Music DVDs which aren't loud enough, even at full volume on amp!

[ToTo Man]

Does anyone else suffer from this PITA problem?

My HT receiver is a Marantz SR7300 (6 x 105wpc), and my DVD player is hooked upto it via Digital Coaxial link.
The volume goes from -infinity upto 0db, and then upto +18db, but anything over 0db adds extra noise, so I'm guessing that 0db is no attenuation, and anything over 0db is gain. I strictly do not exceed 0db in case its damaging to my speakers, but i'm not sure if my fears are warranted. Are they? Is going past 0db safe?

On most consumer Music DVDs, the volume level is fine and I have no problems. I usually don't need to go above -6db to get VERY LOUD, and at which my external power LED meters bounce around 20watts. Hell, on an AC/DC dvd I can't exceed -15db without my ears bleeding! :D But on some DVDs, the recording is so quiet that even 0db isn't loud enough. Two prime examples of this are 'Eagles - Hell Freezes Over', and my most recent purchase 'Mike & The Mechanics - Live At Shepherds Bush'. Its a real pisser not being able to play it at the volume you want just because the engineer decided to make it 10db quieter than other Music DVDs! :mad: Does this annoy any of you as well? Is there anyway to over come this apart from running a seperate power amp on the pre-outs of the HT amp?

[cubdog]

I've never experienced that problem. I have Hell Freezes Over and have not noticed any discernable difference between it and my other music DVD's. I would say it's a faulty disc except that you now have two with the same problem. :scratch2:

cubdog

[Wireworm5]

Maybe you have to go in your dvd menu and change your audio settings. Other than that I don't know. I'm guessing that you are watching these movies in stereo but are getting a dolby signal. :smoke:

[ToTo Man]

Nope, I watch them in either 5.1 DD or 5.1 DTS. Occassionally the 5.1 DD soundtrack is slightly louder than the 5.1 DTS soundtrack but 9 times out of 10 both soundtracks are at the same volume. I always chose DTS over DD as it sounds better to me, possibly less compressed? As I say, most DVDs I buy are fine, its just the odd one or two which are quiet in comparison to the rest. The sensitivity of my HT receiver's input seem less than that of my vintage Yamaha receiver, so perhaps my HT receiver can only give out 105wpc if the input signal is like 2 volts?

[cubdog]

I will run a test today and compare Hell Freezes Over with another DVD or two. I will select DTS for both and leave the volume set at the same level. I'll report back later today.

cubdog

[ToTo Man]

The Hell Freezes Over DVD was one of the first DVDs I bought. IIRC I prefered the stereo soundtrack over the DTS, as while the DTS was louder than stereo, all the mics seemed too echoey for my liking compared to the stereo track, so this is probably not the best example I've given. The two worst offenders in my collection are definitely 'Mike + The Mechanics - Live At Shepherds Bush' and 'Michael Bolton - Greatest Hits Live', both of which I need to turn the amp upto 0db to get a decently loud volume.

The 3 loudest DVDs I have are: 'AC/DC - Live In Donnington', 'Eros Ramazzotti - Live In Rome', and 'Bruce Springsteen - MTV Plugged'. With all three I can get satisfyingly loud volumes with the volume control set to -15db.

Most other DVDs I have the volume set between -12db and -6db.

As a side note, I bet if you compared the stereo track of the Hell Freezes Over DVD with the CD release the CD will be much louder...

[cubdog]

I have been listening to some concert DVD's today and played Hell Freezes Over. I listened to tracks in both DTS and Stereo. I didn't notice any discernable differences in the volume. I don't have any of the other DVD you mentioned so I can't help you there.

cubdog