STR-DA2,4,7ES Question (1 Viewer)

[Brian_Tho]

Just got my 2es and at first it wasnt that loud at -50 then after it ran a while it sounded twice as loud at -50 is this typical of these receivers. Do you have to break receivers in. I am baffled at how that works. Any es owners what are your normal listening levels for 5.1 movies. Thanks for the help. By the way I love this receiver its wonderful. Lots of hookups and features. Plus the sound is the best. Although some would disagree.

 

[Sebastien David]

the 4es is the one i have some experience with and it is an awesome machine, this coming from a denon 3801 owner.

just a though though: the volume level at which you (and others) listens to will be influenced by whether the setup was calibrated, at what volume it was calibrated, and also to some extent on the size of the room and furnishings/surfaces, but mostly on LISTENING PREFERENCES. someone might find a particular volume level VERY loud while you think it's normal.

 

[Brian_Tho]

Also when I turn the volume up past -20 I start to hear hiss. This is with no source though. Just wondering I guess thats just the signal to noise ratio. Anyone have any opinions

 

[Vincent_S]

I just bought a da2es and haven't noticed anything about the volume problem that you mentioned. Mine sounds pretty loud and clear @ -45db to -40db. I have only watched Episode 2 on it so far but it was GREAT!

That rear surround speaker sure makes a difference! And I am hearing things I didn't hear with my Onkyo! Maybe due to the EQ?

 

[Brian_Tho]

Vincent turn it to a unused mode and turn it all the way up and tell me what you hear

 

[Brian_Tho]

I figured it out what I am hearing is the s/n thresh hold on digital its 100db so anything past 100db you will start to hear signal noise. Is this a correct assumption.

 

[AaronBatiuk]

Vincent turn it to a unused mode and turn it all the way up and tell me what you hear

This is not a fair test of any receiver. What you should do first is plug a pair of shorted RCA plugs into the unused source input, then switch to that source and crank up the volume, listening for noise. A normal line-output of a CD player, etc. has very low effective output impedance (resistance). This loads the input of the receiver and reduces noise (noise is caused by thermal noise present in all electronics, which is proportional to resistance. Lower resistance = lower noise.). An unconnected input not only has a high input impedance (around 50000 ohms), but it also is free to pick up RF and EM interference. Shorted RCA plugs will prevent this from happening.

Another fair test is to play a 'silence' track on a test CD. You will hear very little noise from the receiver, especially if you use the digital input.

 

[Brian_Tho]

So what you are saying is no matter what receiver i get if i turn it up to max volume there is going to be noise(hiss) coming from the speakers. This is normal s/n ratio behavior. If I am watching a movie, listening to a cd, I should get no noise only on the very top end. What are shorted rca plugs

 

[AaronBatiuk]

What are shorted rca plugs

It is an RCA plug which it not attached to a wire, but instead just has its signal pin (the center pin) shorted to the ground (the outer ring). Plugging this into an input will short the input's signal line to ground (completely harmless) to reduce the pickup of RFI or EMI interference and to eliminate the effects of thermal noise in an open-circuited input (open circuit = high resistance = high noise). Basically, the purpose is to provide a truly 'quiet' input so that you can evaluate the noise generated in the rest of the system (A/D, DSPs, D/A, amplifiers, etc.).

 

[Brian_Tho]

Thanks for the info. I thought that was normal to hear noise at such a high volume. I am just hearing the noise past the signal/noise ratio. Just making sure this was normal. Now that I have confirmed this I feel much better. All receivers do it so no use worring about it.

 

[Andrew Pierce]

Another trick I've hear, which may work depending on your CD player, is to press 'pause' during CD playback, which on some players is the equivalent to a 'silent' test track, and not equivalent with the player in 'stop' mode. YMMV.