• Thread starter Bernie Williams
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Bernie Williams

Junior Audioholic
If I understand the video, its not just how loud you listen to music but the fact that a high power amp (all other things being equal) will have a higher dynamic range.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
They both play together, tho. Consider initially your room's noise floor alone.... Are you worried about this in some way for your setup?

ps Let alone the actual dynamic range of a given recording....
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
If I understand the video, its not just how loud you listen to music but the fact that a high power amp (all other things being equal) will have a higher dynamic range.
That is absolutely true objectively. As I have stated before a lot of classical music requires far more amp and speaker power than even acid rock. That is because the dynamic range of a lot of major works is so colossal. Once I really got into very high amp power it did increase the perception of increased dynamic range with the enormous climaxes effortless. However you are up against the logarithmic db law. Increasing power modestly makes little, if any perceptible difference, you have to go for broke. In other words, if 250 watts total in not doing it for you, then you need 2,500 watts. Not only that, but speakers also compress dynamic range. So high powered speakers are 50% of the equation. You won't do this with receivers that is for sure. So it requires carefully planned and dedicated lunacy. However, do it right and the effect is magical, with totally effortless crescendos. If there are a 1000 performers on stage and a huge organ thrown in, then you are set if you have the power.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
If I understand the video, its not just how loud you listen to music but the fact that a high power amp (all other things being equal) will have a higher dynamic range.
I am sure the gentleman has good intention but such a video would do more harm than good for the vast majority of viewers who don't have enough knowledge to understand the devils in the details, such as the important specification, SNR of the power amp, and how loud one listens to, sitting distance, noise floor or the listening environment etc., and 24-bit recording. Sometimes that's how hearsay started..

Take a look of what AP said about Dynamic range:

Measuring Dynamic Range in APx500 - Audio Precision

"Dynamic range is the ratio between the full scale output of a device and the spurious noise products created when the device is producing a very low level signal. It is a commonly made measurement for DAC's, ADC's, and other digital audio devices.

Dynamic range is usually measured by stimulating a device with a full scale sine wave and measuring its output level, then stimulating the device with a sine wave that is -60 dB below full scale and measuring the level of the noise and distortion products that remain after the fundamental is removed from the output of the device with a notch filter. The dynamic range is the ratio of the two, usually expressed in dB."


Also, as HD ask the most important question, how loud do you listen?

Like a lot of people, I never listen to music at anywhere near reference level from 10 to 12 feet. So whether I use a 120 W AVR or a 2 kW "high power amp", the dynamic range I can hear will be the same (based on as you said "all other things being equal") and it would be mostly limited by the noise floor of my room and the quality of the recording/mastering of the contents I listen to, and my power amp output rating will not the limiting factor at all.

And by the way, here's an article on 24-bit recording:

The 24-Bit Delusion - Mojo Audio (mojo-audio.com)
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
If I understand the video, its not just how loud you listen to music but the fact that a high power amp (all other things being equal) will have a higher dynamic range.
Dynamic range and volume are related so how loud you listen is a factor.
 
B

Bernie Williams

Junior Audioholic
Thanks for all the responses, always learning something this obsession.
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
I have habitually bought double the power that I would ever need. 100 watt rating, in the places where I have lived, using the speakers I have owned, was always pretty much ridiculous. I do listen at reference levels and beyond. It's where just about all the speakers I have owned really sound their best. Everything about them just seems to balance out at that level. I just always (before internet) assumed that the speakers were designed to be at their best at these levels. Even now, without measuring db, I will end up within a half db of the same SPL by ear, somehow. It seemed that this is where the recording engineers, equipment manufacturers managed to all come to an agreement somehow, or seemingly like about the only hope for some sort of unsung, default, universal standard.

I didn't have time to do all the reading it used to take to hash all this stuff out when the information was only in print. Nowadays, we can research this stuff instantly. But now, I am too lazy to care. So, I just buy double the headroom across the board, and never really have to look back.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
In my system, I'm not using Audyssey, so I cannot use dynamic compression. But I would like to be able to use a compressor as a lot of CDs have as much dynamic range as some SACDs or even DVD-As. My hearing acuity has reduced to a great extent. Some of the low passages in many classical music recordings are so low that I have to raise the volume by several decibels to be able to hear them, and then the peak levels are a little bit too loud.

Dynamic compression is widely used in pro audio and I would like to find a way to eventually use dynamic compression.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
In my system, I'm not using Audyssey, so I cannot use dynamic compression. But I would like to be able to use a compressor as a lot of CDs have as much dynamic range as some SACDs or even DVD-As. My hearing acuity has reduced to a great extent. Some of the low passages in many classical music recordings are so low that I have to raise the volume by several decibels to be able to hear them, and then the peak levels are a little bit too loud.

Dynamic compression is widely used in pro audio and I would like to find a way to eventually use dynamic compression.
Your SR5011 has Audyssey Dynamic Volume and it's exactly what you're looking for. I use DEQ which is great, but I've used Dynamic Volume in the past for lower volume listening and it does work quite well. I don't use it most of the time though.
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
I use dynamic volume when watching tv/movies because the wife hates the large volume discrepancies between talking and action passages, so rather than scramble for the remote every time there's a loud scene I just enable Dynamic volume. I usually leave it on Medium for her which greatly quells the complaints of "that's too loud!" when we're watching something.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Your SR5011 has Audyssey Dynamic Volume and it's exactly what you're looking for. I use DEQ which is great, but I've used Dynamic Volume in the past for lower volume listening and it does work quite well. I don't use it most of the time though.
I can't use the Dynamic Volume feature because I don't use Audyssey. it's OFF and I don't like it. But when you get to my age, you will most likely want to use dynamic compression too. :)
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
I use dynamic volume when watching tv/movies because the wife hates the large volume discrepancies between talking and action passages, so rather than scramble for the remote every time there's a loud scene I just enable Dynamic volume. I usually leave it on Medium for her which greatly quells the complaints of "that's too loud!" when we're watching something.
An early Christmas present might be in order? :D

 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
I can't use the Dynamic Volume feature because I don't use Audyssey. it's OFF and I don't like it. But when you get to my age, you will most likely want to use dynamic compression too. :)
You can have the left/right bypass on and still use Audyssey's dynamic compression.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
You can have the left/right bypass on and still use Audyssey's dynamic compression.
I tried what you suggested and I hear a muffled sound with an important drop in the high frequencies. That's not the solution.
I am thinking of using a pro audio compressor. I am investigating that possibility.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I can't use the Dynamic Volume feature because I don't use Audyssey. it's OFF and I don't like it. But when you get to my age, you will most likely want to use dynamic compression too. :)
You can calibrate using Audyssey then turn it off for just about everything. Dynamic Volume and EQ will still function, but the other stuff won't.
 
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