Volume on AVM20


Ive recentley purchased a used AVM20 on the GON. Seems in great shape. sound and features pretty much liveing up to hype, and expectations. However, Im finding that in order to get a volume that Im happy with, with all material, cd,s DVDs TV,ect... I a feel as if Im haveing to turn that dail up to at least 10 before Im getting the volume I want. Im talking reasonably loud but not really. Its not pushing anywhere near what most people would consider tooo loud. But I feel that since there is not far to go between 10 and louder am I starting to push the limits of the AVm20, If so then Im worried about clipping my amp, which will go much louder and handle more than I feel Im giveing it with AVM20. In fact I know it will with differant PRE but same speakers weve been waaay past this level Im describing to you. Is this the typical decible level of the avm20 or would you suggest there could be something else going on?
Speakers: Von Schwikeirt VR4 HSE III
AMP: Bel-Canto evo200.2 and Belles 150A Hotrod tried them both with same results.
Speakerwire: Kimber with some decent enough cables.
I guess I want to know is this normal and can I take the AVM20 up any more in volume without clipping something?
Thanks, Map1
map1
Thanks for the technical specifics willhiteb. The next question to Map1 is whether he's running the volume on the AVM20 at +10 or at -10. There's a big difference between the two. Even then, the way that some of these manufacturers mark the gradient scale on the volume controls is pretty random at best.

One would think that with the very wide scale that Anthem is using on this model, anything below "0" would be an attenuated signal, "0" would basically act as a "neutral gain pass through" and anything above "0" would add gain to the signal. I'm strictly guessing here though. Sean
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Hi, Did you go into the setup menu and adjust the sgnal strength in using the level adjustment and the vertical input level guageing system. It is to set volume levels so they can be all the same volume levels when switching components. If your input levels are to low you would have to turn up the volume. Too high and you will overload the frontend of the preamplifier section. For details check the owners manual.
Good point Motorpsychos. Not being intimately familiar with this unit, someone speaking from familiarity is bound to help clear things up.

As a side note, does this unit have an analogue pass-through or all signals converted to digital? I can't see having an analogue pass through AND having to adjust the input signals simultaneously. Sean
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I had this problem the first time I had my (now gone) AVM-20...there's a setup option somewhere that will let you increase the volume of the inputs, or fine tune the general gain range of the volume control. Sorry for being vague (ok I admit this might be absolutely useless, if it is, sorry), I don't have the processor anymore so I can't check, but it's in the setup somewhere so you can raise the volume range controlled by the knob.

By the way, it does have Analog-Direct, but as a 2-channel preamp isn't spectacular, at least it wasn't when I tried it out in my 2-channel system. Better than most, yes, but not exceptional...then again, that's not what it's designed to do.
Sean, It counts down to zero, zero being the loudest. Its counting down from like 50 or something near that, which is why Im a little concernd. Those VR,s have to be bi-wired, and I cant really tell how hard Im pushing the amp, because it gets to 10 in a hurry.