Speaker Level Questions

jesyjames

Not sure if anyone knows the answer to this, but the long and short of it is that when I use the AVIA Home Theater Calibration DVD to set my speaker levels that there is a quite a vast difference between the db levels using the receiver's(sony) built in tone tester.

I spent about 20 minutes getting it perfectly calibrated according to the AVIA DVD, all the speaker levels identical. And I'm happy with myself. Then, I get the bright idea to test out the receiver's built in tone tester and find my center channel is too high by 3 db and my rears are 5 db too high.

Which one should I calibrate it according to?

I'm thinking the AVIA DVD because maybe there is a level change associated with the DVD player's connection to the receiver that isn't accounted for just using the receiver's own test tones.

Any ideas? or help?
-eric

trubluluc

My regards to your brother Frank.
Personally I would go with the avia disc, because it is just that, a disc, moving the sound from your DVD player.
But....after calibration...do just that, pop in a movie and give a listen.
Compare it to calibrating it to the Sony test tone, and see which you like better.
I personally like having the center up a bit,
to get the dialog out.

-Luc

JediCowboy

I, too, found a bit of a difference between setting my levels from the Denon internal calibrations (tuned to 75dB) and the Avia DVD (85dB). At first I was using the 75bB levels provided by the Denon, but after a little experimentation I've come to prefer the levels from the Avia DVD.

My complete system settings can be found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164462

The surrounds are a bit high, but I think that's due to the dipole surrounds and the L-shaped room.