Question about volume level.

[packetjones]

Here is my setup and the question is below. Thanks for any advice.

HK254
rtiA5's
csiA4
rtiA3's
PSW110

room is 13x20. the speakers and seating is at opposite ends of the rectangle.


My question is regarding the volume of the system. I have found that i have to turn up the volume on the system louder than what i expected to get the sound i wanted. the HK goes from 0-100 and also dB level. I turn it up to about 60 (-40dB) on the scale to get comfortable TV watching. If I turn it down to like 30 I can not hear anything at all. Even with my ear right in front of the speaker it is very faint. I was concerned that this (60) was over 1/2 way. is this normal? I have a few DVD concerts that i have to turn up to like 70-75% to really get rocking. Is this normal that i have to turn it up so loud?. Most of the TV channels do not have very good sound at all. I have some of the HD movie channels and they do not sound much louder either. Typically with movies i have to turn it up to like 75/80 to get it to sound the way i want.

Any opinions/advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

[nguyendot]

Check your cable box for dynamic compression?

[packetjones]

I have dish network and looked in the menu of the box and i have dolby/PCM, dolby only, and PCM only. I have it on dolby/PCM. As i switch it back and forth i do not hear a difference really.

All of my sources are consistent in regards to volume. There are a few that there is a difference. For example the wii is louder than everything else. Whether i am playing games or watching TV/Movies, I have to turn it up louder than what i thought i would prior to putting the system together. I went from a HTIB to my current polk setup, and there is a great improvement in quality and volume but not as big of a volume improvement as i thought i would be getting.

How loud does everyone else have the system for normal TV viewing. Is it normal to have it over 50%. Is 75-80% normal for movies? I know everyone is different and some like reference level for music and movies but what about TV with the family?

Thanks again everyone. Not sure if I have unrealistic expectations for the equipment that i have.

[apphd]

Did you run the auto cal feature on the HK? You could try running it again, as they sometimes pick up other noise (AC/heat kicking on etc.) and give you a bad set up. You could check to see if you have any type of mute function turned on, or look at the individual speaker levels and boost them all up a little if the auto cal set them all very low. Especially the center.

Your RTi's are pretty efficient speakers @90dB. What this is saying is you should see 90dB of sound output at a 1 meter distance with 1 watt 1k freq. of input from the amp. Now also keep in mind that a 3dB gain requires double the input power. So to see 93 dB at the same 1 meter it would take 2 watts and for 96 dB 4 watts and so on. 10dB increase would be a perceived doubling of loudness. Also keep in mind you loose about 6dB every time you double the distance of the speaker from that 1 meter measured output.

So your 90dB speakers would need 16 more watts input to sound the same (loudness) at 4 meters away as they do at 1 meter.

These are just basic numbers and is not the whole picture but my guess is that maybe you were expecting too much in regards to volume increase. Not sure what your HTIB was but it and your current gear still fall into the laws of physics above. The improvement in quality should be the very noticeable change.

[rallyshark]

I'm not sure about your particular HK, but I can tell you about my Marantz, and I think the HK,Onkyo etc. are very similar. Keep in mind I'm going by db and not a 0-100 scale. My volume goes from -80 to +18db, and I found that on TV I usually have the volume around -35 to -30db, and the same for music. When I want to get on the louder side of things I usually run it at -25db for TV and music. I crank it up to -20db on action movies:D I've only turned it up to -15 db a couple of times, and that's LOUD! However, my room is on the smaller side at 12x17ft. Even given the different brands of receivers, I haven't seen many people that ever go above -10db. So on the db scale, where to you have turn to for it to be loud? Also, go in and check all your speaker levels and make sure they aren't set too low. That HK should be able to push your set up fairly well. I'm sure someone with more experience with your HK will chime in soon:)

[domflane]

I have the HK AVR354 which is 75wpc, I believe that your AVR has 50wpc. I've also had an AVR235 which was 50wpc. With both receivers and any speaker I've ever used, most recently my RTiA5's, I have to have the volume at about -20db for it to be good and loud. When I'm really playing loud music, I'll turn it up to -15 or -10. I've noticed no harsh sound or distortion at any of these levels. I know the AVR could do more with clean power. I've even used really efficient (98db) CerwinVega towers and there was no real difference in volume at the same level on the AVR. Your speakers are safe packetjones, go ahead and turn it up.

[cifbispa]

Any more info on this? i.e start date, cost, timings



How great your info is!But Can you give some more sample questions and answers.I really want to get more info about this topicIt really useful for me. Thanks.

[vc69]

reported