New audio receiver acting strange

[Coren]

A lightning strike killed the HDMI ports on my old receiver. Instead of trying to find parts and fix it, I just replaced it. The old receiver, an Onkyo SR605 (http://www.onkyousa.com/Products/mod...class=Receiver) has nearly very similar output specs as the new one, a Yamaha RX-V675 (http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio..._u/?mode=model). I think the Yamaha should have plenty of power to drive my speakers.

My problem is that I have to turn the volume up much higher on this new receiver to get equivalent levels of sound on the speakers. If I'm just sitting there by myself, I'm already sitting at 50%. If I have normal ambient noise (somebody in the next room) I'm at 70%, and if there are kids nearby, 80% volume is common. This is the case regardless of input (radio, bluray, directv, etc). I rarely turned the old receiver above 50% volume.

I will mention that we continued using the old receiver for a while and although the HDMI ports were out, the other inputs (and radio) still worked. I do not think the lightning damaged the speakers.

Anybody more familiar with audio equipment have any ideas what may be going on?

[Buffy]

There are a couple factors that could be in play:

Your old amp could have been better than it was rated. You'll see this very often in performance level car stereo equipment. A 400 Watt amp might test at 460 or 520, while the next one off the line only tests at 410. They both meet the 400 Watt advertisement, but they have significantly different performance. In car stereo performance market, the person buying the amp will require to see the testing certificate that comes with the amp before they purchase it, because they want the 520 one and not the 410 one obviously.

Recheck your connections. If you are using wired connections, not plugs, check to ensure that the wire isn't starting to break where you thread it into the receiver. A break will reduce the signal going to the speaker, even though the amp is outputting correctly. I always cut and restrip my connectors when swapping amps to avoid breaks.

The old amp was a 7.1 system and the new amp is a 7.2 system. This means the new system is expecting two bass outputs. If you are using a single bass speaker on the 7.2 system, you will have half as much bass because it is splitting the signal strength and half of it is going nowhere.

Hope any of that helps.

[Isiolia]

The old amp was a 7.1 system and the new amp is a 7.2 system. This means the new system is expecting two bass outputs. If you are using a single bass speaker on the 7.2 system, you will have half as much bass because it is splitting the signal strength and half of it is going nowhere.

It doesn't need two subs, it just supports them. The manual has instructions for setting up a number of configurations.


Did you run the auto-adjustment (Yamaha Parametric room Acoustic Optimizer)? Volume display should be for decible%, not power. You'd need to run the calibration to give the receiver a reference point. Conversely, if you never ran it for your Onkyo, things may not line up there either (or if you had the gain cranked for speakers on that).

Also make sure the adaptive dynamic range control is off for your comparison. The point of that is to compress things so you can hear audio without shaking things with the sub/etc.

It also has an Eco Mode, which you might try toggling.

I did Google it, and you wouldn't be the first to find it to be quiet, but I'd try the calibration stuff if you haven't.

[Coren]

Thanks both of you for the assistance. I'll run the calibration (I never did) and check the other settings.