Peak Indicator On Receiver Coming On

[anamorphic96]

I just purchased a Marantz SR5400 and the PEAK indicator on the display has been coming on and off. The manual states this comes when the analog audio input signal is greater than than the capable level of internal processing, and states I should press the ATT button. This reduces the input signal. I noticed that pressing this button reduces the volume. It also seems to reduce the bass or the overall fullness that the sound has when not engaged. The thing thats interesting is im not hearing any kind of distortion with the peak light coming on.

Does this have something to do with my CD player having to high of an output for the receiver to handle. Or could it be yet another defect.

If anyone could shed some light on this matter it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[MDS]

I would assume that ATT is an abbreviation for 'attenuate' so no suprise the volume is lowered. The perception of lower bass or less full sound is simply because we humans tend to perceive louder sounds as 'better' (at least for a short while).

It's possible, though not likely, that the output level of your cd player is too high - cd players are fairly standard and output 2v rms.

Most likely it is simply that the recording is way too hot and has lots of clipping; ie the 'standard' for mastering today. If you were to rip the track from the cd and view it in a wave editor, such as Sound Forge, you would see how compressed the waveform is and that it has extreme levels of average power (like -10db). When the receiver's dacs convert the pcm signal to analog, the resultant analog voltage required to represent it exceeds the range of the dac and they light that indicator to make you aware. I'd be surprised if you could find ANY new cd that didn't light the clip indicator.

If it were me, I would just turn off that feature if possible or live with the reduced volume when the att button is pressed.

 

[Lincoln]

My old Kenwood KRX-1000 has a peak input light like you say the Marantz has. It also has a function to allow you to reduce the input level in 2dB increments. My Pioneer Elite CD Changer that I was using with this recvr had too high of an input and would show this "clipping" light on every CD I played so I turned the input level down until this stopped (-4dB in my case). I can't believe the Marantz would give you light but no way to turn it down??? Does the CD player have an output level control on it??? My Marantz CD-63SE does have a output level control, but the Pioneer Elite I mentioned earlier does not.

Have you tried using the digital input for the CD instead of analog???

 

[anamorphic96]

Anonymous, Lincoln
Im using the analog input not the digital input on the receiver. The peak indicator does not come on when I use my DVD player with its optical connection. I researched the output voltage of my cd player(NAD C541i) and its 2.2 volts. Which is a bit high compared to the 2.0 volts of of my DVD players analog output. The receiver does have a function labled ATT which lowers the level.

One other thing to note is the PEAK indicator does not come on when the Source Direct function is enabled. HMM

Glenn

 

[mtrycrafts]

Anonymous, Lincoln
Im using the analog input not the digital input on the receiver. The peak indicator does not come on when I use my DVD player with its optical connection. I researched the output voltage of my cd player(NAD C541i) and its 2.2 volts. Which is a bit high compared to the 2.0 volts of of my DVD players analog output. The receiver does have a function labled ATT which lowers the level.

One other thing to note is the PEAK indicator does not come on when the Source Direct function is enabled. HMM

Glenn

Source direct mode passes the analog on withoug converting it to digital first that it would do otherwise. That 2.2V is too much for the conversion to digital. Just use the Source Direct mode, not the ATT.

 

[MDS]

It's interesting that the peak indicator doesn't light when using source direct. When using analog connections, regardless of source direct or some other mode, it is the cd player that does the digital to analog conversion (cds are digital - pcm), so I would expect the output analog voltage to be the same in either case. It may be that with non-source direct, we have cd player doing the d-a and then receiver doing a-d, applying processing, like bass management, and then d-a - if that's the case then you are back to the case I described above.

I said it was 'unlikely' the output voltage is the culprit, but it looks like it is in your case. 2.2 volts is slightly higher than the standard 2v, like your dvd player. Not much you can do about it unless the output voltage of the cd player can be dialed down.

 

[anamorphic96]

According to the manual. Source direct only bypasses the tone controls.

The unit works fine otherwise and in HT im not having the issues I had with previous unit.

Thanks for the input fellas.

Glenn