New Receiver /

[dseng]

OK, I just bought my first new receiver since 1985 and now I feel like an idiot

It's a Denon 1907 just for reference.

Volume - this doesn't make sense to me - the volume starts off at something like -45db (I'm going from memory) which is silent - goes through 0 db (which I naively assumed would be silence - zero usually signifying the absence of anything) and tops out at around +32db... Can anyone enlighten me as to the why's and wherefore's ?

Oh -and I've read reviews which refer to "reference volume" - what's that really mean?

If there's something on the site that I've missed that explains all of this - point me in the right direction - I'll go read!

Thanks,
Dave

 

[MDS]

A search would bring up multiple threads with the answers but here is the short version:

The volume display where the numbers start negative and go to the positive is the 'relative' volume display. When you calibrate to reference level using 0 on the volume scale as the reference, negative numbers indicate decibels below that level and positive numbers indicate decibels above that level. In other words -10 dB on the volume display is -10 dB relative to the level at zero.

The scale where the numbers start at zero and increase in positive increments is the 'absolute' volume scale. There is NO difference between the two scales - each represents a range between minimum and maximum. The relative scale just makes it easier to tell the level at a glance.