Home Cinema Setup

[maj]

Hopefully someone more clued up on sound setups can help me

I recently bought a Denon X2200W to go with my Q Acoustic 2020i's. I've wired everything up but I have to really crank the volume on the amp (50+) to get what I feel is adequate sound volume. Here's the specs of the amp:

Number of Poweramps
7

Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.05% 2ch Drive)
-

Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 0.7% 2ch Drive)
125 W

Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 1% 1ch Drive)
150 W

And the speakers:

Enclosure Type: 2-Way Reflex
Bass Unit: 125m
Treble Unit: 25mm
Frequency Response: 64Hz - 22kHz
Nominal Impedance: 6ohm
Minimum Impedance: 4.0ohm
Sensitivity: 88dB
Crossover Frequency: 2.9kHz
Dimensions H/D/W mm: 265 x 278 x 170
Sold in: Pairs
Weight: 6kg

Am I expecting too much from such small speakers? The Ohms and kHz figures mean nothing to me.

This leads me onto wondering if I just have everything wired up wrong. I bought some QED 79 strand speaker cable from ebay but both wires are plain black as far as I can see and I can't distinguish which is the red and which is the black. I've taken some photos below but it is hard to get a clear photo of any markings on them.

 

[maj]

I listen to movies on 60 on my denon with Q Acoustics speakers.

Why do you feel that 50+ is too high? What's your reference point?

This is my first introduction to home cinema setup so I have nothing to compare it to. It may be the norm to have it as such volume I just wanted to double check as I thought I'd of got the volume from the speakers I get at 50 at the likes 30 instead but as I said in my first post, sound frequencies are gibberish to me.

 

[maj]

Thanks for all the replies so far. To answer some questions my sources are my xbox and flac files on my phone played via bluetooth and I'm using a 2.0 setup. Couldn't feel or notice a ridge on one of the speaker cables to identify if it was positive or negative no, but will take another look when I get home. I did run some sort of setup but it only checked that the left and right speaker worked. I'll see if I can find a one that tests the levels etc.

Seems 50 volume is about normal based on some of the replies which is fine I'm just a newcomer to the world of home cinema and wasn't sure what to expect.

 

[maj]

Forgot I had created this thread and to check on replies. Bumping ask more questions...

Why are you streaming flac via Bluetooth?

I have flac files on my phone and computer and I've since set it up so receiver plays flac files over the network directly from my computer upstairs. If I try to connect phone via usb on the front it doesn't detect my phone and sound comes from phone speakers. Seems receiver might not be compatible with Android devices as tested it with an iPhone and it worked.

If you're using absolute volume then its pretty meaningless.

you should be using relative ( -80.5db to +18db) then when calibrated youd know that -30db on your amp is the same as -30db on somebody elses calibrate amp, and 0db is reference level.





it absolutely would affect the sound level. With speakers out of phase you've got speakers working against eachother to cancel eachother out - it's going to have an affect on everything.

That went completely above my head which takes me onto why I've bumped this thread. This receiver has tons of options that I've no idea what to do with. To start I can select the amp assign:

I have my two speakers connected as FL and FR but the only option for stereo is ZONE2 so have set it to that.

Next on the menu is scale:

How to know which is best setting?

I haven't done Audyssey setup as with only using a 2.0 setup in Stereo I wasn't sure if it was beneficial so just went down the manual setup route.

One of the options is for whether I have large or small speakers. Now I thought the 2020i's were small speakers as they're bookshelf ones rather than the tall free-standing ones that I've seen. Is this correct?

As you can see if I set them to small it automatically enables the subwoofer setting when I don't have one. If I disable the subwoofer it automatically changes the speaker type to large. What should I use?

The next option is levels:

The manual doesn't really explain this in great detail so again I'm not sure what to set them to. Am I best to leave them at default (0) or max the volume out?

I saw Crossover being mentioned in another thread which I why I went to take a look at what it was set to on mine. From the manual:

Based on the specs of the speaker and reading what it says below the table I have now set this to 60hz. Correct?

[*]Enclosure Type: 2-Way Reflex
[*]Bass Unit: 125m
[*]Treble Unit: 25mm
[*]Frequency Response: 64Hz - 22kHz
[*]Nominal Impedance: 6ohm
[*]Minimum Impedance: 4.0ohm
[*]Sensitivity: 88dB
[*]Crossover Frequency: 2.9kHz
[*]Dimensions H/D/W mm: 265 x 278 x 170
[*]Sold in: Pairs
[*]Weight: 6kg

One option I haven't listed above is Distance. I've set this to 2m as that's how far away the two sofa's either side of the TV are at their furthest point.

With how I have it set up, streaming flac files sound loud enough at around 35db. When I then go to stream Netflix etc I have to turn it right up to 50db to get what I feel is the same volume. Might just be normal due to Netflix streams being heavily compressed, I dunno. BluRays I have to turn right up too.

Will Bi-Wiring make any difference? I wasn't sure how to do it.

Thanks for any further help and suggestions as this is all a learning curve for me. Once I know everything is configured right I can be happy knowing I'm getting the best performance out of my setup.

 

[maj]

"As you can see if I set them to small it automatically enables the subwoofer setting when I don't have one. If I disable the subwoofer it automatically changes the speaker type to large. What should I use?"

Small. Then buy a subwoofer.
If you set to large, that means full range is sent to your speakers, which are incapable of playing LFE + bass safetly.

As for levels, do the calibration as that sets them for you.#

No, you want to set the crossover higher than the speaker. For yours I'd set it to 80hz.
Distance is set by calibration as well.
Biwiring won't make a difference.

It doesn't matter which volume scale you use. Choose whichever one you prefer, negative scale or the other

Ok thanks. Useful info there for me to go on.