Turning decibles up on receiver?
 

I've got an Onkyo TX-DS656 receiver which has 85 watts of power per channel. I have all JBL speakers except for an Infinity sub. I haven't been happy with the loudness of the system. Until now, I thought that was because of my speakers not being top of the line. Yesterday, I read something about turning up the decible level on the intellivolume and the speaker level. I did that and holy cow, what a difference. It goes up to 12db. I put it up to 10db. Now, I've also been told that I shouldn't touch the db level, and that it should stay at 0db. I wouldn't see what the point of having the level option would be if I wasn't supposed to use it. Am I running a higher risk of damaging the speakers and/or receiver by running it at the higher db level? Thanks.

You always run the risk of more damage with more volume. If you are still running within the capabilities of your equipment you should be fine. A 10db increase means you have doubled the power just over 3 times. So if you were running your amp at 2 watts, now you're at 16-18 watts, most likely. If you were running at 1 watt, you're at around 9, now. If you have a decibel meter and know the efficiency rating of your speakers, you can calculate your wattage. Since that receiver probably has an imperfect wattage rating, you can bet that real world, 5 channel power is something like 35 wpc, not 85.

Were you turning the main volume up all the way before? That's an older mid-range receiver, I'm not sure how it does with high volume. On my Onkyo 898 I have my speaker settings all around zero and can turn up the main volume to 82 of 100 (reference level) with no serious damage worries. Of course, that's generally way too loud at my house (ridiculously efficient speakers) so I've never really tried going higher.

Well, I never did turn the receiver up. I think when it went above 60 the volume setting would start to flash. I used to watch movies around 45-50 for a decent experience. Now, I only have to turn it up around 40-45 for a really LOUD experience.

These are my main front speakers:
http://jbl.com/home/products/product...CheckProduct=Y

Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power: 175 Watts
• Impedance: 8 Ohms
• Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1m): 90dB
• Frequency Response (–3dB): 45Hz – 20kHz

Not really sure how that all corresponds with what I've done with my receiver.

The sensitivity means that it should play at 90db with 1 watt of power, as measured at 1 meter in front of the speaker. Since nobody sits right in front, the calculation changes. Doubling the power yields about 3db increase. Let's say if you sit 10 feet away, 1 watt will give you around 80db from that one speaker. Let's assume that's correct just for a quick theoretical example.

1w = 80db
2w = 83db
4w = 86db
8w = 89db
16w = 92db
32w = 95db

Keep in mind that's for one speaker. With 5 speakers it would be a bit louder overall, perhaps several decibels.

If 60 is the top the receiver recommends, I wouldn't go over it. This probably equates to around 32w being used per channel when you are running all 5. If you have a decibel meter ($40 and well worth it) you can compare a bit more. This is all estimates, but a ballpark can help. The meter might help even more than you think. Once you have every channel set to the correct level, you may not need it louder.

If you are in the 90s for decibels, it ought to be loud enough, although that depends on personal preference. It also depends on your room. If you sit closer or farther or if your room is huge or small it can drastically change the decibels that get to your ears and therefore the wattage. I sit in the middle of a long room and crank it pretty high when I want it loud where I'm sitting. Drives my wife nuts since the whole house shakes.

Spiky, I need your help, in light of the above. I have Cerwin Vega LS-10s as my main speakers. As you know I have the 602. The 602 is 85w per channel, the LS-10s are 200W speakers at 95dB sensitivity. I have noticed that to get a reasonable volume from these speakers, I have to turn my amp up to 60, which seems really high for what I'm getting out of them. Should I bump up the output dBs on the receiver to better match the capabilities of the speakers?

Only if you aren't overstressing the amp, which can damage the speakers no matter what their rating. What's the volume scale like on the 602? Does it list anything as "reference" or some other means of noting "top recommended volume"? That's where I would start. And the reference level always means with the individual speaker settings at 0 (zero). For example, on my 898, the Reference setting is 82, and each number supposedly represents 1db increase. If I bump every speaker to +10db, Ref just became 72 to protect my amp and speakers.

With 95 sensitivity and a decent low-cost Onkyo, you should be doing pretty well and be able to play fairly loud, anything in the 90s is high sensitivity. If you are an insane rock concert type for your volume likes, start saving for a serious amp, cause no <$1000 receiver will handle it.

Is it a DVD playback problem or everything you connect to the receiver is not loud as you want???

Coz it can be a DVD player issue. I had a problem on Paragon NextGeneration-996 DVD Player. Loudness was supressed by DVD box. All I need to do is to turn off this feature: "DVD Settings / Sound / Speakers / SPDIF / Normalizer".

Cheers