Avia calibrating Denon reciever not impressed

Dannieboiz

I'm using Avia to calibrate my speakers and noticed that a lot of the tones don't match up... IE: Sub + Front L/C/R would not play evenly.

I don't know this is just too much. Anyone in the bay area wanna come over and do this for me? Pizza's on me.

danger boy

Dannieboiz wrote:

I'm using Avia to calibrate my speakers and noticed that a lot of the tones don't match up... IE: Sub + Front L/C/R would not play evenly.

I don't know this is just too much. Anyone in the bay area wanna come over and do this for me? Pizza's on me.

Pssst! buddy... offer them some beer with the pizza.. and I bet someone will take you up on it.

Dannieboiz

DEAL! But this would have to wait till next week when I get my new Velodyne DPS12 in the mail. YIPPI!!!

John K.

Dannie, nothing new in the past three days, so just in case nobody has gone for the beer and pizza deal, some info. You didn't describe exactly what you did or what you meant by "uneven", but you might have misunderstood the calibration process. If you had the idea that using the test tones in the Avia disc would automatically result in equal levels for all the speakers, that isn't how it works. Some receivers come with microphones which measure the sound levels of the test tones and automatically make the speakers equal, but your 3802 doesn't do that. You have to follow the procedure for setting speaker levels that's described in your owner's manual and make adjustments yourself. All the speakers start at 0 and can be adjusted on the order of +/- 10dB. If you have a sound pressure level meter(such as the one from Radio Shack), that generally will let you set the levels more accurately than with your ears alone, but you can at least get close. Using either the internal receiver test tones or the ones from Avia, adjust the speaker levels either up or down until they match the left front speaker. Good luck(you'll get it and find out that it wasn't really that hard), and enjoy your new DPS12.

McLoki

Also when you calibrate, your AVR should be set to -5 and calibrate to 80db. Adjust each speaker up or down so they are all set at 80db. Then play a music disk (whatever music floats your boat) and adjust the bass from there to suit your tastes. (usually up about 2-3db for me, but your tastes may vary)

Michael

(yes, I know the adjustment is actually supposed to be made with the AVR at 0 db and the meter at 85db but that is a pain on the analog rat shack meter)

Dannieboiz

Looks like rat shack only have the digital SPL meter... the analog is supposed to be better for this purpose from what I read/hear but will a digital one work just as good??

Here's the meter I found from ratshack.

My DPS12 should be here by Weds or Thursday. I'll try to calibrate it once more with the SPL meter this time.

John K., what I meant when things sounds even is the test tones coming from the front left, center and right all sounded different as if they're on a different frequency. mostly the center and the L/R

As far as rear, my r/s sounds louder than my l/s.

also, when there's supposed to be an lfe tone nothing came out of my sub?

When I calibrate I used optical

also I set the denon on "Wide Screen"

Is there supposed to be a different setting the reciever's supposed to set to?

should everything be set to flat?

jgido759

Dannieboiz wrote:

what I meant when things sounds even is the test tones coming from the front left, center and right all sounded different as if they're on a different frequency. mostly the center and the L/R

Are all 3 speakers L-C-R timber matched and from the same manufacturer/line? If not, this would account for them sounding different, even though the sound levels are the same. (Sorry, didn't see the speaker list in your signature, my bad )

Also, and this might sound stupid, check the wiring to these 3 speakers and make sure that they are all wired the same (red-to-red, black-to-black) from AVR to speaker. Different polaritys will make them sound different.

Dannieboiz

Thanks for reminding me about the phases, I almost went out and buy new speaker on my other setup one time because they just sounded so muddy, just right b4 I was going to place the order I found some idiot had knocked off the wires and put them in backward.Re-wire them and fell in love with them again. I'll do that tonight.

And yes, all front channels are matching, RTi6, CSi5

My rears are FX500i but that's not as critical, though I'd eventually be swapping these puppies out for the FXi5 when I can find a pair.

PSOVLSK

Like you, my Radio Shack didn't have the analog meter, so I have the digital meter and it works fine. By fine, I guess I mean I'm happy with the results I get from calibrating with it.

Dannieboiz

Guys, my DPS12 is here and I double checked all connection. Everything is in phase....

However, my two rear speakers that are hooked up to the "rear surround A" are playing sound @ the same time like it's in Prologic.

louthewiz

Get the same radioshack analog meter at the link below , they used to build the tandy/radioshack meters before RCA bought them out.

http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=SLM100

polrbehr

+1 TO THAT ^^^
I bought that meter last month, and it works just like the ratshack meter.














Only cheaper.

ncmarine

Is using the Avia Disc a lot better than the Audyssey calibration included with the Denon's? I've read several mixed reviews about this. Anyone have first hand experience?

AndyGwis

Is the meter pretty self explanatory to use? I calibrated my HT using the HKs built in EZEQ, which does a good job, but I wouldn't mind checking their work with the meter to be certain.

Thanks for the link! $30 aint bad. What's a good place to get AVIA cheap? Or, can someone make me a copy and mail it my way?

McLoki

ncmarine wrote:

Is using the Avia Disc a lot better than the Audyssey calibration included with the Denon's? I've read several mixed reviews about this. Anyone have first hand experience?

As far as balancing the system for Movies - I would say the Avia disk is more exact just because it is taking more into account. (i.e. - the level of your dvd player and the optical or coax input to your AVR).

The auto setup, imo, is for those who are unwilling to get an SPL meter and go through the setup routine for themselves.

Michael

louthewiz

Here is some very good info:

http://www.techlore.com/article/10037/;jsessionid=1EB44AF24FE014D8DE008AB481B8A36F

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

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128211.html

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/avhardware/audiovideosetup2.php

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/roomacoustics/subwoofercalibration1.php

http://www.rainfall.com/cdroms/pink_instructions.htm

and the test discs,

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Essentials-HD-DVD/dp/B000IHYY3Y/sr=8-3/qid=1171990945/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-8882212-6830528?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Essentials-Entertainment-Component/dp/B00005PJ70/sr=8-2/qid=1171990945/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8882212-6830528?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/630551982X/ref=dp_olp_1/102-8882212-6830528

Enjoy!!!

ncmarine

Okay, I read these articles and I'm going to give this a try. I think the fact that you can calibrate the display and audio, while using the DVD player will be very beneficial.

louthewiz

Good luck and if you have any more questions please feel free to ask.

TKotL

ncmarine wrote:

Is using the Avia Disc a lot better than the Audyssey calibration included with the Denon's? I've read several mixed reviews about this. Anyone have first hand experience?

I've calibrated my system both "manually" using the Avia disc and a SPL-meter, and using the 'automatic' features of the Denon AVR-3806.

In my living room, at least, the automatic calibration (using the Denon omnidirectional microphone) comes out consistent with the results from the SPL-meter. The distances it calculates are pretty much dead on, too.

I'm not convinced of its "Room-EQ" figures, but I usually leave all that disabled anyway.

louthewiz

After calibrating I always pop in a dvd and if the sub's volume is too low I just crank it up a bit because I like the extra bass,
but I make sure it is not too 'boomy" or loud.