Time for an upgrade and need some advice!

[sterling shoote]

The other day I was linitally listening to an LP with volume set at-30db. I decided to listen to the same material from iTunes Library, which requires a reduction in volume to -50db. I did not do that however and although I immediately turned things down I heard great distortion, like hard clipping. I thought I damaged my speakers. Then, I remembered I had my iTunes equalizer turned on to accentuate highs and lows. I turned the equalizer off and music sounded fine. Phew! That was a relief. I mention this as possibly your issue may be too much equalization instead of damaged speaker.

 

[NtegraDryvr]

I ran Audyssey XT32 and made no other changes. Maybe? I just did a factory reset last night like I should have as soon as I plugged it in since it was a demo unit. I will give it some time and see how it goes.

 

[PENG]

This is exactly what I wanted to know! I had wondered about Eco mode and others were saying to leave it on as it increases power as you need it and should extend the life of the amp? Sounds to me like I need to invest in an Emotiva XPA-5 Gen 3 to make a difference since it is 250w / 5ch, right?

They were incorrect. There are 3 settings for the ECO mode.
Auto - Turns on automatically according to the volume position (on my X4400H it turns on at around 42)
On - Stays on full time.
Off - Stays off full time.

Below is a response from D&M on this topic. It was in an AVS Forum post I linked in another thread some time back.

"When ECO Mode is used, voltage for the amp stage decreases about 1/3 and amplifier stage energy loss decreases about 1/6 compared to ECO Mode being OFF.
It is recommend when using external amplification to leave ECO Mode set to ON. This will reduce power consumption to less than 70W.
When using ECO Mode ON at lower volume levels (under 45 Absolute) power consumption is about 1/2 as compared to leaving ECO Mode OFF. This is useful if using the AVR at night and you do not want to disturb others.
When using ECO Mode Auto, the circuit will control the power supply voltage by a relay. If the volume level is more than 45 Absolute the circuit will cut off. If the volume is less than 45 Absolute the circuit will switch on automatically. If listening at the threshold level (45) you will hear the relay clicking on and off frequently. Voltage for the amp stage does not change here, so power consumption would be the same as normal.

Thank You,
D+M Custom Install "

I'm starting to wonder if it was distortion I heard at all or some kind of interference possibly. A few things to note. My left speaker which has a "sub" is only 6" roughly away from a couch/chair and one of my subs is only 1" to the right of it but the sub is forward facing.

Did you have ECO mode on, or auto? As I mentioned before, if ECO mode was on, at volume -7 you would probably hit the limit set by the ECO mode and that could have been the cause of the distortion due to clipping.

If ECO mode was off and you are getting distortion then there is something else wrong, could be a defective unit though highly unlikely, your source material, media player, or speakers. In that case adding an amp won't solve it.

 

[NtegraDryvr]

ECO was set to AUTO. Since I've done a factory reset I'll give everything a try again and see if it makes a difference with out of the box settings before I run Audyssey. Wish I knew how to identify what clipping is vs hurt speaker vs hurt receiver/amp.

 

[NtegraDryvr]

They were incorrect. There are 3 settings for the ECO mode.
Auto - Turns on automatically according to the volume position (on my X4400H it turns on at around 42)
On - Stays on full time.
Off - Stays off full time.

Below is a response from D&M on this topic. It was in an AVS Forum post I linked in another thread some time back.

"When ECO Mode is used, voltage for the amp stage decreases about 1/3 and amplifier stage energy loss decreases about 1/6 compared to ECO Mode being OFF.
It is recommend when using external amplification to leave ECO Mode set to ON. This will reduce power consumption to less than 70W.
When using ECO Mode ON at lower volume levels (under 45 Absolute) power consumption is about 1/2 as compared to leaving ECO Mode OFF. This is useful if using the AVR at night and you do not want to disturb others.
When using ECO Mode Auto, the circuit will control the power supply voltage by a relay. If the volume level is more than 45 Absolute the circuit will cut off. If the volume is less than 45 Absolute the circuit will switch on automatically. If listening at the threshold level (45) you will hear the relay clicking on and off frequently. Voltage for the amp stage does not change here, so power consumption would be the same as normal.

Thank You,
D+M Custom Install "



Did you have ECO mode on, or auto? As I mentioned before, if ECO mode was on, at volume -7 you would probably hit the limit set by the ECO mode and that could have been the cause of the distortion due to clipping.

If ECO mode was off and you are getting distortion then there is something else wrong, could be a defective unit though highly unlikely, your source material, media player, or speakers. In that case adding an amp won't solve it.

So after I did the factory reset the ECO mode went to OFF. I can't imagine someone changed it from the factory setting so maybe the firmware update I did before the factory reset changed the default setting.

I have a theory as to why I think everything is so quiet. I believe years ago when I originally set up my old receiver and new HTPC at the time that I went into KODI and turned volume amplification within the program to max so I didn't have to crank the receiver so hard. I haven't even installed KODI yet and am just relying on Windows volume being at max (recently reloaded Windows) and having to get the receiver at -10 or louder to get even average volumes for listening to dialog in TV shows. I'm guessing this was the case for my old receiver as well.

Also I am in a rather decent sized living room/kitchen that opens up into the rest of the house and maybe the large size is making it so that the volume has to be cranked.

 

[PENG]

So after I did the factory reset the ECO mode went to OFF. I can't imagine someone changed it from the factory setting so maybe the firmware update I did before the factory reset changed the default setting.

I thought you bought a demo, the store staff must have set it to auto. If you did a factory reset it went to "off", that means default is "off".

I have a theory as to why I think everything is so quiet. I believe years ago when I originally set up my old receiver and new HTPC at the time that I went into KODI and turned volume amplification within the program to max so I didn't have to crank the receiver so hard. I haven't even installed KODI yet and am just relying on Windows volume being at max (recently reloaded Windows) and having to get the receiver at -10 or louder to get even average volumes for listening to dialog in TV shows. I'm guessing this was the case for my old receiver as well.

I think you are right. By the way, generally speaking if you are playing music on a PC using itune or other players, you are supposed to set the volume (the PC/laptop etc..) to maximum when outputting via the digital outputs.

 

[NtegraDryvr]

I thought you bought a demo, the store staff must have set it to auto. If you did a factory reset it went to "off", that means default is "off".



I think you are right. By the way, generally speaking if you are playing music on a PC using itune or other players, you are supposed to set the volume (the PC/laptop etc..) to maximum when outputting via the digital outputs.

I use Foobar2000 and keep all volume sliders to max. Music comes out possibly twice as loud as movies and tv shows do at the same volume settings.