1 Topic by strea (edited by strea 2023-03-09 21:34:34)

  • strea
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Topic: Help me understand volume please

Help me understand volume please. I provided a link from Genelec below for reference. I am trying to calculate what type of headroom / what volume range I'll be working within the ADI-2 DAC for typical listening. I'm fairly new to the audio industry and doing my best to learn/understand rather than just blindly listen and be told what to buy etc.

So if I understand correctly, on the ADI-2 DAC (XLR outs), +19 dBu is equal to the volume control being set to 0 dB. Therefore, if I set the 8030c to +6 dBu input sensitivity where +6 dBu = 100 dB SPL at 1 meter per Genelec manual and the ADI-2 DAC volume to -13 dB (which is +6 dBu?) that will result in 100 dB SPL from the 8030c's.

So if that's all correct, -13dB on the ADI-2 DAC volume control will equal 100 dB SPL on the 8030c's. This means I'll be out of optimal SNR range of the ADI-2 (-18dB to 2.5dB from my research on RME forums) once I leave very loud volumes. Is this correct?

Any input/education is greatly appreciated, thank you.

https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-us/ar … ic%20room.

2 Reply by KaiS (edited by KaiS 2023-03-10 00:59:51)

  • KaiS
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Re: Help me understand volume please

There‘s a nice feature called “Auto Ref Level” in ADI-2, that automatically optimizes Reference Level and dynamic range.

Set Genelec 8030C’s Input to +6 dBu, switch on ADI-2’s “Auto Ref Level” and dial your listening Volume.

In this setting ADI-2’s own self noise is 22 dB below the threshold of hearing (0 dB SPL), and 27 dB below Genelec’s (+5 dB SPL) so absolutely guaranteed to be inaudible.

KaiS's Website

3 Reply by strea (edited by strea 2023-03-10 01:21:07)

  • strea
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Re: Help me understand volume please

KaiS wrote:

There‘s a nice feature called “Auto Ref Level” in ADI-2, that automatically optimizes Reference Level and dynamic range.

Set Genelec 8030C’s Input to +6 dBu, switch on ADI-2’s “Auto Ref Level” and dial your listening Volume.

In this setting ADI-2’s own self noise is 22 dB below the threshold of hearing (0 dB SPL), and 27 dB below Genelec’s (+5 dB SPL) so absolutely guaranteed to be inaudible.

I appreciate the response KaiS and I know that the ADI-2 will perform just fine for what I need. My question remains as I am trying to learn.. is the scenario that I said in my original post correct?

Thank you.

4 Reply by KaiS (edited by KaiS 2023-03-10 10:10:12)

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Re: Help me understand volume please

strea wrote:
KaiS wrote:

There‘s a nice feature called “Auto Ref Level” in ADI-2, that automatically optimizes Reference Level and dynamic range.

Set Genelec 8030C’s Input to +6 dBu, switch on ADI-2’s “Auto Ref Level” and dial your listening Volume.

In this setting ADI-2’s own self noise is 22 dB below the threshold of hearing (0 dB SPL), and 27 dB below Genelec’s (+5 dB SPL) so absolutely guaranteed to be inaudible.

... I know that the ADI-2 will perform just fine for what I need. My question remains as I am trying to learn.. is the scenario that I said in my original post correct?

The middle part is correct, it’s all simple add and subtract calculations.



The lower part not exactly, as the situation has to be seen in context:

strea wrote:

... I'll be out of optimal SNR range of the ADI-2 ... once I leave very loud volumes. Is this correct?

No.
With Auto Ref Level on, there’s no ADI-2 volume setting that leaves optimum SNR, as Genelec’s self-noise always significantly exceeds ADI-2’s.
Overall you constantly stay on 5 dB SPL (rel. threshold of hearing), resulting solely from Genelec’s self-noise.

Read about Auto Ref Level in manual page 39 to understand how it affects SNR.


And don’t forget: if you don’t hear noise there is no noise problem.
Personally I never heard any noise origin from ADI-2, in any configuration.

KaiS's Website

  • strea
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Re: Help me understand volume please

Thank you Kais, I think my confusion came from whether "dBu" was a universal metric or not. But you've answered everything, thank you for your time.

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Re: Help me understand volume please

I have Genele 8330s in my personal workspace and all of our rooms at our facility have 8340s, 8330s, 8040s, S30Ds, 1030s and 1031s... lots of Genelec spread out in 16 rooms.

That being said, I have and ADI-2 Pro at home with my 8330s and the advantage is the GLM software with the 83xx series. My room at home isn't necessarily setup for best SN, but to operate at a pre-determined SPL based on Dolby specs. The size of my space is setup for a working level of 76dB SPL based on those recommendations and I have plenty of headroom on the ADI-2 as needed.

If you're just using the 8030s for music listening, then this spec doesn't matter, but we do post-production for Radio/TV & Film and need to match between all of our rooms, as well as other facilities doing the same thing. If you want to calibrate your space to these specs, it's pretty straight forward but you do need some specific playback files and a way to mearusre SPL C-weighted in your room.

Sorry if this it too much information... just wanted to throw another option out there for you.

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