Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater a/v receiver stereo volume -30db to -15 normal?

Hi:

Bought my first A/V receiver-onkyo sr800.
Not used to this type of volume (-db) adjustment. Should my volume be in the -30 to -15db range to get good stereo volume? (I noticed that even headphone volume has to go into the lower -20s to sound reasonable.)
A Harman Kardon avr525 that I recently tried needs the volume to be in the same ranges for good stereo sound also.

Also, are speaker level adjustments that range from -12db to +12db normal at the 0db setting. I noticed that setting them say at 6db each or higher makes overall volume higher-can this cause more distortion? What is the nominal setting assuming both speakers should be set the same?

Thanks,

Intune