Need help from Onkyo Owners.

cfrizz

In order to calibrate the speakers on a SR-501, where should the volume be set at in the beginning in order to calibrate to reference levels?

John K.

Cathy, there's no need to attempt to apply the concept of "reference level" when calibrating with the 501. The point is to get the level of all the speakers equal at the listening position at any given setting of the master volume control, not to necessarily calibrate at a specific sound level. If the calibration is to be done by ear(not generally a good idea, since our ears are great for listening, but leave a lot to be desired for measuring), the pink noise coming out of the left front speaker should be at a comfortably loud level on the master volume control so that it can be heard clearly enough to judge the loudness. The noise will switch to the other speakers and their individual trim control levels should be adjusted up or down so that they sound equally as loud as the left front. The setting on the volume control that results in a "comfortably loud" level varies with speakers and rooms, but about 50(on the 1-79 scale)will typically result in about 70-75dB.

Using an SPL meter is preferable, and can be done exactly as above except that the meter, not ears, will determine when the speaker levels are equal. A little more fancy procedure is to use the meter to adjust the master volume control so that the noise for the left front speaker is at 75dB(75dB is the noise level used on receivers which use a specific setting, often 0, during calibration), and then use the meter to set all the other speakers, using their individual trim controls, to 75dB. The setting on the master volume control for this could be considered the setting for "reference level", but again, it isn't necessary to be concerned about this.

cfrizz

Thank you John. And a spl meter will be used to accomplish this.