Pioneer 1015 not loud enough

SummyD · 10-03-2005, 09:01 PM

Hi. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought the Pioneer 1015 replacing my 4 yr old Pio 509. However, it seems that my old receiver was much louder (although less clear sound) than the 1015. I used to be comfortable at around -40db on that one but here I have to raise the volume up to around -20 to get the same amount of loudness. Am I missing something? Isn't 1015 supposed to be really loud and powerful? The speaker connections seem to be okay. The MCACC passed with no errors.

So far the only thing that looks cool is the blue power light

Actually, MCACC is pretty cool too. But if I have to raise the volume to about 80-90% of total available for normal listening, I am not sure if I want to spend 500 bucks.

John Garcia · 10-03-2005, 10:23 PM

This isn't unusual, and certainly not for the price range. In my smallish bedroom with just 2 speakers, I found that I needed to crank that guy to about -20 before I really got decent levels (MCACC off), and once it reached -12 it was starting to very audibly distort. IMO, the 1014 wasn't a bad receiver at all, but it fell short of it's advertised power rating. I don't know about the 1015, but the 1014's manual stated that the 110w rating was for 2ch operation only.

What are you using as a source and how do you have it/them connected? How big is your room and what speakers?

SummyD · 10-03-2005, 11:08 PM

Hey John. I have tried both my sat-receiver and dvd player, both connected thru optical cable. speakers r pretty efficient too, energy c7 fronts, c-c1, and c-r1 rears. The room is 20*16 with a high (18') ceiling. What's puzzling is the only variable that has changed is the receiver. The new one is supposed to be 120wpc (20hz-20Khz, 0.2%THD) as opposed to the weaker old one: 100wpc (1Khz, 1%THD). But somehow these numbers are not translating to reality.

I mean, I tested the Onkyo 503 (75wpc) last week and that sounded pretty loud. So, I am thinking should I pay $200 more for the 1015 just to get auto-eq and component upconvert at the expense of seemingly less power. I wanna believe there's something wrong with my setup but I can't put a finger on anything.

lee ison · 10-03-2005, 11:43 PM

I guess it depends on your speaker eff. Iam drivng a 7.1 speaker sys. in a 20x14 room with no problem ,also I don't hear any distortion.by the way what db level are you trying to reach?

SummyD · 10-04-2005, 08:05 AM

Lee, I think the speakers are pretty efficient. Speaker sensitivity is 90 or more. Did you compare your 101X with any other receiver in the same room? My complaint about lack of loudness is relative to 2 other cheaper receivers I tried. If this were the only receiver I had used, I guess I would have been okay.

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John S · 10-04-2005, 09:51 AM

Well you can't go at all by the volume settings... Those are arbitrairy. A fair test would be how loud each can go and maintain clean pristine sound.

The 1014/1015 is not known to be a power house though at all. I'm not sure exactly where you would have gotten that impression. Does not hit even Denon 3800 series performance power wise, more like Denon 2800 series power output.

I would guess two AVR's in question here are about dead even on output in all honesty.

SummyD · 10-04-2005, 09:59 AM

Thanks for your response John S. I see your point about volume not being a fair test. To me, its like when you test cars, you want to see how hard you hit the gas versus how fast it goes. I think I am going to return the 1015 in favor of the Onkyo 503. Good thing I bought it from BB, not internet. Even worse would've been ebay

From the money I save, I can buy one of those cool harmony remotes

John Garcia · 10-04-2005, 10:00 AM

That's what I'd suspect too. It just seems like you have to turn it up higher compared to the others because the operating point is that high for your setup (speakers, room). Your room is quite large and that receiver may be just a bit underpowered for that size of room, even with efficient speakers.

James Phung · 10-04-2005, 10:24 AM

You should ignore the volume setting as this will vary for every receiver. I've seen enough new 1014/1015 owners question the volume of the receiver b/c they are listening at -20, which is normal for most 1014/1015 owners. You already said that this receiver when played at the same loudness is clearer should show you that the amp section is much better than your previous receiver, main difference is volume numbers. IIRC, the 1015 can go up to +12.

JeremyErwin · 10-04-2005, 11:07 AM

wait just a minute here. I thought the whole point of moving from an arbitrary volume (let's see here, my onkyo 502, coupled with my speakers, will produce test tones of 75db when the volume is turned to 52-- or was it 53?) to dBs below reference was to provide some sort of basis for comparison.

With a volume control calibrated in dBs, one could say

Quote:

I could only play movies at -15 db before the distortion got to me, but after I upgraded my amplifiers, 0 db sounds silky smooth

and everyone who has a calibrated setup can understand how loud that actually is, 105db peaks and all.

But maybe that's an unobtainable ideal.

rob-h · 10-04-2005, 03:21 PM

JeremyErwin, the output required to produce a spl varies depending on room makeup and seating distance. Cal your system while seated 10 feet away and you may get up to 0 db on your 1015 without distortion easy. Move it to 20 feet then cal it and the amp is working much harder to get up to 0db on your dial. Although the SPL at your position is exactly the same, the amps have much less headroom.