Hawk, if you want to understand the decibel, here's a link to an article of mine in the Axiom articles archive:
http://www.axiomaudio.com/understandingdb.html Just remember, as the negative numbers get smaller, the power output of your H/K amplifier increases--gets louder. Over 0 dB, the number turn positive and puts you in the region of distortion and clipping. The relationship of dB and loudness levels on the H/K is accurate, so if you increase your volume level from -23 dB to -20 dB, an increase of 3 dB, the music will get "somewhat louder", but will require the H/K amp to produce twice as much power in watts for that slight increase in listening volume. To make music subjectively "twice as loud" will require ten times as much power from the amp.
Alan
