hook up Q

marloue13

i just completed my system and here it is:
POLK RTI100
POLK CSI 40
POLK FXI30
ONKYO sr600

can somebody tell me Some Hook up advice.
i bought an SPL meter from radioshack and can somebody tell me how to use it with my system.
i dont have plans in buying a subwoofer for now.
Do i need to put all the speaker settings tol arge and how many db do i need to calibrate it.

just confuse.

tnx.

Frank Z

Welcome to the forum!

The subject of SPL usage comes up a lot, here's a link to a very recent thread.
http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13652&highlight=spl+meter

Set your main speakers to large all others to small.

Your manual should tell you what the db level is (aka Reference Level). Generally 70 - 80 db is the norm.

marloue13

i turned up the master volume to full while running the test tones for each speakers , and on my han d is the spl meter. i noticed that all of them are running at an average of 80 db and some are a bit off by 3 to 5 db probably depending on the distance of the speaker placement.

i set the main fronts to large and im just confuse about the center,surrounds and back setting. am i not gonna lose the bass if i set all of these to small?
i dont have a subwoofer ,with the bass that coming from the rti100s and the vibrations that im getting from it i dont think im gonna need to buy a separate sub for this system.
I have my Front and center bi-wired and so far im getting a very tight bass coming from my fronts.

am i doing the right thing?
am i using the spl meter right?
if not, can you give me some specific steps on using the meter because the manual that comes with it is a little bit confusing and not much information on using it.
Please be patient on all these questions.

Thanks.

Frank Z

Your center channel speaker, and your surrounds are not going to handle a fell range signal, That's the main reason to set them to samll at this point. If you had a sub then all of the lower frequencies ( below the set point of your crossover, lets say 80 hz) will be re-directed to the sub. If you send a full range signal to a speaker that is not rated for it, chances are you'll damage the speaker after a while. Yes the volume would have to be quite loud to cause any permanent damage.

Yes you will loose some bass response by setting the center and surrounds to small, but that's better than ruining the speakers.

Calibration is really pretty simple, basically you are trying to set the output for each speaker so that they all match, lets say each will read the exact same ( or close to the same) when measured from your listening position. Try it this way

Make sure you have the mains set to large, and the rest set to small.

Set your crossover to 80HZ.

Turn on the test tone fearure of your receiver and increase the volume to "0" (this is your Reference level)

Point your meter at the ceiling and set the scale to 80db. Your meter should be reading close to the middle of the scale at this point.

Keep the meter in the same position and adjust each speaker output level until they are all as close to "0" on the meter as possible.

Your done! Now pop in a movie that has a lot of suround effects, U571 is a good one, and listen. Sure beats the hell out of trying to calibrate by ear!!:D

Hope this helps.