Volume levels involving multiple inputs.

[Xeltos]

Hi!
For quite a few years i've been using optical/toslink with a switcher with my speaker setup. In the last few months i've been using my phone via a dock and this dock doesn't seem to work well at all with HDMI switchers which is where the optical goes from the switcher to my speakers. So today i started using an RCA/3.5mm connection with the supplied cable that came with my speakers instead of the optical. The RCA to 3.5mm is going from the speakers to the monitor..so now instead of just having the phone's volume and the speakers volume i now have a 3rd volume through my monitor. I've always had my phone at max when i used the optical but now that i'm using the RCA, having the phone and monitor at 100 makes the sound pretty loud right off the hop at really low volume on the speakers. I'm not sure where i should lower the volume at without losing any fidelity?

From listening a little i think lowering it from the monitor would be the right choice as it doesn't seem to effect the sound quality much or boost the volume too much...but i dunno i'm torn.

Just to make it clearer the phone gets plugged into the dock via USB-C and it outputs the sound from my phone to the monitor via HDMI then the 3.5mm from my monitor to RCA into my speakers.

Was hoping i could get some help here.

 

[Blumlein 88]

First welcome to ASR.

I'm not sure what you are calling the monitor.

Most likely best place to lower volume is with speaker level settings. That is likely a pot on the input of your speaker amps. So best place to adjust and likely to have the least effect on sound quality.

So make a one time adjustment on the speaker level settings. Then adjust volume as you play music via your monitor or phone either way.

 

[Xeltos]

My monitor has a headphone/3.5mm jack in the back of it, it has it's own volume.
Because of this new source of volume in addtion to my phone the speakers are really loud at low levels.

The only thing that's playing an audio source is the phone.

 

[Blumlein 88]

So are we talking video monitor that sends a signal to the actual speakers?

If so, my advice is the same, make an adjustment at the speaker, and make minor adjustments as you use your phone at the phone or the monitor. Probably good enough to make those volume changes at the monitor.

Now I'm not clear, if you lower the input on your speakers, does this leave your other sources at too low a level or do you not use other sources than your phone now?

 

[Xeltos]

Yes it's a TV/Monitor.
The volume for the phone and monitor is controlling how loud the source is coming out of the speakers. Before it was just the phone volume but now i have this monitor's 3.5mm jack volume to control which makes the speakers louder right from the very first notch when set to 100.

I'm just worried it'll damage my speakers.
I already control the volume from the speakers using the remote, while having the phone/monitor set to max. But it seems with this new edition of the monitor's volume it's making the volume too loud. I was curious if lowering this monitor volume would lower the fidelity of the sound?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes it's a TV/Monitor.
The volume for the phone and monitor is controlling how loud the source is coming out of the speakers. Before it was just the phone volume but now i have this monitor's 3.5mm jack volume to control which makes the speakers louder right from the very first notch when set to 100.

I'm just worried it'll damage my speakers.
I already control the volume from the speakers using the remote, while having the phone/monitor set to max. But it seems with this new edition of the monitor's volume it's making the volume too loud. I was curious if lowering this monitor volume would lower the fidelity of the sound?

Without knowing how the monitor goes about this it is hard to say. Safer places to change volume are probably the phone or speaker. I do understand now you are open to accidentally switching sources and suddenly blasting thru your speaker at high volume what is coming from your phone. Not sure the best way to handle that.

 

[Xeltos]

The consoles i have are fine with the volume at 100 on the monitor.
I just figured lowering the volume on the phone which is the primary source would lower the sound fidelity.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The consoles i have are fine with the volume at 100 on the monitor.
I just figured lowering the volume on the phone which is the primary source would lower the sound fidelity.

Probably no problem on the phone. It likely uses at least 32 bit volume control, and that is not going to hurt anything. You can get alternate player software which will use a good digital volume control. Is it an Android or iPhone? Also which software do you use for playback on the phone?

 

[Xeltos]

Android, for my music i use Poweramp.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Android, for my music i use Poweramp.

That uses 32 bit float for volume and 64 bit for all DSP. So it shouldn't cause any problems using it to reduce volume.

I use Neutron myself, but Poweramp is good too.

 

[Xeltos]

Okay, great!
I'll just lower the volume of my phone to about 80% and leave the monitor at 100 then adjust the speaker volume using my remote.
Thanks for the help.