need help setting up a Denon Receiver

A little unsure about what you mean by safe db setting. Do you mean how loud you can turn it up before it distorts?

As for other settings if you are going to be doing home theatre you need to see the speaker level setting (using a sound meter), the subwoofer level, set the crossover frequency (depending on your speakers) decide if you set speakers to large or small and set speaker delay (based on how far you sit from speakers).

I thil that covers basics you can tweak from there.

 

Depends on what speakers you have. It really isn't about how "loud" it is it is about how much power your speakers are meant to handle, how much power you reciever delivers and distortion etc.

For example I can turn my 1603 with my monitor 7s up to about -5 Db for watching movies and it plenty loud (12 by 20 room). I have had it up to about plus 10 for music but is too loud for the room.

My point is depending on speaker effieiency and size of your room with the extra power of your receiver over mine I doubt you will be turning it up loud enough to over drive your speakers. Usually the problem comes when the amp is NOT powerful enough to drive the volume you want and it clips and sitorts harming the speakers. Unless you have it hooked up to some $100 speakers that can only handle 30 watts you should be fine. MOST of the time the amps only are putting out 5-20w with peaks up higher for big sounds.

I really doubt you will "blow" your speakers at any sane volume levels.

 

Short Answer: Adjust the volume to whatever is pleasing/comfortable for you. This may be different for DVD's vs CD's vs regular TV watching. And it's likely to be different from DVD movie to movie.

The front-panel display of "xx db" is only an aproximation. Think of the receiver manufacturer hooking up a "reference" speaker to the receiver and measuring the volume 1 foot in front. This is what your display is showing. The actual volume at your couch has a lot of speaker/room/distance variables.

Calibration Yes, your receiver allows you to add/subtract a small amount of volume from the center and rear speakers. This link to our primer has an article on Calibrating your Home Theater will tell you how to adjust these.

Good Luck.

PS: This is a new receiver? Do yourself a favor and:

- Put the receiver on the bottom shelf of your rack
- Put the DVD/Game/VCR systems on the top shelves
- Put devices you never touch above the receiver

This will make your system easier to use and solve some common cableing problems.