Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Lack of volume

I have a HK 235 AVR with the output split into 3 zones around my house driving 2 M22s and a Velodyne CHT-8 sub in my living room (roughly 24 X 20 X 20 = 9600 cubic feet - SPL meter used at 18 feet). I set the receiver at -5 (range -80 to +15) to listen to what I consider loud music (about 80dB). When I want to "crank it up" I can get 100+ dB. If it weren't driving 2 other zones it would be even louder... You might see if the salesman would let you try out another receiver (ideally bring home 2 models - one that is just like what you bought to compare to yours and one that is different and a very good known receiver like a Denon or HK - even if it were just a 2 channel stereo receiver...)

Have you tried different modes like stereo or pure stereo for CD? Does it have dsp modes? Are you using one of those? At -10 volume you should get 90-95dB (real loud). My listening settings are -25 to -20.

Have you called Axiom?

I have a Denon 2802 that drove M60s, et al, to extremely loud levels on its own (I have since added an outboard 2 channel amp - a sensible upgrade, IMO, if you have some spare coin).
For the original poster: the speakers are not to blame, and it may not even be the receiver. Everytime I had a problem with something, it seemed to come down to error on my part in set-up. I'm guessing that is the case here, as well. OTOH, my digital cable box does require more turns on the volume knob to achieve the same spl levels as other sources, but not to the extent you are experiencing.
AH HA! You're not running the audio signal to the TV first and then out to your receiver are you? If so, the TV's volume level will determine how much signal goes to the receiver. Eureka!

The analogue signal from the satellite receiver will be significantly lower than the digital output signal. You should try using the satellite receiver’s optical output to your AVR. I noticed I huge difference in overall SQ with mine.

Regardless of that, you have something set wrong. You should be able to get 90 DB's or so out of that Pioneer. It may not sound all that terrific, but it'll be loud as hell.

It’s not the speakers, it’s something else. Definitely not the speakers though. Unless you removed the binding post bridge…..possibly?

I am driving all the inputs directly not via TV. I have tried various stuff by way of setup changes. Not much change in volume. As I said, the amp can reach hig volume, just that it does so at the high end of its cpability. That worries me

Do you have a buddy that could take a look at your setup? Something just doesn't "feel" right in your situation/ description.

It is difficult to believe that all of your speakers are bad. Even if you had one or two bad, I would expect the others to blow you right out of the room at those settings!!!!

I tend to believe that either the receiver is not getting the source signals or the receiver just isn't operating properly.

Darn! Oh well, good luck.

I had a similar problem with a Pioneer vsx-1014, which I returned. The Denon AVR 1083 which I have now seemed to be on the quiet side at 75 db until I calibrated it at 80 db using an spl meter. I suggest you give that a try.

I don't have a Pioneer. But on my HK the DB channel adjusts are not set for all output formats. So if I go from a digital to an analog source and change from Dolby to some other DSP I need to reset the channel outputs. If your giving a large amount of offset in one mode you would certainly find another very quiet if it was set at 0db.

I have no idea if your receiver works this way.

I have an HK630 and HK3270 which I use with a variety of Axiom speakers. I normally play movies around -10 and music around -20 on the M60s, going down to -20 and -30 respectively for "background" listening.

Having said that, some CDs need to be played up to 10dB louder (ie -10) to be even moderately loud, and need to be at or above 0dB if I want "loud".

With the smaller, less efficient M2s I had to turn the volume control even higher for the same volume levels but I usually stopped before getting to 0dB.

Your volume settings with the DVD sound reasonable but it does seem like the signal from the satellite box is too weak. Whoever told you "it's the speakers" should probably not be trusted for other important things either

One other thing to check; sometimes when setting up channel levels (eg. left surround up 3 dB, center down 2 dB) you end up with most or all of the channel settings being below zero. That's OK but it does make everything play quieter for any given volume control setting. If you do have most or all of the channel settings set in the -ve range, just adjust them all up by the same amount.