Level Calibration: One speaker louder than the other?

ddkalfa

Hi. I have a pair of Monitor 70s, and an Onkyo RC270. When I run Audissey, it sets the Level Calibration of one of the speakers at -7.5db, and the other at -6db. When I go to Speakers Configuration>Level Calibration, you can hear the volume from each speaker, and at the same calibration indeed one speaker is louder than the other (which is why Audissey tried to compensate through different calibrations).

Is that normal? Why could one speaker be louder than the other??

tonyb

Placement, reflections, the spot where you have the mic set up. Seems pretty low to me. Try setting the levels back to 0.0 and adjust to your taste.

danger boy

bump up the volume in the lower volume speaker to match what your ears hear. not what Audissey says is correct.. Audissey is not human and doesn't have ears.. but you do..

mystik610

ddkalfa wrote: »

Hi. I have a pair of Monitor 70s, and an Onkyo RC270. When I run Audissey, it sets the Level Calibration of one of the speakers at -7.5db, and the other at -6db. When I go to Speakers Configuration>Level Calibration, you can hear the volume from each speaker, and at the same calibration indeed one speaker is louder than the other (which is why Audissey tried to compensate through different calibrations).

Is that normal? Why could one speaker be louder than the other??

Are any of the listening positions/mic placements off axis from the center of the room? (ie seats facing the side of the room). You really don't want to include any off axis listening positions in your audyssey calibrations, as they will throw things off and bias one side of the room over the other.

ben62670

Get an SPL meter from Radio Shack and adjust it manually.

thsmith

ben62670 wrote: »

Get an SPL meter from Radio Shack and adjust it manually.

What Ben said. Aud is trying to make a sound bubble based on the locations you set the mic.

I find it to be pretty accurate but I don't get to concerned since it is HT.

For 2 channel listening the AVR does not come into play so who cares.

mystik610

When you set the calibration positions in the appropriate spots in the room, Audyssey is very accurate in level matching the speakers. I always use an SPL meter to verify that audyssey level matched the speakers appropriately. If it's off, then I know something went wrong with my placement of the mic (placement biasing one side of the room more than another).

There are other benefits to audyssey that go beyond level matching. Level matching with an SPL meter will keep your speakers level matched at a certain volume, but audyssey dynamic eq, for instance, will keep your speakers level matched and flatten the frequency response at all volume levels. It accounts for the loss in dynamic range when you're listening at less than reference level volumes. Audyssey dynamic eq is the one features I'm missing the most since I've switched to a new AVR. (my sub and surrounds have far less presence unless I bring the system close to reference levels....dialogue is less audible at lower levels)

If you only listen at a single volume level, then manually level matching and eq'ing is fine....but for the typical HT set-up, where people are running different source materials at different volume levels, audyssey goes a very long way.