A question about volume setting

humblebee

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So, having recently bought Marantz pm5004 and paired with q acoustics 2020i, I am enjoying my music like I thought I would.
Sounds are more natural than I have heard before esp with Source Direct turned on.
They are also smooth and there is emotion thanks to my M audio audiophile 2496 card.

Now, what I found was that my 5 yr son was fiddling with the volume knob when I wasnt in the room and the music seemed to be going too loud.
Obviously I dont want the speakers blown or amp pushed beyond its specified limits.
My issue arises because I have always had amp & speakers that have gone together and not needed volume matching. Like edifier c3 2.1 or a pioneer cassette player before that.

So, heres what I did, let me know if this is ok.
My sound card output is line level consumer, so around 1.44v. Amp sensitivity is 200mv. So my calculation was to reduce sound card output by 20db which would bring it to around 200mv output. (1440/7 ~200mv; hence 3dbx7~20db )
So by doing this, even if the volume knob is pushed to its max, it wont go beyond the amps max capability.

Bye the way, amp brochure says
40watts@8ohms
55watts@4ohms

Once this first and simple calculation is clear, I have another query but that is for later.

Thanks anyways, even just for reading. Long post!
 
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It will be best to.measure the actual signal level coming out of the sound card. In addition to your worry that too much signal may overdrive the speakers and amd amp, there is another worry. High signal strength may be clipping the signal at the preamp stage of the integrated amp. So even at low volume you may be getting some distortion because signal is being clipped at preamp stage.
 
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