timbre matching

tecmo04

how important is timbre matching?
i currently have the monitor 70s and csi5. should i have bought the cs2?

thanks for the help

Willow

I say yes go with the cs2 . If you don't you may question yourself down the line....

Early B.

Don't "trade down" to a lower quality center channel. Just calibrate the speakers with an SPL meter and you should be fine.

Willow

You can do that as well as adjusting the center eq on the receiver if the receiver has this option.....but then why not trade back the mains for rti series... you can get the 10's for that price

shaddai

I'll second Willow's recommendation and would rather have you get the RTi10's, if it's within your power, of course. Not only will you have an exact voice match with your higher quality center, you will be getting a better quality speaker for perhaps a few dollars more.

I have a front soundstage of R50's as mains and the CS1 center from the Monitor line. When calibrating with Avia, the pink noise is noticeably different going from left/right speaker to center. However, I have not been able to notice any tangible differences when playing movies or music (note that I did calibrate all speakers to within 1 dB of each other). Ultimately you are the best judge. Is it worth the trouble of changing your speakers for the "comfort" of knowing your system is timbre-matched?

tecmo04

what is the best way to calaborate the speakers, and what is avia?
i havent done that and id like to.

also my reciever does have eq settings for each speaker and i have asked in the basic hook up section but no answers. do you guys know how to find optimal settings for my system?

thanks for the help

Willow

Avia is a test/setup/calibration disk.
an SPL meter from radioshack you should use.

by timbre matching your speakers you will avoid having to calibrate in great depth the eq of your centre......either buy the cs2 or change your mains

shaddai

tecmo,

Avia is a calibration DVD that helps you properly set up your home theater (both audio and video). You can find it in any local video store that carries DVD's or online retailers like Amazon, Buy.com, etc. It's a great DVD for both the beginner and advanced user. It can get a little difficult to understand but if you want the best out of your system, Avia is the answer (outside of professional calibration, of course).

The second part involves buying an SPL meter, which measures the Sound Pressure Level from the speakers. I got my digital one from Radio Shack for about $50.

Once you have all that, your receiver should have the following basic setup options:

1. Speaker distance - my receiver allows me to input either "feet" or "ms" from the speaker to the listening position. This is great for irregular placement of speakers.
2. Level calibration - this feature fine tunes each individual speaker since "speaker distance" is only a rough estimate. With level calibration, you can raise/lower the volume of each individual speaker until they are within 1-2 dB of each other (you check each speaker using the SPL meter).

The above receiver options are from my Onkyo but most manufacturer options will be similar in name and function. This is just scratching the surface of correctly setting up your home theater. Detailed explanations can be found on the Avia DVD. Good luck!

tecmo04

i would replace he monitor 70s with rti10 but i cant afford to. i got a crazy deal on the 70s so oi would have to put in a ton of money to upgrade.

aslo is the avia dvd realy worth $40?
is there other comprable dvds?

and again thanks for all the help

shaddai

To me, Avia is worth $40 but you can always find it cheaper in new or almost-new condition on EBAY. There is another option, however. I believe all THX certified DVD's contain a little setup program called the THX Optimizer. It basically does most of the basic calibrations of Avia and leaves out the advanced stuff. For your purposes, I think the THX Optimizer is probably a good start. You can find the THX Optimizer on all Lucasfilm movies and Finding Nemo comes to mind. It may show up in your title menu as simply the THX logo. Just go to your DVD collection and see if any of them contains this handy tool! You will still need an SPL meter, however, so either borrow a friend's or stop by your local Radio Shack.

Take comfort in knowing that I too have "mis-matched" center channel and mains. Properly calibrated, you should not hear any difference during movie/music playback unless the tweeters are absurdly off in size or made of different materials.

Willow

I would then say return your 5 and get the 2 buy a good sub.

You can get DVE as a set up disk it's cheaper....and it works just used it the past weekend......

tecmo04

i am using the thx testing for now just becuasei happen to have a dvd with it.

for testing the audio i need spl meter?
is there any other way of doing this?

and again thanks for the help

Willow

by ear is the only other way......good luck

okiepolkie

I'm sorry, but there isn't really a way around this. You can try to do it all by ear, but that usually doesn't yield very good reults. It is too subjective. The SPL meter, however, will be objective in its measurement. AVIA, and several others, recommend the analogue spl meter over the digital one. I don't have a great explanation for this, so I'm not even going to attempt it. The AVIA disk is supposed to be the better disk to choose from because DVE has a subwoofer calibration defect you have to adjust for. The DVE disk is cheaper and if you do a search for calibration on this forum, you can find out what you need to account for. All together you are looking at spending somewhere around $75 for both. At the very least, get the SPL meter and use your THX optimizer until you get something else.

Good luck and have fun.

Willow

Right you will have to rely on the pink noise and your ears...not to say your ears are not good they are not as accurate as the SPL.

tecmo04

you guys seem to be very smart and thanks for all the help.
i asked this questions under basics but got no response so maybe you can help me.
on my reciever i have the option to change the crossover frequencies for the bass, mids, and treb for the center, rear, and fronts. i dont know what to set them as so any help would be very helpfull.

thanks again for your time and help