Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Loudness of System Listening to Music

Hi all,

Forgive me if this is the wrong place but since my issue is with music I figured I should start here.

I've got my system set up and it's amazingly loud and sounds fantastic with a Blu Ray via PS3 HDMI bitstreaming. At 0 db reference level, the opening scenes and chase scenes in The Dark Knight shake the house and I really need to back off a bit to maybe -5.

However when I play music it just isn't very loud. I like loud music, and honestly I was expecting to be blown out of the room much like the Blu Ray experience but it just doesn't seem that way. Has anyone experienced this? I have tried CD's in the PS3 as well as my iphone in the Onkyo dock and even at 0 db it just isn't very loud. I know I shouldn't be trying to ruin my hearing, and I don't want to do that but I feel it should be louder.

The system includes an Onkyo 807, 2 M60Ti's, 2 QS8 V2's, 1 VP150 V3, and an EP350 V3 and PS3 and Onkyo ipod dock.

I've tried disabling Audyssey, Dynamic EQ etc and nothing seems to change it. Is it that the Dark Knight being Dolby TrueHD is just mixed at higher levels?

I know I could get external amps but I really think the 807 should be capable of driving the M60's pretty well (especially for what it does in Blu Ray mode). Perhaps I just need to turn it up more? I was reluctant to go above 0db much but perhaps I should? I never heard any weirdness like clipping or distortion so maybe I am still way off from clipping mode. It almost seems like the amp isn't putting out as much power with the cd is in.

Hope this made at least some sense. I have searched and am at a loss wondering if I am crazy or my expectations were just too lofty.

thanks

Scott

What surround more are you using for music listening?

Movies and music are two different animals. What you are probably experiencing and enjoying is the wonderful dynamic range and low frequency content (sometimes mixed hot) in today's Blu-ray Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master soundtracks. The type of content in today's reference Blu-ray disks rarely exists in most music genres and/or recordings (besides classical).

What he's seeing is the opposite of what I get. I have PS3 to a Pioneer receiver. When I watch movies I usually do it at -15 dB, but have to back it off too -30 dB for CDs played from the same source. Movies may have some slightly louder passages, but CDs are loud all the time.

I do have some CD/DVD-A discs with large dynamic ranges, those I'll play at -15 or higher (Carmina Burana DVD-A gets played at -0 dB. ).

But for the most part, music sounds louder than movies.

Check your input trim levels for the different sources.

I'm surprised that CD's through the PS3 aren't louder.

How do you have everything connected? Maybe what you're hearing is a difference between analog inputs (which may have more gain from the source) and digital inputs?

I'll bet the issue with the iPod is (as Mark mentioned) that you may have to turn up the volume on the iPod itself.

Thanks for the responses! Everything is hooked up via HDMI (PS3 to 807 to TV).

I kind of figured the ipod dock thing could be the levels of indivdual recordings etc and how they got imported into iTunes so that's why I tried the cd route. I will play around some more. In the PS3 menu I see there are settings for music options like whether to play cd tracks as mp3, etc so perhaps I need to tweak these things some and keep messing. Also I will play around with some different CD's.

Of course with a 7 week old baby finding times when I can crank it anyways may make the whole thing moot LOL

Cd's played back through a PS3 should give you very loud levels, nearly equal to BR if not louder as is my case with my BR player. I have to turn down my Denon 3808 to achieve similar dbs to movies when playing cd's or streaming music.

Is there some sort of setting in the Onkyo that is cutting dynamic range/night mode or something similar when only music is selected?

Maybe a dumb question but just to make sure there are no assumptions - when you say CD in the PS3 you are referring to actual 'factory produced' audio CD's? i.e. not MP3's burned on a CD that could have some digital gain tags applied to them that could be causing this effect?

Also as you suggested, go through the PS3 menus and make sure all volume normalisation options are turned off.

I experience the same as ClubNeon. I turn it up for movies and down for CD's.