New polk setup

Jstjohn118

Well I finally gave in on buying new speakers and a new AVR for my living room. I have bought Rti A7s for the fronts and the CSI A6 for the center and am getting ready to buy a set of FXI A4 for the surrounds and the SVS PB12-NAD sub. Now for the part that I need help with is setting up my new Pioneer SC-1323-K (I would have never even considered Pioneer until I read all the threads on here with high respect for them) it has the advanced MCACC and to be honest I'm really not sure how to use it with audessey everything just seemed to be perfect after running it and with MCACC I personally feel like I'm missing something. Like the sound isn't as distinctive as it was with my old Denon. Could anyone please help me out and explain the proper setup up for MCACC. I have ran the setup as the owner's manual says but the advanced section is over my head on what I'm supposed to do. Just as a final note if I made a mistake with the Pioneer that I bought I can still return it.

Thank you in advance for the help.

txcoastal1

Make sure your front speakers are set to large on Pioneer (small when you get a sub). When running MCACC fans and AC/heat are off....i.e. silence when calibrating.

Don't always expect MCACC to be correct as everyone has different listening habits.

Pick different medias/movies to use as demo's. Feel free to adjust manually especially the center channel to your liking.

Jstjohn118

Thank for the replies. I'm very new at this and got a couple more questions about the settings. What settings are you suggesting I mess around with? Are you guys talking about EQ, dB per channel, or/and channel distance? Also what cross-over setting should I be using MCACC put it at 100 for all channels (which as far as I can tell you can only change the overall cross-over not per channel)? Also from your experience or knowledge what is the best MCACC setting to start for a base line symmetry, all adj, or front align?

Thanks again for the help

txcoastal1

dB per channel

Place the mic at the center seating area at ear level, run MCACC, then adjust the db levels manually if your not satisfied.

tonyb

Welcome to the club,

The auto calibration, when you run it, needs to have the mic at ear level in your listening position. You can stack books, pillows, whatever to get the mic at the right height. Also the house needs to be dead quiet, no dogs barking, appliances running, kids yelling, etc. When it's done, remove the mic, grab the remote and sit down with the manual. You'll need to set up each input as well.

For channel levels, check where the auto calibration has put them. If not to your satisfaction, adjust manually. The fronts should be around 0, give or take a couple numbers to the + or - side. Surrounds probably on the 0 to +2 or 3 side and same with the subwoofer. If your subwoofer is not hooked up yet, you need to tell the receiver that. Go down the list and adjust to your liking.

Very important to read the manual as to what everything does. Also, make sure on the back of the speakers you have those metal straps between the top and bottom binding posts still there if your using a single run of speaker cable. There's a million ways to adjust the sound thus requires a learning curve as to what everything does. But once done, it's easy as pie. If your still having problems, check back or if you want we can send over a member of the Polk geek squad to help you out. That is as long as you don't live in Siberia.

Jstjohn118

Thank you guys for all the info. It looks like I'll be spending my weekend playing around with MCACC. I'm glad to know that it is just settings that need to be changed and that I didn't just waste my money on this Pioneer. Just a side note it is amazing how cool this D3 amp runs.

devani

congrats on your new gears....you have a great system....

Jstjohn118

Okay after all weekend of messing around with the settings, I finally got this Pioneer to sound really good. It took awhile and a lot of reading and re-reading but after all of that. It sounds great. Thank you guys so much for the help. Also after getting everything setup properly I really realized how bad I was in need of a good sub. So I went ahead and ordered the SVS PB12-NSD today. I can't wait to see how that will now impact the whole setup.

F1nut

Also what cross-over setting should I be using MCACC put it at 100 for all channels

That's too high, set it to 80Hz. I run the same speakers in my HT rig with an Elite AVR, I set all speakers to small as it sounds better to me. YMMV.

Geoff4rfc

Jstjohn118 wrote: »

Just as a final note if I made a mistake with the Pioneer that I bought I can still return it.

I don't think you made one here. Fine looking set up you have, tons of great info given here.

One other thing I don't think was mentioned here is speaker placement. Maybe bring your A7's off the wall a tad (12"s or so), 6 to 8' apart if possible and toe them in toward the listening spot. This can be experimented with as far as; the axis crossing at the head (yours), just in front or just behind. This will help with imaging.

Also, if your center is on a shelf, try bringing it right to the front edge, this way you can avoid any 1st order reflection points. Same with your mains, you'll want to try bringing them out enough so nothing is crossing their planes.

Killer set up, have fun, experiment, experiment........