I have had my 990/7125 Combo set up for a little over a week. Seems the first night I set it up I could have sworn I set the volume in the -40 -35 area for DVD's Now I am in the -30 -26 -20 area for King Kong. Yeah I know things are relative but I am using very efficient speakers and figure I should be getting blown out of the room at these settings.

Mains Klipsch CF-4's 102db at 1w/1m
Surr Klipsch CF-1's 96db at 1w/1m
Center Klipsch KLF-C7 99db at 1w/1m

Just wondering if something may be up. FYI I did talk to Steve at Outlaw today and he had me go through setup again and even after that the volume seems a bit weak to me. Just looking for some comparison numbers from others with this same combo.

TIA

Joe D.

I listen to DVD's at around -18 and my speakers are Axiom M80ti's. It's loud, but not blow me out of the living room loud.

-30 to -20 doesn't seem out of the ordinary.

Axiom M80ti
SPL in Room 1w/1m(dB): 95 dB
SPL Anechoic 1w/1m(dB): 91 dB

Using my Kenwood speakers and 100w X 6 channel amp, I listen to DVDs at around -12to15db and TV at around -30db. -10db is about as loud as I get, but rarely is it that loud.

I have the 990/7700 combo running 2 channel with Paradigm Studio 100s. -25 to -20 is nice for sitting and listening to music. I cranked up some Metallica the other day. -10 is WAY loud. In fact I went outside to answer a phone call and was very surprised at how loud it was outside with the door shut. Mwaaahahahahahah.

I watch TV around -35dB to -30dB (start-up volume is -35) and watch DVD's at around -20dB. If I'm alone in the house, DVD's tend to drift up to around -10dB.

I watch TV around - 22 to -25, DVD's around -20 to -16.. and about the same for music in 2 ch.

Thank you to everyone who has replied. You have no idea how good it feels that it's not just me!

"This amp goes to 11..."

Seriously, there are so many variables/factors in this (including user calibration) that you really can't compare one system to the next.

I have very efficient speakers (Klipsch Cornwall mains, Klipsh Heresy side/center), and around 6000W of amplifier (big rack of Crown PSA-2's, most of them bridged).

I have configured the system (amp gains, cal settings) so that "loud" is in the -20db range. Goal, in part, was to maximize signal to noise ratios. If I ever decide that I want the system to be able to go louder, it will be easy to achieve :-).

I wouldn't worry about it-

Well, if you calibrate two different systems to the same reference level (so that they both produce a 75dB test tone when the volume is set to 0, for example), then even if one uses super-efficient horns and another uses very inefficient speakers you should get the same SPL levels when the volume controls are in the same position. The only difference would be how much power one or the other is using.

Now if you calibrate the systems differently, then obviously comparisons are going to be difficult or impossible. With the combination of speakers and amps that you have (and with those speakers I can't imagine the Crowns ever getting even a little warm), it would be easy to calibrate so that -20dB is reference - in which case you could take other people's preferred volume settings and subtract 20 to get a reasonably comparable volume in your system.

I use Rotel 200RMS x 5 channels amp with 990. Volumn is 1-12 for DTS, but -9 for DD on normal DVD watching. I crank up to 0 once a while.

CD listening is -15 or sometime down to -20 depending on how "congested" the music is.

Kwok