Negative volume on receiver!

[venkat]

hi,

I am running a pair of Mosaics with Pioneer VSX-816. After I make the connections everything works fine, but the volume level on the receiver is shown in negative numbers.

That is say it starts at -60, if I increase volume it shows something like -55,-56,-57....and if I decrease volume it shows something like -63, -64.....

Is this normal or am I doing anything wrong? The speakers seem to be working just fine.

thanks

Seshagiri

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Shesagiri,

Nothing is wrong and what you see is typical of most AV receivers. Increasing the volume will "decrease" the negative numbers until you reach "0". For example -40 is louder than -41, etc. If you continue to increase the volume past that point (the "0" reading), the volume display numbers will increase.

In theory (I think), the "0" volume level is supposed to represent a THX standard but that's only a guess.

GG

 

[FISH_MAN]

my lexicon is this way to and it is a stupid system I really hate this!!!
why can they not offer a choice to switch to say 0 - 100

 

[Gordon Gray]

Some preamps do use the "0" (no volume) to whatever volume display.

I agree that it's much more intuitive.

GG

 

[amey01]

It is quite simply a calibrated dB scale - 0dB (loudest) being reference point, -1dB being 1dB below reference and so on.

My Copland preamp is the same. I like it because it gives you some idea of what is going on - I say "some" because it all depends on amp sensitivities, etc, but it's better than just 1-100 or whatever.

 

[amey01]

Just realised I focused on the incorrect thing! Damn auto-focus! Since Justin has raised the bar in images I won't leave it at that - try again!

 

[miljac]

As far as I remember the negative numbers are decibels of attenuation, 0dB is full output. For power amplifier 3 dB is twice the power and for preamp 6db is twice the voltage.