The funny thing is that my fronts are set to the highest value and this is -3.5db, so this should if anything increase the maximum volume. I should point out that the maximum setting on my volume control does not decrease. It always has a maximum of +18db regardless of what the channel gains are set to. The problem is that once I reach -8db maximum output is achieved. Increasing the output beyond -8db has no effect upon the output from the speakers. This is very frustrating.