I generally use my system for only listening to CDs. A recent visit from my father led me to hook up my Pioneer DVD to the 72 to watch a movie.
The sound level was very low and to get a decent "Cinema Level" volume the 72 needed to be turned up to 1 o'clock. With normal listening the highest volume is about 10 o'clock.
Any advice?

Yes!

I have a 72 aswell. For CD playback the volume control is at 7 or 8 o'clock depending on the mood. For playback using DVD it is set at 12 o'clock. What we both need is a 202/282 that has unity gain on an input.

Guys,

This is nothing to do with the preamp and everything to do with DVD players. If you are using mixdown to tywo channel, it always appears that the output from DVD players is far lower than when they're playing a CD.

Of course, if what nap-ster meant is that he has to set it to 12 o'clock in the context of a surround system, that's a different issue and he'd be right...

Why IS the mixdown so low in volume?

If I swap inputs on my Yammy processor from DVD to TV when watching a DVD, the TV's output is around a third of the DVD's; surely modern DACs should be able to output a much higher output level on mixdown than they do?

No idea Dom, but it happens on every DVD player I've ever tried.

I do, I use the processed front left and right from a AV amp pre-outs into the 72.

quote:

Why IS the mixdown so low in volume?

Because the DVD player's control software expects to see x number of full-volume channels, summed to two–but must keep the summed signal level below 0dBFS (maximum digital output level).