You probably already know the 0 dB reference is for THX.? If you have THX certified speakers and all, then setting the receiver to 0 dB should yield the SPLs that the movie producers intended.? Bullet In The Head requires just a bit more juice to get the china to rattle properly.

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I had to put a governor on zone 2 of my sony so that it would limit volume starting at 8 PM, then lower over time so it was pretty quiet by midnight (‘cause it’s the receiver to blame, not me . .)? It would even work if the receiver tried to raise the volume, thus keeping my patio circuit from offending my neighbors – or my wife.

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Interesting point. I just checked and I'm using the 0-98 scale vs. the dB scale, and I'm quite sure that the other sites are using the 0-98 scale as well...It feels like something has changed...
(Side Rant - What is it about audio manufacturers that cannot get the concept of 0-100/0%-100%??? Is it really so hard to understand that this is how the people that are paying for this would best understand things???? ?I know, pro audio guys think differently, but AVRs are not pro Audio devices...)

And I definitely agree that turn on/turn off levels need to be managed for the exact reason that Michael mentioned. I've chose to deal with it programmatically, setting a turnon volume of my choosing on start up, and setting the volume to '0' before sending the off command.
I also have built volume governor logic to programmatically manage the max volume. In a properly calibrated system, I feel that it is not really necessary to go much over reference (0 dB). some devices like the sony avrs will allow +23 dB OVER Reference!!!? I have a parameter to limit this...

The one downside to managing the volume range is that if you use the AVR OSD, the volume display will not match your UI level display - I personally like to turn the OSD off, but some of my dealers like to keep it on...

Common Folk…all our customers, don’t get/understand db’s and especially “0 db” being Reference level cause 0 means nada, zilch, etc.? I would infer that -db must mean less than Zilch!? Relative Scale of 0-100 is easily understood by all.?

Again, I prefer to set the initial Turn On Vol to a level that can be readily heard but not wake the dead.? Max Vol settings can preclude speaker damage but may not keep your neighbors happy??

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The other important issue is to balance the sensitivity of all incoming Audio Signals and both Denon and Marantz provide for this very useful feature.? This feature is not foolproof as many TV channels can exhibit widely disparate signal levels.?

To my old tired eyes…I mean ears, this seems like the FCC not doing proper policing of broadcasters but we’ve been led to believe they are cracking down on Robo Callers as well.? Not at all certain how that is playing our in real life. ??

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With respect to possible speaker damage, our experience seems to suggest that it most often occurs in Zones 2 & 3 (& 4 in some older Gen Receivers).? I’ve arrived at a home site to discover the woofers rattling to beat the band and when I review the volume

Settings for Zones 2/3, discover them set to “Ballistic Launch Mode”…Houston, we are clear for launch!? The client will vehemently declare that they didn’t do it, which must mean that you must have left it that way.?

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One additional thought, Wi-Fi is a wonderful feature.? Not so much for system volume control, however, as the time lag between Input and Realization can be problematic.? Most clients will camp out on the Vol ramp control and that can and does

Inject some rather startling results.? This can and does happen even with Serial or IR based commands.? I ALWAYS instruct clients NOT to do this and I use the following analogy.?

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Folks if you are in your garage and can’t seem to get your car in gear, Don’t Floor it. No Beuno! ?

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Hi Chris,

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It’s been a very long time since I looked at these AVRs, but I wrote my own module back in the 2010-2013 timeframe. At that point, the MVMAX response was not defined in the protocol docs but it was returned most of the time when the AVR sent an MV response. It was the volume limit set in the AVR and it did not change unless you changed the setting in the AVR. It could only be 1 of 4 values (60, 70, 80, or 99=off). I used it so that I could provide volume feedback as a percentage of the volume limit.

IIRC, the Crestron module at the time did not look specifically for MVMAX. In response processing, it checked for the MV command and then skipped response processing if the next character was an M. This prevented erroneously processing the MVMAX response.

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What is the “weirdness” in the module’s volume feedback? ?Since older modules with older AVRs ignored MVMAX, something may have changed in how the module deals with it. I have not looked at the Denon AVR-3313 v1.1 module, though I will if it is of any use to you.

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Based on what you’ve seen, the AVR may not be sending the correct value back in MVMAX. Since it is off, I would have expected 99. You could try setting a limit to see if it then sends back the correct value and does that change the “weirdness” in volume feedback. According the 7015 user manual, the volume limit can now be set to any volume between 60 and 80 or off and it appears that the value can now be 3 digits.

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I’m surprised at how much I I remember about the device after a relative quick look. ?

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Dave

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I was curious so I looked at the 1.1 module. It does use MVMAX to provide a volume gauge. The volume text is whatever was sent back in MV (displayed in db), BUT the volume gauge is computed using the last value of MVMAX than it saw (which would be the MVMAX from the previous MV response). So based on the data you sent: For MV values between 0 and 410 you would likely see a gauge where 665 (or 670) is 100%, e.g. 400 would be about 60%. For MV = 880 you might see 100%, or close to it. If the MV value goes above 880 you will see a gauge that’s wrapped around to 0, e.g. For MV=900 it could show about 2%. And all of this depends on which direction MV has been moving since it uses the last MVMAX it saw, e.g. you could see the same gauge wrap-around when turning down the volume and crossing over from something in the 700 range to the 400 range.

If that looks something like the “weirdness” you’re seeing, then it appears to be a result of the AVR sending back incorrect values for MVMAX

Dave

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Hi Chris,

I believe that your assumption is correct. MVMAX should be the value of Volume Limit as set in the AVR and it should not change until the setting in the AVR is changed, This is how is worked on the older models that I tested with.

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For your change, I think you want to use the value 980 for iMVMAX. All the volume calcs are done using 3 digits. Also, you may want to change the initialized value of iMVMAX at the end of the module. It should probably be 980, too. The following provides a bit of explanation.

On the older models MVMAX wasn’t sent in response to the MV? Request. This meant that if you were trying to get the initial volume at startup, you had to either assume a starting MVMAX or issue one of the other requests that returns MVMAX (SI? or CV?). Related to this, the first MV that comes back will not have MVMAX set since it comes after the MV in the paired sequence. The 1.1 module initializes iMVMAX to be 65535. That will initially produce a weird gauge value (equal the volume value) at the start.

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Back in 2012 at a Denon training class, I took a run at working the MVMAX issue, along with a number of others that I ran into. The people there told me they weren’t interested in hearing about it. From their perspective it worked fine, no one else was having any issues. Good luck ?

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Dave

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Yup, I understand, that how I ended up writing my own years back. I did learn a lot about the protocol in the process, so I’m happy to help if I can.

Dave

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