Comparative Parasound & Rotel Amp Volume

mufsoman
mufsoman Posts: 635
edited April 2014 in Electronics
To keep a long story short, lets just accept the fact that I now have 3 amps vs. just one. I have set my Rotel 1095 to rear and side surround duty and have both a Parasound 1500A and 2003A for the fronts. I have noticed that when I changed from the Rotel for the front 5 channels to the Parasound 1500A for the L&R, I needed to turn the volume up slightly more for the same sound level. Now installing the 2003A in place of the 1500A, I need to turn up the volume even more for the same sound level. I know volume doesn't equal quality, but is this change in volume level between the amps typical? The gain adjustment for the individual channels on the Parasound amps are all set at the THX level. The Parasound amps are more powerful than the Rotel, at least from a spec standpoint, so why is the output volume lower?
Parasound HCA-2003A & 2205A
Front: Rti12's
Center: Csi A6
Side surrounds: Polk Rti A1's
Atmos: Mirage Nanosats
APC H15
Power cords by Pepster, Morrow MA4 IC's, AQ Midnight, AQ Chocolate HDMI's[/SIZE]
The rest is TBD.
Post edited by mufsoman on
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 51,143
    edited April 2014
    Without digging around for info I'm thinking the Rotel has a fixed gain. Therefore, I would say the THX gain setting on the Parasound amps is lower than the fixed gain of the Rotel.
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2014
    Gain does not equal power. You need to level set and recalibrate anytime you switch amps.
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  • mufsoman
    mufsoman Posts: 635
    edited April 2014
    That is correct that the Rotel has fixed gain vs. The Parasound adjustable/THX setting. I know I need to run calibration again with the installation of the 2003A, but just thought it odd that the volume level changed much. Thanks
    Parasound HCA-2003A & 2205A
    Front: Rti12's
    Center: Csi A6
    Side surrounds: Polk Rti A1's
    Atmos: Mirage Nanosats
    APC H15
    Power cords by Pepster, Morrow MA4 IC's, AQ Midnight, AQ Chocolate HDMI's[/SIZE]
    The rest is TBD.
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  • Polkie2009
    Polkie2009 Posts: 3,834
    edited April 2014
    falconcry72 wrote: »
    Gain does not equal power. You need to level set and recalibrate anytime you switch amps.
    +100 Run your big dogs upfront (Parasound amp) On the AVR, go into your menu for settings for adjusting levels to individual channels . Use your db meter to adjust front channels settings to 75dbs or whatever all the rest of your channels are set to. (I use 75 dbs on all my channels) . Some have found adjusting by ear works better for them. ymmv
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