Volume levels

Desticado

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Can someone please explain (in simple concise terms) why the volume control on amps goes from negitive to positive values (say, -60 to +30).

Is the reference level meant to be at 0 ?

Forgive me if its a daft question but its been baffling me for a wee while and I havent been offered a sensible answer yet.

Regards
 
I'll start of by defining decibel :
Source : http://www.audiotrends.com.au/helpfultopics/info-cinema-jargon.htm

Decibel (dB): Not a unit like inches, but a ratio-like percent, the Bel and the decibel define power differences. (One decibel is one tenth of a Bel.) One dB is a difference

of 27%. A 3-dB difference is a difference of two times, or 100%; that's why a 200-watt amplifier is only 3 dB more powerful than a 100-watt amp. A power difference of 1,000% is a 10-dB difference. A 60-dB difference is a difference of 1 million times, and so on. The decibel is used to compare power differences in voltage, current, watts, sound pressure, etc. One dB SPL is commonly accepted as the smallest difference that people can hear. The logarithmic nature of the decibel scale corresponds to the logarithmic nature of human hearing.
 
so thats a Db but why does the amp go from -ve to +ve?

is 0 Db the suggested listening level?
the Recorded level?
The 'reference' level?


My 3802 goes from -70 to +30 and 0 is pretty loud....
 
well what ever it goes up to.... highest I normally have it is -10 or 0 depending on the source.

Thankyou for your pointing out my slight oversight but WHAT DOES IT MEAN!

Regards
 
is 0 Db the suggested listening level?
the Recorded level?
The 'reference' level?
When you select the test tone it switches to 00db which is the reference level on the Denon where you set the speaker level settings, best set with a spl meter and test disc, set them to 75/85db, sub bass is up to you, start at 75db and fine tune it from there, depending how little/much bass you like
 

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