Help Me!

landry_p2000

Hey, which one of you guys wants to tell me how the hell to use an spl meter from Radio Shack? To be honest, I don't have a clue! I will pick one up to set my sound levels this evening. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

danger boy

you'll also need a set up DVD.. like Avia or Sound and Vision

McLoki

1) get spl meter from Radio Shack (you will also need a 9volt battery)

2) go home and put battery in the spl meter

3) Put spl meter on a camera tripod (there is a mount for it) or set it on a stationary object at about head height in your listening position.

4) run the test tones built into your reciever to set the sound levels the same. (On my Onkyo it is about 82db) Switch between each speaker on the AVR and use the + or - DB to set them all at the same level.

5) If you want to get more involved, you can get a setup disk like avia or the new Digial Essentials. You can also download a number of bass tones from here and burn them to a DVD. You then do step3 and use a corrected spreadsheet like this one to input your numbers into the spreadsheet (use the frequencies listed in the spreadsheet) and plot out a bass curve to see what your room is doing to your bass signals.

There is other fun stuff you can do, but this will annoy everyone in your family but you enough for one holiday season. (my wife hates it when I do stuff like calibration....)

Michael

k2at

Michael, is the meter onmi or unidirectional? What I am trying to ask is do u have to aim the meter at each speaker individually or just mount it in a verticle position on the tripod and then measure the speakers individually?

McLoki

I just purchased a new one (analog) and it seems to be much more directional than the original one I had. (word to the wise, don't drop them very far onto a tile floor)

I just point it at my TV for the front stage and sub. For the surrounds, I point it at the surround. (I would at least point it left and right if your surrounds are behind you)

It seems to have a fairly wide path (pointing at the screen for the front stage seems fine) but it reads the surrounds a little low I think. Then again - many people like the surrounds to be a little higher in DB to accent the surround effect. (more for movies than 5.1 or 7.1 music)

Michael

Frank Z

http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/spl.htm

landry_p2000

Thanks a million guys this info should get me there. Once again I have learned alot more than I knew before. This weekend should be enough for me to get set-up right. This is a weird looking little rascal. I got the analog deal with the needle. I read these posts and also, I printed out what Frank sent me to read from the spl meter info site. This is greatly appreciated! I will post the results soon.:cool: