I have my AVR set to volume level 40 on starting, and generally listen at around 50. Volume levelling is set to OFF.
Sometimes when switching to a new album in Roon, the volume on the AVR is re-set to 70, which is deafening and possibly harmful to the speakers. Why does it do this, and how can I stop it?
Setup: Window 7 PC, direct cable network to AirPlay function of Marantz SR6009 AVR.
How do you have the volume configured in Roon when you’re switching albums? Are you controlling volume from Roon, from the front of the Marantz, or both?
I have Roon volume set to 100, believing this will be ‘straight through’. I control playback volume through the Marantz, either the remote or the volume knob. I can’t see any setting for Roon to control the Marantz.
Roon has no software volume implemented (yet) and will not have software volume control for Airplay. We’re actually sending volume control commands through to the Marantz, so the volume in ROon won’t have any effect on the audio.
Set the volume in Roon how you’d like the Marantz to run and I think you should be all set here, but let me know if that’s not the case and we can look into this further.
It is definitely not the case. Every so often, usually, I think, after a search for music then start to play an album, the volume lifts from where it was to 70. I see it happen on the TV screen.
I have spotted that the volume rises to 72, which is the maximum the AVR appears to allow from an external command. Is this then linked to the fact that volume on Roon is set to 100? I don’t want any volume control from Roon, so how should I set it?
In the Output Settings for your AVR, tick “Disable Volume Control”
I’m confused. Do you mean a setting for the AVR, which would not then be an ‘output’ setting, surely, or a setting for Roon? I cannot find any such setting in either Roon or the AVR settings.
Roon Output Settings for your AVR
Settings/Audio/Gear icon next to your AVR zone
‘Settings / Audio / gear icon’ leads to ‘Disable’ and nothing else.
Ah, AirPlay connection. It’s not there. Sorry for the blind alley.
Unfortunately, this is how Airplay’s volume mechanism works, and disabling it isn’t possible. It sounds like the Marantz is reacting differently to Roon than to, say, iTunes – is that right?
I can tell you that these kinds of implementation details (meaning, how the Marantz implements Airplay) are often very tricky to debug without our team having access to the hardware, so it may be hard for us to do better here.
I would be interested to know more about the differences between Roon and iTunes – if you set the volume on the Marantz, then set the volume in iTunes to 100% and hit Play, are you seeing similar results to Roon or do things seem to behave better?
If we can figure out how to do better we will, but this type of volume control is how Airplay works, so just be aware that you may want to find a comfortable volume in Roon, and leave it – this will have no effect on the audio quality as Roon is simply sending volume control commands to the receiver, as opposed to modifying the volume of the audio in any way.
I have not used ITunes so I cannot tell you this. I use Spotify, and in Spotify, the volume change acts directly on the AVR, so both Spotify and AVR show the same setting and can change each other. As far as I remember, as ROON is no longer working, ROON’s volume change acts on top of the AVR’s setting, rather than reflecting it.