Yamaha HTR-5550 Volume/Headroom question (1 Viewer)

[Richard_s]

Just hooked up my HTR-5550 and balanced it with the AVIA program.
N26 mains, N-center, NO SUB YET (PB12 on the way)
Using the speaker balance in AVIA I get the following levels:
-18db volume (85db Avia)
-28db volume (75db Avia)(Movie volume for my liking)
-33db volume (70db Avia)
-31db volume (comfortable TV watching)
Maximum volume on this system is 0db
Does it seem that for movies I will have enough power for the dynamic sounds (headroom I think it is called) given that I only have 18db more volume left above reference? This would mean that full volume would be 103db (I think that is correct not sure).
Can the db level exceed the full volume in dynamic situations. I notice that the RMS power is 75watt but the dynamic power for an 8 ohm speaker is 95watt?

 

[Harold_C]

At your normal movie listening level of 10 dB below Dolby reference levels, you should have plenty of power to not worry about clipping (particularly after your sub arrives and you set all your speakers to SMALL). Until your sub arrives, you might want to turn down the LFE pad to its -10 position just to be safe (it's probably buried in a setup menu somewhere).

Figure you've got an honest 60 watts per channel. That's not enough to reach full Dolby reference levels cleanly. But, if you set your volume 9 dB below Dolby reference levels, you will need 8 times less power, so your 60 watts is more than adequate with a nice reserve. Actually, you will probably be safe up to 5 or 6 dB below Dolby reference levels with little or no clipping. That should be plenty loud enough!

Do keep in mind that DTS discs will generally playback 4 dB louder than Dolby Digital discs, so your DTS settings should be an additional 4dB lower.