Please help. Why would higher power amp require gain? Marantz/Adcom


Hi,

This is my first post.

I recently connected my Adcom GFA-555 to the front preouts of my Marantz SR5015. I recently had the Adcom evaluated at a reputable repair business as I’ve owned it for 30 plus years. The Adcom had a clean bill of health.
I prefer to setup my speaker gains manually with a sound meter manually with slow C weighting at 75db. I set the Front Left speaker at 0db then turn the volume up to obtain 75db.
The Marantz receiver volume required was 84 where as with the Adcom it was 88. As a result the remaining 5 speakers required a reduction in db to balance out.
Hope this makes sense.....I was expecting a lower volume number on the Marantz to obtain the same 75db, as the Adcom is rated MUCH higher wattage.

Please explain.

Newbie
volfan72
I don't think the wattage has anything to do with it.  There are different technologies involved in volume control, and I wouldn't expect the volume control of 1 manufacturer to correspond to another, and I am surprised that your 30 year old accomplished is as close as it is to the Marantz
The wattage has nothing to do with it. The Marantz has higher gain but that's unrelated to maximum power output.
Wattage refers to the limit of output, more related to Volts than watts really, but it refers to maximum output before clipping.
The issue is that the gain, the ratio of Vout/Vin but we measure it in DB's so 20log ( Vout/Vin ).  By convention amplifiers offer ~ 23 dB of gain.  Receivers aren't under the same convention, and it IS just a convention, so nothing really wrong with an amp offering more ore less.

Best,
E