HELP! Denon 3806 very low volume (1 Viewer)

[JoshuaMG]

I just bought a set of Axiom speakers, the Epic Grand Master 350, and bought a new Denon 3806 and tried to hook it all up last night. I was testing a DVD using the optical connection on the receiver. I had specified which optical is going to the DVD and I'm getting very very low volume. The test tone on the receiver plays loud and clear on all the speakers. Just to rule out that the DVD player might be the problem I plugged my iPod into the aux port on the front of the receiver and got the same thing. I've tried all modes and settings on the receiver, made sure muting wasn't on even. I've checked my cables twice and reconnected them too. Nothing works. I called the guys at Axiom even though I'm sure it has nothing to do with their speakers. Joe was kind enough to help me anyway. He thinks it's either a short at the speaker or receiver connection or a bad receiver. Luckily a friend brought his Marantz receiver in today for me to take home and test. I hope it's just a bad receiver. Anyone have any ideas? Have you heard of this kind of thing before?

Help

Joshua Garrett

 

[John Garcia]

Have you calibrated it (auto setup)? What volume are you listening at? (dumb question but...) Did you try turning it UP?

 

[JoshuaMG]

John

Funny you should mention the volume, I took my friends Marantz receiver over to try it out and it sounds louder but I'm still not impressed with the sound. Before we hooked the Marantz up I reset the processor on the Denon like Denon support told me to do. That didn't do anything but after turning the volume knob what seemed like 10 times, I got volume, but not impressive sound. What should the decibel level be at for an average volume? It seems like I have to turn this thing up like ten times to get acceptable sound. The audio just seems to lack punch. I was listening to an audio CD through my panasonic DVD player using optical out. All I know is that the Denon 3801 and a set of little Klipsch quintet speakers I had 5 years ago blew the sound I'm getting now out of the water. I'm about to forget this whole thing and return the speakers and the receiver.

 

[JeremyErwin]

What did the volume display read?

Have you taken any SPL readings yet?

 

[JoshuaMG]

Jeremy

After calling Denon they said the average volume level should between -30 to -20. I know it was around this level and still giving low volume, but I've just discovered something in my manual. By default all the channel levels on the receiver are set to 0.0db but can go as high as +12db. When I called Joe at Axiom the first thing he told me to do was check the channel level and turn it up to at least 5.5. I couldn't find that setting last night but according to the manual it's easy to access. The tech guy at Denon also told me that having only two speakers hooked up to a 7.1 system would not allow the receiver to output the full amount of wattage. I've never heard of that but I'm going to try these two things tonight and see what happens. I haven't taken SPL readings yet, what is that?

 

[John Garcia]

You can't just arbitrarilly set the speaker levels to 5.5. That adjustment is to allow you to adjust your speaker levels relative to each other so they are at the same level when you are in your listening position. With this receiver, you would do this with an SPL (Sound Pressure Level) meter - check Radio Shack.

How big is your room? The M22s, VP-150 and EP350 should fill a medium size room without issue, so I'd suspect it is a setup issue. The 2802 isn't the most powerful receiver, but I'd think it would be enough to drive those speakers unless you have a large room.

 

[JoshuaMG]

John

The receiver has a channel levels and channel volume setting. I'm going to check both to see what they are set at and if they affect each other. These speakers are more than powerful enough to fill my room. The receiver is the 3806.

 

[SethH]

That's pretty normal. You must understand that those numbers are on a scale of -12db to +12db, so the default is at 50% (aka 0.0db)

 

[John Garcia]

Sorry, 3806, must have been reading too many threads at once . Did you run the auto-setup? Why would it have channel "level" AND channel volume? Those would be the same thing if you ask me. Unless you have an EQ and volume for each channel, which I believe you do, then that would make sense.