Or you don't listen with volume high enough. You probably need volume above -20 for AVR to switch into full power mode. And the power difference between 2 modes is about 7dB, significant but not even perceived as twice loud.
Is your comment for stereo only? I purposefully suggested movie track first because it should tax more than the L and R speaker. Just play any war scenes or action movie and that should be a useful test. My favorite used to be something like the Master and Commander ship to ship battles or scenes from more recent Star Wars movies.
No, volume setting, power and perceived loudness work the same, regardless of number of channels. But no one have tested protection with multichannel signal. Maybe clipping appears before protection triggers?
I think multichannel should be considered. Amir's test revealed only 30-35W into 2 channels on 4-ohm loads. What happens with multiples of 4 ohm loads? Doesn't the amp run out of gas at this point (especially when played LOUD)?
For a music signal on the verge of clipping, it would be like 30W average per channel. That is the main reason, why this protection isn't a problem for a normal user.
I mean, AVR plays at 30W average power, while peaks of music signal go to 100-150W. That's the case, where it drow specified supply power of 750W. It would be different for test signal, where all channels can drive maybe 50W each, with no headroom for peaks.
That's great that you were able to get satisfactory sound from Ready Player One. Did you flip the impedance switch to 4 ohms and do the same critical listening?
If we are talking about "protect" in terms of current in this case, using "W" is, in my opinion (though mostly facts based) too generalizing that may not apply to every specific use scenario.
My understanding of the "unintended 4 ohm mode" is that there is no indication of "Protect" in the web interface. That is what makes this mode so egregious! It's just about the sneakiest thing I've seen in home audio by a mile!
It is that we don't know much about how protection works. So for every hypothetical scenario, there could be an opposite one. Protection doesn't bother me, so I feel free to debate
I did not try it at 4 ohms setting. I was under the assumption, Amir’s testing that this amp would go into protect mode if I pushed it hard at 4 ohms.
You clearly don't understand the "unintended 4 ohm mode". Did you read all the ASR reviews where this occured (7100, RZ50, 505, 505 retest)?
It is that we don't know much about how protection works. So for every hypothetical scenario, there could be an opposite one. Protection doesn't bother me, so I feel free to debate
On earlier Onkyo/Pioneer AVRs, protection circuit consist of a transistor measuring output current, one transistor for each channel. Transistors were triggered only by peak current and then transferred signal to microprocessor. Signals from all channels were added up. I think RZ30 works the same. And maybe protection triggers, when there is too much overcurrent events. Like driving full power at 10kHz, something that wont happen at normal use.
To be precise: protection circuit measure DC voltage at output too, but I don't think it is a source of the problem.
If you switched to the 4 ohms setting, the RZ30 would switch to a lower "rail voltage" that limits the maximum output voltage thereby limiting the maximum current draw by the load. If you leave it on the default 8 ohms setting, then the rail voltage would be higher and therefor allowing higher current draw, and if it rises above the trigger point (for long enough, I assume), it would trigger this so called "limp mode" that EWL5 referred to many times, and I assume that's what he called "unintended 4 ohm mode", and I assume he called it that because in the limp mode, the RZ30 would also limit the rail voltage to a lower value, just like what the 4 ohms setting would do. One is by choice of the user who would manually select the setting, the other triggered by the actual current draw by the load without the user doing anything else other than pushing the amp to the trigger point/condition.
I rebranded "limp mode" to "unintended 4 ohm mode" because it appears to be a more neutral term and describes exactly what's going on w/o too much explanation.
If you had any measurements to prove that, it would be swell. Otherwise the statement that you are really sensitive to distortion is not really meaningful. Player One scene is very demanding even for AVRs that are far in excess of what RZ30 has to offer, limping or not. If you can't hear distortion at reference level with that movie with 5.x that tells me that there is something wrong with the statement that you are very sensitive to distortion.
I agree with this. The ART is a before and after tech for our hobby. The bottom is going to fall out if the avr market in my opinion because its not competitive.
Except the RZ30 goes on sale for $750 quite often. And nobody is mentioning the large load absorbed by powered sub(s). The sin is no alert on the display and the need for a re- power to reset it. Just because Amir can't follow his normal protocol doesn't stop this from being a bargain under $1K, especially for those who have modest setups in small rooms.
