Volume is much to low

[sunyside]

I have a problem in that to listen to most music DVD's I have to run the volume up to max. The issue persisits with other sources such as the TV and phono but not quite as bad. I believe my amp may be the problem but I live in a small town and do not have access to those who know a lot about audio set up. I keep thinking I have something in my setup that may be the culprit. I have an Emotiva IPS-1 amp with 125 watts per channel for all 7 channels. I have an Onkyo PR-SC886 controller and I have used its Audyssey function to set up the speakers. I have a Panasonic DMP-BD 60 DVD player. I have it set up in 7.1 configuration. I have Altec Lansing 19 speakers for front L and R These are horn loaded so they really do not require much power. My center, sides and backs are Revel and my room is 14w x 22l with a 10 foot ceiling and I have a Real Trap in all 4 corners.

I would appreciate any suggestions before I send the amp to Emotiva or look for a new one. Thanks

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a problem in that to listen to most music DVD's I have to run the volume up to max. The issue persisits with other sources such as the TV and phono but not quite as bad. I believe my amp may be the problem but I live in a small town and do not have access to those who know a lot about audio set up. I keep thinking I have something in my setup that may be the culprit. I have an Emotiva IPS-1 amp with 125 watts per channel for all 7 channels. I have an Onkyo PR-SC886 controller and I have used its Audyssey function to set up the speakers. I have a Panasonic DMP-BD 60 DVD player. I have it set up in 7.1 configuration. I have Altec Lansing 19 speakers for front L and R These are horn loaded so they really do not require much power. My center, sides and backs are Revel and my room is 14w x 22l with a 10 foot ceiling and I have a Real Trap in all 4 corners.

I would appreciate any suggestions before I send the amp to Emotiva or look for a new one. Thanks

What are your individual channel levels set at in the speaker set up?

 

[sunyside]

In my setup menu for the Onkyo I have the following settings and I believe that they were set by Audyssey since I used the mic and let it do its thing. This is what is reflected when I pull up that screen. Thank you
Front L -5 db
Front R -6.5 db
Center -4 db
Side L +2 db
Side R +2 db
Back L +1db
Back R+1 db
SW +12db

 

[TLS Guy]

In my setup menu for the Onkyo I have the following settings and I believe that they were set by Audyssey since I used the mic and let it do its thing. This is what is reflected when I pull up that screen. Thank you
Front L -5 db
Front R -6.5 db
Center -4 db
Side L +2 db
Side R +2 db
Back L +1db
Back R+1 db
SW +12db

I think part of your trouble and may be all of it. is that your sub volume is set too low. It is showing + 12 db. This means it is 18.5 db below your mains.

Advance the volume on your sub itself and re run Audyssey. I think that will help a lot.

 

[AVRat]

What sub are you running? As TLS suggested, try turning the gain on the sub up to about halfway if that’s possible. +12dB is the max level adjustment for the pre/pro and is the level Audyssey is using for reference in its calculations. With that gear, you should be blasting yourself out of the room. The amp isn’t the issue because Audyssey is doing its job.

 

[highfigh]

I have a problem in that to listen to most music DVD's I have to run the volume up to max. The issue persisits with other sources such as the TV and phono but not quite as bad. I believe my amp may be the problem but I live in a small town and do not have access to those who know a lot about audio set up. I keep thinking I have something in my setup that may be the culprit. I have an Emotiva IPS-1 amp with 125 watts per channel for all 7 channels. I have an Onkyo PR-SC886 controller and I have used its Audyssey function to set up the speakers. I have a Panasonic DMP-BD 60 DVD player. I have it set up in 7.1 configuration. I have Altec Lansing 19 speakers for front L and R These are horn loaded so they really do not require much power. My center, sides and backs are Revel and my room is 14w x 22l with a 10 foot ceiling and I have a Real Trap in all 4 corners.

I would appreciate any suggestions before I send the amp to Emotiva or look for a new one. Thanks

I would try to use speakers that are more similar to the main ones, which means you may need to give up on using the Model 19s as the front when you watch TV/movies. They're so much more sensitive that the receiver backs them down to the point where you're only putting out about 25% of the amp's power in Audyssey's attempt to set the levels the same for all. You can verify this by borrowing a pair of decent speakers for the front mains and re-testing with Audyssey. You should be able to use the model 19s for stereo sources, though.

 

[sunyside]

Thanks for the help. I will re-run Audyssey after adjusting the volume on my subs. I have two Revel subs set apart from each other in the room. As for giving up the 19's I hope that is not what I have to do. They still sound incredible.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the help. I will re-run Audyssey after adjusting the volume on my subs. I have two Revel subs set apart from each other in the room. As for giving up the 19's I hope that is not what I have to do. They still sound incredible.

Try resetting the subs first. However I said originally that may not be all of your trouble. Those Altecs have a sensitivity of 99 db

If adjusting the subs does not do the trick, I will design an L-pads you can build to put between your pre outs and the amp channels driving the Altecs.

If you Revels have a sensitivity of 88 db for instance then we need to pad the Altecs down about 12 db.

With those you must really get the movie experience. You really should however get a transparent screen and find another Altec 19, or build an equivalent for the center. You might actually be better off using a phantom center, as no modern domestic speaker will remotely match those old Altecs.

 

[sunyside]

I want to thank all those who took such an active interest in my issue. Last night I was able to to do what you instructed and it appears to have worked like a charm. I set the level on both subs at 3/4 max and re-ran Audessey. The results look like this.

Front R -7db
Front L -5db
C -4db
Side R +1.5db
Side L +1.5db
Back R +1.5db
Back L +1.0db
Subs -6db

Can I back of on the sub level now if I need to? TLS, I am not sure what an l-pad is but I intend to do a lot of listening this weekend to cd's, Music DVD's, and a movie and will report back after I do. I love these 19's and will also take some pictures of my set up. I have another issue to discuss but one problem at a time. Once again I am indebted and appreciate it so much.

 

[TLS Guy]

I want to thank all those who took such an active interest in my issue. Last night I was able to to do what you instructed and it appears to have worked like a charm. I set the level on both subs at 3/4 max and re-ran Audessey. The results look like this.

Front R -7db
Front L -5db
C -4db
Side R +1.5db
Side L +1.5db
Back R +1.5db
Back L +1.0db
Subs -6db

Can I back of on the sub level now if I need to? TLS, I am not sure what an l-pad is but I intend to do a lot of listening this weekend to cd's, Music DVD's, and a movie and will report back after I do. I love these 19's and will also take some pictures of my set up. I have another issue to discuss but one problem at a time. Once again I am indebted and appreciate it so much.

I was pretty sure resetting the sub would solve your problem, but could not be absolutely certain, because of the high sensitivity of you mains.

However, I think you can consider your problem solved now. Don't fix what is not now broken. I would say you have everything optimally at present, and would leave the sub setting just where it is. You don't need to know what an L-pad is now if you don't care to. It is a simple commonly used circuit you can research yourself on the Internet if you wish.