Gain setup on active monitors

[Miguelón]

Hello! I have a pair of active studio monitors in a small room for home listening.

Normally 70-75 dB is my listening confort level, I set my speakers (Neumann KH 80 DSP) on 94 dB output level (the minimum they offer), and minimum gain of -15 dB.

Since my interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th) has an output line of +10 dB, my total SPL should be +10 dB -15 dB +94 dB = 89 dB, more than enough to my purposes.

And also the lesser the gain the higher the fidelity as I remember also form my little electronic formations.

I’m right on my settings and thoughts to have the best performance of my speakers (apart from room corrections) or I am missing something?

Thanks a lot!

 

[dfuller]

Hello! I have a pair of active studio monitors in a small room for home listening.

Normally 70-75 dB is my listening confort level, I set my speakers (Neumann KH 80 DSP) on 94 dB output level (the minimum they offer), and minimum gain of -15 dB.

Since my interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th) has an output line of +10 dB, my total SPL should be +10 dB -15 dB +94 dB = 89 dB, more than enough to my purposes.

And also the lesser the gain the higher the fidelity as I remember also form my little electronic formations.

I’m right on my settings and thoughts to have the best performance of my speakers (apart from room corrections) or I am missing something?

Thanks a lot!

I mean, you have a volume control on your interface. Just set your volume there. If running the speakers at unity gain/94dB doesn't give you enough control, then sure - reduce the gain at the speaker input.

 

[bungle]

I usually reduce gain a bit so that speakers don’t hiss without signal audibly from the distance I think it is annoying. Genelecs especially seem to be quite sensitive at max (factory default) and do hiss. Subwoofer I need to reduce even more, perhaps because of room/listening position.

 

[Miguelón]

I mean, you have a volume control on your interface. Just set your volume there. If running the speakers at unity gain/94dB doesn't give you enough control, then sure - reduce the gain at the speaker input.

My question was more about audio quality. In general I prefer how the amplifiers sound at lowest gain if is enough for achieving the target volume raising the signal strength on the interface.

If there’s no formal inconvenient to keep the interface volume knob all time at 75-80% or more, I will continue with my -15 dB.

As I believe, don’t completely sure, the line output of an interface is at 0 level at his maximum volume and - infinity at his minimum: the volume knob is only an attenuator.

 

[Lambda]

Since my interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th) has an output line of +10 dB, my total SPL should be +10 dB -15 dB +94 dB = 89 dB, more than enough to my purposes.

You mix up or ignore dB SPL and dBV or dBU

But otherwise your fine.

Set your monitors as loud as you need to that you can still achieve your required listing level with the interface and your good

 

[Miguelón]

You mix up or ignore dB SPL and dBV or dBU

But otherwise your fine.

Set your monitors as loud as you need to that you can still achieve your required listing level with the interface and your good

I think mixing up and ignoring, all at the same time

Ancient pianist (acoustic), actually rediscovering piano on a digital Kawai, but no formation in electronics.

The only thing I notice is that my piano sound better (more like a piano) when using the monitors at lowest gain and increased piano line output than at high gain and lower piano output volume, and I thought that probably is because amplification is not perfectly linear and changes sound tonality as going up.

The Neumanns are for pleasure listening, and for the Kawai piano, I don’t need a reference level whatsoever.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[boxerfan88]

my typical listening level is approx 75dBA.

I have my kh310 setup at 94dB & vol knob at 0dB.

I control volume at the source (foobar). my DAC also has volume control but i don’t use it.

 

[Miguelón]

my typical listening level is approx 75dBA.

I have my kh310 setup at 94dB & vol knob at 0dB.

I control volume at the source (foobar). my DAC also has volume control but i don’t use it.

Thanks for the info!
Perhaps is a psychoacoustic effect in my case, lowing gain enhances mids so I perceive lot of details on strings and winds but lose bass, probably is not very clever to go as low on the amplifier.

I will try 0 dB for a while, at the moment I’m using only one speaker because the other is under returning (transport damages): not an ideal situation for analyzing the sound.

By the way, I purchased also one KH 120 ii and I’m surprised how different they sound: I red on reviews that Neumann’s tonality was very consistent in all the lineup