Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Volume level on Denon 2805

This is for any of you Denon 2803/2805 owners....I just got my M60's and denon 2805 for a 2-channel setup.

1) With Lord of the rings DVD in , I had to increase volume to -10 to get slightly above normal sound level.

2) Next, I played Hotel California song in pure direct mode and still I had to go upto -15 to get normal sound level.

My question is:
Is it normal to have to increase volume knob upto -10/-15 to get normal sound ? ( My volume level starts at -80 and goes upto +18 , I believe).. I was kinda surprised with 100W/channel coming out and M60's being such efficient speakers, do I need to increase it by this much or am I doing something wrong with the receiver settings ??? With my earlier Yamaha, I dont recall having to go this much down...Pl. help me resolve this ...What is your "normal" volume level with this receiver ?

The 12 guage speaker wires that Axiom provide are black and there is an "axiom" logo on one of the wires ( i.e. positive or negative wire) and folks at Axiom suggest that I assume it as being either positive/negative and then keep it consistant. Now the results of the Auto setup with the mike that denon 2805 provides, says "Error: front speakers out of phase"...(Unfortunately , they also mention that on certain speakers, even correct connections will be reported as out of phase)....So there is no sure way to find out




FYI, here are some other info about my setup:
1) I am running optical from my DVD player to receiver and using axiom 12 guage wire to hook up the two speakers.

2)On the receiver setup menu, I have the two front speakers as large and the channel level as +1 dB ( 0 being the default).

3) My room measures approximately 15x30x9 with the speaker and receiver at one long side and my sitting position at the other end around 12 ft away. I have the speakers around 18" from wall behind and around 6 ft. apart.

I can't answer the Denon question.

To find true neg / pos wires. Use a continuity tester. Take the wire from your speaker and your receiver the probe both ends until you have a complete circuit. Then label them.
I would definitely look into making sure that they are wired correctly.

sridhar
For music (stereo) I usually have volume set to -30 to -15. the latter being pretty loud. For movies I listen anywhere from -15 to -8.
Part of the reason you have to turn up the volume for movies, is that you get fewer watts per channel in surround mode. 120wpc in stereo and 100wpc in surround. Also some recordings are just recorded louder than others.
As for the out of phase thing, I cant really help you other than saying double check your speaker wire.
The final results for the auto EQing were poor in my opinion. However the auto part did set the speaker distance exactly, so I kept that part and have set everything else manually.

Also go into your speaker configuration menu and set your center and surround speakers to 'none'.

Thanks for your inputs...I do have the center,surrounds and sub as off. I put in starwars , phantom menace and I usually love to listen to the THX introduction. At -10 it sounded quite wimpy...For the race scene, I had the level at +3 to get some good effect. I know that I do not have the center,surrounds and sub ( yet ), but I am really surprised that my fronts need +3 to give me good effect...

After running auto eq my front channels were set at +10.5 and +11.0. (I sit about 10 feet from front speakers) I left that part and the distance settings alone. I only changed the graphic EQs (dont know if that is the right term) settings.
I still tweak on the settings daily, but LOVE the sound overall.

Well I can tell you that when I first hooked up my new 2805 with my new Axioms months ago, at first I said "dang, what the hell is wrong" I can bairly hear anything....so as I cranked the volume to -60...-50....etc... I realize this was different than my old JVC Pro Logic receiver.

It is interesting the Auto Setup is saying your mains are out of phase, I don't have this problem, knock on wood...I would say that for movies it varies from -30 to -12, depending if the wife is home or not For music, it also varies from around -25 to -10 or so, depending if I'm listening to my older 70's-80's cd's to the newer, better quality recorded stuff of today... Right now I have the setup in my upstairs living room which is about 12 x 15 and I would say the mains are set at +6dB, I'd have to check to see what they are at for direct mode for music...It is rare that I get in the +db ranges, maybe when the wife takes the kids to the mall and I let the dog out, and crank up some Rush "Moving Pictures" for example...

I'll have to give your issues some thought....all I can say is that my setup sounds fantastic, and I don't appear to be having issues like you mention.

Sirquack,
Your setup is awesome! How do you like your VP150 ? Been reading mixed reviews about that one...

Hey, when you say that "mains are set at +6db" , do you mean the channel level gain (0 default) ? I have it at +1db. I called up Axiom and the guy there told me that he has his fronts at +1 db on his denon 2803 in a room 15x25 and he told me at -10 it was plenty loud...

Let me play with raising it from +1 upwards and see if I like it better then...

You could also try switching the polarity on one of the speakers. If it sounds better, there you go! You're not going to hurt anything...

sridhar_125,

This is more than likely the "hit-and-miss" nature of the Denon auto-EQ/polarity circuit. Axiom gets frequent calls from owners of Denon, Yamaha, etc. that have the new auto-adjust circuitry.

These circuits are often erratic, especially the polarity and auto-EQ. Turn it off. Of course, check the polarity of your speaker connections, using the "Axiom" logo as a guide to keeping the positive connection consistent.

The auto-EQ should not be used. It has the potential to make linear, neutral speakers like Axioms sound bad.

You can try using the auto circuit for distance settings, but I think you'd be better off to do it all manually if some of the settings seem haywire.

In other respects, Denon receivers are excellent.

Regards,