I've been noticing gradually deteriorating performance on my sound system, and am trying to isolate a cause. The most obvious problem is the volume output seems to be going down. I'm finding myself turning the volume up higher, and the sound quality seems a bit "off," but not in an easy way to put my finger on. There weren't any abrupt changes I could hear (and no new hardware). It feels like it's the base (above subwoofer range) that's suffering most, but I'm not certain there. Qualitatively, I'm turning the volume up 5-6 dB higher than before to reach similar listening levels. So, I'm trying to find possible causes for this.
The speakers (Magnepan 3.7s) are relatively new. Since the problem affects both equally, it is unlikely there. Similarly, audio seems equally affected from both a bluray player and a CD player, so the problem must be after that. Besides, both provide digital output and it's impossible for a problem with digital signal to produce this effect. This leaves my pre-amp and amp. The pre-amp is an Onkyo TX-SR806, and the amplifier is a Odyssey Stratos.
My question for this forum is whether anyone is familiar with potential technical problems that can cause the symptoms I'm seeing. I can't picture a way to trace this further without swapping out components, and I don't have simple access to "loaner" preamps or amps (my nearest high-end audio dealer is 6 hr. away).
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Paul
