HT not really loud enough - time to upgrade AVR?

[JJkizak]

My Denon says -15 when outputting 98db spl.

JJK

[Yura]

Denons have different modes for showing volume levels, there is a volume limiter and the speakers have individual level adjustments. So to tell you the truth - i think your AVR is not set up correctly. Unfortunately these machines are so damn complicated that i have very little desire read the manuals and trying combinations of all the possible settings. My advise is to visit Denon 790/1910 thread on AVS forum and ask your question there - a guy by the nickname of Batpig knows these machines by heart and can probably give you the answers.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1152799&page=245

[em.jay]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1152799&page=245

245 pages!! That should keep me going for awhile!

I came across a PDF on Denons/Audyssey, etc, by BatPig which was pretty informative.

My Denon says -15 when outputting 98db spl.

JJK

I guess this depends on how the volume on your Denon is calibrated (i.e. is 0 the max?) and how the speaker levels are set. Did you run the Audyssey setup?

From what I've been reading, 0 on my amp should output 85dB ('reference'). Testing with the 'white noise' speaker test showed closer to 75dB for each.

The F3s are set to about -3dB, and the C3 to +1 with the S3s set to about +3dB after the Audyssey calibration.

[skonopa]

After reading through this whole thread, I am beginning to wonder if it is indeed a reciever setting that still needs to be tweaked.

However, for comparison, I typically listen to most things at -25. Both music listening (both from the CDs and my music server) and regular TV watching is plenty loud enough for me at that setting. I sometimes crank the games up on the PS/3 to -20 to give that bit of extra visceral experience. Same when watching DVDs, which I may crank up to -15 or -10 (depending on just how visceral and exciting I really want to make it). If I put this thing up at 0, it will friggan blow me out of the room! With the volume fully cranked (I think it is something like +16 or so), you might as well be a the metal concert itself! The thing will even drown out a neighbors car stereo from across the street at that setting (Believe me, I've done it!) After that, I vow to never do that again - it was just down right scary at the levels of volume this thing achieved. Pegged the needle on my Rat-Shack SPL meter on it's highest setting - that was well over 130 dbs of SPL at the listening position - and the really sick part was that it did not distort once!

Than again, I am running RF-7s (which are rated at 102 db/m/watt) with a Denon AVR-3802 (pre Audessy) which is fronting a B&K Reference 200.7 amp at 200 watts per channel. Yeah, having all that extra headroom is really nice, but even with your rig, you should be able to get more than acceptable levels of sound at what is considered to be "normal" listening levels.