Calibration problem

Ahkuma

According to my audio calibration disk I'm suppose to set my speaker volume at regular movie watching volume. Then set my spl meater to 70 db and the needle should fall somewhere to the right of the 0. According to the disk it doesn't matter where as long as they are all the same.

My problem is at my normal listening volume and even cranking all the speakers to +12db I can't get the needle even close to 70 db. It falls in the very low 60's. What should I do?

Frank Z

Sounds like your receiver may be rather underpowered. Even so proper calibration can still be done. Set the SPL meter to 60db and then go through the rest of the calibration process. The most important thing to accomplish is to get the output as close to equal for all of the speakers.

Ahkuma

My reciever is an Onkyo TXDS494. I think it only has 75 watts per channel. It's certainly not a power house but do you think that test is a clear indication that its not pumping enough power to my speakers?

I kind of like my lil reciever. Do you think I should add on an amp?

Frank Z

What speakers are you running?

Ahkuma

R/L- Sony U421AV. probably 12-15 years old. They have 10in woofers.

Center- Some crappy Cerwin Vega.

Sub- Sony SAVM500 12in 150 watt amp

I was thinking of upgrading the center to the polk PLK CSI5BK. In fact I went to CC today to buy it but they were out of stock. Do you think that my little Onkyo wouldn't be able to justice to them?

My plan was to get the center then sometime down the road upgrade my right and left to polks and then make my sonys the surrounds.

I have another question while im at it. The directional audio cables, the arrow is suppose to go toward the speakers right? And would this also be true for the powered sub?

Dr. Spec

Do a search on how to calibrate your system - there are many threads.

You have misinterpreted what the disc is saying. Your AVR has enough power to drive you out of the room. You should never run your channel levels that high.

You calibrate at Master Volume 00 with the disc test tones and the SPL meter at the seat. You adjust channel levels until they all read identical. You will pick 75 dB or 85 dB depending on the calibration disc.

Ahkuma

If I set my master volume to 00 how will I hear anything out of my speakers?

I'm extremely sorry for asking these dumb questions but calibrating my system is turning out to be much more complicated than I expected.

I'm going thru some old threads now but these seem to be written by people on a much higher plane of HT knowledge than myself and I think i'm getting more confused reading them..lol

Dr. Spec

You Master Volume scale must be different than most. Usually it goes from a high negative number to 00 and then into the positive as you get louder and louder.

Anyway. Set all the speaker levels to 0. Play the test tones on the DVD player. Increase the Master Volume until you get 85 dB (with S&V or Avia) or 75 dB (with DVE or VE) from the center channel at the seat on C-weighted Slow on the meter. Make sure to use the correct dB scale on the meter.

Leave the master volume set and write it down. Do all the other channels in a similar manner. For more detail, check the previous threads.

Ahkuma

Ok, im tracking with you now. That clears up alot of my confusion. Yeah, my reciever goes from 0 to 100, there is no negatives or anything. My listening level was 40 with my speakers all screwey, I'm sure it will be different now after I recalibrate.

I just read in an old thread to set my sub at -5 and then adjust the volume knob on the sub to get it to match the DB of the others. This would explain why my brand new sub was all distorted and muddy, I had it cranked to +12 db. Seems like the manual of the reciever or the sub should explain this to you. I hope I didn't hurt anything.

As soon as the wife wakes up I'm going to recalibrate it the correct way.