Pioneer Receiver vsx-515k help.

[HudMaster23]

First Off im new to the forums.
Second i need some help on my new receiver that i got couple day's ago.
the first receiver i have right now is a rca rt2250 300 watt receiver. then i decide to upgrade to a bigger unit to the pioneer 515k. anyway this is a 660 watt receiver and 110 watt per ch.
my question is, Why is the volume so low? everything is turn up to 10db+ on the speakers. and the bass and treb is also turn up to 6db+.. there is lack bass coming out of my front mains for some reason . on my rca receiver i got my bass set at 6db+ and it bunches bass out like crazy but the 515k dosen't am i doing something wrong? or i need to get better speaker wires.? o i do have the speaker set to larg cause i dont have a sub just yet .

 

[HudMaster23]

Hello Hello anyone out there?!!!!!

 

[MDS]

For one thing, you shouldn't just crank up the levels of each channel to +10dB. Those channel trims are for the purpose of balancing the levels so that each speaker plays at the same volume. You can balance by ear by using the receiver's test tones and adjusting each channel till they sound roughly the same or better yet, buy an SPL meter from radio shack and adjust each channel until they each read roughly the same on the meter.

Second, what kind of speakers are you using and are you sure each is connected to the proper channel? If you are using speakers that came with your RCA receiver and they were included as a set (a home theater in a box), its possible that they are very low impedance and cant be driven properly by the pioneer. You should get speakers with an impedance of 8 Ohms (the vast majority of speakers are 8 Ohm so it shouldnt be difficult to find ones you like.

 

[HudMaster23]

im useing a Floorstanding Main Speakers from Fluance SV-10's, Power Handling: 50 - 200 Watts Impedance: 8 Ohms Sensitivity: 87±3dB... and my center ch is
also from Fluance Power Handling: 10 - 120 Watts Sensitivity: 88±3dB # Impedance: 8 Ohms.. anyway iv double check the wire connections and they are in the right jacks.. ill try what u said about lowering the db on the speakers with the spl meter from radioshack. if i dont hear any better performance then ill ship it back to pioneer. thanks for your reply.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Upgrade?

Hud,

You aren't going to want to hear this, but that was not much of an upgrade. That is Pioneer's entry level receiver. Although RCA is not known for it's audio gear, it may have rated it's receiver conservatively at 50 watts.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14981&item=5775051478&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Check out how Pioneer rates their entry level receiver:

Surround Power 660 Watts Total System Power - 110 watts x 6 (1 kHz 1.0% THD @ 8 Ohms)

Whenever purchasing a receiver, buy ones that have a rating at 8 ohms at 20Hz to 20,000Hz, at .05% distortion or lower. When you see ratings at 6 ohms, 1% distortion, and 1kHz, they are trying to hide something to inflate the power ratings. Unless you jump up to a Pioneer 1014 or 1015 model, I don't think you'll be satisfied.

For instance, Harman Kardon's AVR235 is rated at 55x7, but it will put out twice the power as Pioneer's 515 because of a better transformer yielding higher current. It's not until you step up to the higher end receivers that you'll see a large gain in power. Check out the price tag on the HK.

Finally, your Fluance speakers are very inefficient. The spl rating of 87 and 88 is worse than my Polk speakers, which are known to drain the life out of amps. If your speakers were rated at 90 and 91db, you would get twice the volume out of your receiver.

One blue collar method of telling how good a receiver is - check the weight. The ones below are 30+ lbs. I think you need to save up for one of these if you like your speakers:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7034112&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03031&id=1099395572329

http://www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage.asp?AuctionId=10373206&refLoc=searchall