or, alternative, I could have just made this up entirely. I'm never really completely sure.

[Wireworm5]

Hi

I am new aorund here, so please bear with me.


I bought a Yamaha RXV2500 about a month ago. the set up is as follows;

front channel is routed through the line out into a Home theartre Direct imput) Musical Fidelity A5 Amp to drive Magneplaner 1.6 QRs

the Centre( B & W LCR60) & Surround( Maggies SS1) are driven by the Yamaha Interamps.

the sound is great.

My issue is that i have to crank up the volume to almost -10 dbs to get the any impact at all. INfact I can hardly hear any sound unless the volume is at least -35 to -30 dbs

( the volume range on the Yamaha is -80 to +10 bds.

is this normal?

When I use the Yamaha to drive all speakers, things are a little bit better. changing from auto set up and manual does make much of a difference


I have the 2200 and before I got my power amp my volume range was -30 to -35. So that is comparable to my results. With a power amp my volume is between -36 and -45 depending on the recording. If I really want to rock on a rare occasion I'll get in up to -30 again which will be close to 100 decibels 'C' weighted on my spl meter. -36 will be around 95 to 97 decibels.

[kexodusc]

Wouldn't worry too much about the dB indication of the receiver. Room size contributes to apparent loudness as well. If you room is 400 square feet or larger, you're going to have to get use to adding a few dB's on the display to get good volume.

Even at -10 dB, your unit still isn't delivering an average power of 1 watt to the channels. You have plenty of juice left in the tank.
Just curious, do your speaker volume level settings subtract a few dB's from any of the channels, or has the receiver cut back the gain to the external amp?

I have 3 external amps connected to my RX-V1400. The speaker levels are +/- 3 dB around the "0" setting. Only the center channel is driven by the receiver. I hit 80 dB in room at about -24 dB on my display. Just switching one of my power amps for another model can cause a 6 dB swing. Differences in voltage gain I guess.

[cgII]

I have the exact same setup as you! I have the Yamaha RXV 2500 and am using the line out to my Quad 909 power amplifier for my Quad 22L speakers (fronts) I'm also using the Yamaha amps to drive the center and rear channels. At first I was frustrated with it needing to go to -20 to -10 db to get any big sound.

The SOURCE has a great impact on the volume. My CD player, Quad CD-P with RCA outputs plays REALLY loud ( at -15db my house shakes).

For DVD, I connected my Denon 2910 with digital coaxial cable and prefer watching movies at -9 to about -13 db.

For my satellite, I used optical cable and volumes are VERY soft. Depending on the channels I have to crank it up to -2db to get some air moving.

So to answer your question, YES it's perfectly normal. Don't be concerned with it but make sure that if you go above -2 db you pay attention to the sound and make sure it isn't distorting and such... you should have no such problems anyway but I would hate to be responsible for your stereo blowing up.

P.S. after extended play both amps get quite hot, so make sure there is alot of free air around them..

Cheers,

cgII

[Andrew Lo]

Thanks a million guys ( & gals?)!! You all are indeed very helpful

I am now using the volume trim on the imputs which increase the sound level.

And yes, the Yamaha gets very hot. I live in Malaysia and room temperature can go up to 35C so I wired a computer cooling fan to help in the ventilation.

and for cgll, are we twins or what ?- I was about to place an order for the Denon 2910!!


Cheers


Andrew

[BRANDONH]

Hi

I am new aorund here, so please bear with me.


I bought a Yamaha RXV2500 about a month ago. the set up is as follows;

front channel is routed through the line out into a Home theartre Direct imput) Musical Fidelity A5 Amp to drive Magneplaner 1.6 QRs

the Centre( B & W LCR60) & Surround( Maggies SS1) are driven by the Yamaha Interamps.

the sound is great.

My issue is that i have to crank up the volume to almost -10 dbs to get the any impact at all. INfact I can hardly hear any sound unless the volume is at least -35 to -30 dbs

( the volume range on the Yamaha is -80 to +10 bds.

is this normal?

When I use the Yamaha to drive all speakers, things are a little bit better. changing from auto set up and manual does make much of a difference

Check the speaker level settings for each channel in the system options part of the manual (page 61) System Options (Advanced Options)
The initial setting is 0 you can go as high as 10 this will help.
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/customer/manuals/PDFs/RX_V2500.pdf
page 65 of 112 on the PDF Manual zoom in.