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[SamuelMaki]

I like that idea of new scales Personally I use -40 to -30db for movies and -30 to -20db for music...
I have one slightly related question: Should I use JRiver internal volume and set my receiver at -0db, or should I leave JRiver to -0db and set volume by my receiver (yamaha rx-v3900)? I am doing room correction and I use parametric equalizer by receiver (seems that my yamaha has convolution engine called YPAO...) and contol mapping by JRiver, so do I have any loss or gain for SQ if I use JRiver instead of receiverīs volume control? JRiver does that in 64bit mode, but I use YPAO at my receiver, so it does some post prosessing... I am not quite sure which one sounds better (little time for testing, and the difference should be minor anyway...), so I would be glad if someone points me some theoretical conclusion about volume control at both machines...

[Scolex]

I like that idea of new scales Personally I use -40 to -30db for movies and -30 to -20db for music...
I have one slightly related question: Should I use JRiver internal volume and set my receiver at -0db, or should I leave JRiver to -0db and set volume by my receiver (yamaha rx-v3900)? I am doing room correction and I use parametric equalizer by receiver (seems that my yamaha has convolution engine called YPAO...) and contol mapping by JRiver, so do I have any loss or gain for SQ if I use JRiver instead of receiverīs volume control? JRiver does that in 64bit mode, but I use YPAO at my receiver, so it does some post prosessing... I am not quite sure which one sounds better (little time for testing, and the difference should be minor anyway...), so I would be glad if someone points me some theoretical conclusion about volume control at both machines...

Here is my philosophy/thoughts:
I have a similar setup and I set the volume to 100% -0db on the computer. I think it is best to give the receiver the largest non clipped signal possible, the higher the output voltage from the computer's output device the easier it is for the amplifier to amplify it. Think of the amplifier as a transformer which basically it is, more voltage in means more voltage out. Since I have the ability to set the max volume on my receiver I set it accordingly to prevent damage.
I use YPAO as the base for room correction and then make tweaks in MC for different media types. I have separate zones for music and video, but they are played through the same Yamaha/Klipsch system.

Edit: For clarification when I say volume on the computer I mean I have MC's internal volume and SPDIF @ 100%

[Matt]

In my opinion, this is a complicated topic.

Sometimes turning up the hardware volume increases the noise you hear if you play silence (use Tools > Advanced Tools > Create Test Clips to generate silence files to test with).  

If turning up the hardware volume causes you to hear more noise, it makes sense to not turn up that volume more than necessary.

But many times, turning up the hardware volume makes no difference to the noise in a stream of silence.  So in these cases, maximize that volume and use Internal Volume so that Media Center has as much headroom as possible.

I test this by putting my ear right next to the speaker and adjust the volume while silence plays.  With my Creative X-Fi hooked to a power amplifier, and also several more traditional Sony receivers I've tested, the hardware volume made no difference to the noise on the output.  I don't know the deciding factor in this, but would like to.

So in those cases, Internal Volume should provide the best sound quality, especially if you do processing like Room Correction, Bass Management, Convolution, Linkwitz, etc. with Media Center where the extra headroom is useful.

[SamuelMaki]

Thanks for answers, I did learn a couple of things
I have one extra question about music with "flat line overflow"... When I set JRiver at -0db, DSP-studio informs me that there is some overflow, but as I am not an native english speaker, I do not have any clue what does that mean ? Does it mean that I have some clipping or what? I have heard that when playing music, I should not use "clip protection".... Is that true? I quess it is better to use internal volume instead of hardware volume, if this is really some sort of clipping (because it does not inform me at "overflow" when I use internal volume at -25db and hardware at -0db, it is informing only when I donīt use internal volume...). Sorry being n00b, but you never learn if you donīt ask

[Scolex]

It is recommended to use Clip protection not flat line overflow. Clipping is very hard on speakers think of a sine wave when clipping occurs it creates a square wave, the square wave holds the speaker cone in/out respective to whether the signal is on the positive or negative side of the 0v line. This is sometimes referred to as DC offset which can burn the voice coil of the speaker. Whoever told you not to use clip protection should be slapped.