Speaker level calibration question

silversubaru

Hi guys
I have an Onkyo 705 receiver and I notice that the 'white noise' sound that is emitted during calibration setup appears inconsistent. Most notably, my left front RTi8 speaker sounds very different to the right speaker. The calibration levels are the same but the right speaker emits a much higher amount of treble within the 'white noise' sound.

Is this normal?
Thanks
Daniel

Erik Tracy

silversubaru wrote: »

Hi guys
I have an Onkyo 705 receiver and I notice that the 'white noise' sound that is emitted during calibration setup appears inconsistent. Most notably, my left front RTi8 speaker sounds very different to the right speaker. The calibration levels are the same but the right speaker emits a much higher amount of treble within the 'white noise' sound.

Is this normal?
Thanks
Daniel

Hard to say.

Have you tried swapping the speakers to see if the effect stays to the right or moves with the speaker?

If it moves with the speaker - then it could be you have some sort of speaker problem.

If it stays, then it could be other factors - such as room acoustics could effect how you 'hear' the sound.

You could then try to switch the L & R speaker cables on the back of the AVR to try again and hear if the sound 'moves' with the cable changes.

If it stays to the right - then I'd say something in your room acoustics is effecting what you are hearing.

If it moves with the cable swap - could be something with your AVR.

I'm of the old 'shotgun' school of troubleshooting....start with the easy big changes to shoot for to isolate the problem

mdk5068

Is any of your equipment used? nvm tracy went above and beyond, lol

silversubaru wrote: »

Hi guys
I have an Onkyo 705 receiver and I notice that the 'white noise' sound that is emitted during calibration setup appears inconsistent. Most notably, my left front RTi8 speaker sounds very different to the right speaker. The calibration levels are the same but the right speaker emits a much higher amount of treble within the 'white noise' sound.

Is this normal?
Thanks
Daniel

silversubaru

I had the equipment since new. Thanks for the practical suggestions, I will try them just now. The noise is definitely different and not due to room accoustics, the right RTi8 is very harsh in terms of the treble sound but let me fiddle a bit with the cables first!

silversubaru

Quite strange....
I swapped both the L+R plus the bi-amp L+R and still the right front has a much higher treble output in the white noise.
I then took an RTi8 from the rear and into the right front position and still the same higher treble output in the white noise
I then took the RTi8 from the rear and put it into the left front position and the result was the slightly more muffled white noise sound so it definitely is not the left front speaker that is the problem.

I'm a bit stuck- any other suggestions?
Thanks
Daniel

AudioGenics

Troubleshooting can be time consuming
especially swapping to isolate
because that will need to include isolating all components - speakers, cabling, wiring etc, amp, preamplifier

it could be fun and frustrating
but
GOOD LUCK......

Erik Tracy

silversubaru wrote: »

Quite strange....
I swapped both the L+R plus the bi-amp L+R and still the right front has a much higher treble output in the white noise.
I then took an RTi8 from the rear and into the right front position and still the same higher treble output in the white noise
I then took the RTi8 from the rear and put it into the left front position and the result was the slightly more muffled white noise sound so it definitely is not the left front speaker that is the problem.

I'm a bit stuck- any other suggestions?
Thanks
Daniel

If you have swapped the cables and the speakers and the 'problem' is still on the right side, then I'm back to thinking it is your room acoustics.

What is on the 'right side'? A wall, pictures, a window - something that is adding reinforced 'reflections' of the sound to make it sound brighter?

Just tossing out some ideas...

kuntasensei

Is it just for calibration tones, or are you hearing excess treble during regular listening material? 'Cause your 705 has Audyssey MultEQ XT, which would help mitigate any acoustic issues your room has if you calibrate very carefully. For more info on proper setup, check the setup FAQ I wrote for the 705 over at AVS.

Erik Tracy

kuntasensei wrote: »

Is it just for calibration tones, or are you hearing excess treble during regular listening material? 'Cause your 705 has Audyssey MultEQ XT, which would help mitigate any acoustic issues your room has if you calibrate very carefully. For more info on proper setup, check the setup FAQ I wrote for the 705 over at AVS.

Does the 705 let you go look at the results of its post calibration setting?

That might be another way to determine what is going on.

For example, for my Yamaha, instead of Audessey, it has YPAO for autocalibration, but after I make a run, I can go look at how the speaker levels were adjusted, and what the equalization was for frequency bands.

I can see if the right front speaker was boosted or cut for volume levels vs the other speakers, and I can see what frequencies were boosted or cut compared to the other speakers as well.

As you move speakers around and cables, maybe you should recalibrate each time you move something then look at the results. If the AVR is adjusting levels and frequencies that follow the changes, then you may have something 'bad' in your system.

If the AVR is making the same changes only to the right side, then it is sensing and compensating for something in the room acoustics.

AudioGenics

IF room acoustics
then the electronics also would need to be swapped out
to confirm that the issue is not being cause by a amplifier, preamplifier or even in the test calibration process.

or take the complete system to a different room and see if the problem still follows....

silversubaru

I think I have fixed it. I unplugged all the cabling, plugged everything back in and the high treble noise has gone away.
Maybe just a glitch in the system??

kuntasensei

silversubaru wrote: »

I think I have fixed it. I unplugged all the cabling, plugged everything back in and the high treble noise has gone away.
Maybe just a glitch in the system??

You know what you could have had? One of your speaker cables near a power cable. I had that issue once, and rerouting my wires to get the power away from the speaker cables fixed things.

kuntasensei

Erik Tracy wrote: »

Does the 705 let you go look at the results of its post calibration setting?

That might be another way to determine what is going on.

For example, for my Yamaha, instead of Audessey, it has YPAO for autocalibration, but after I make a run, I can go look at how the speaker levels were adjusted, and what the equalization was for frequency bands.

I can see if the right front speaker was boosted or cut for volume levels vs the other speakers, and I can see what frequencies were boosted or cut compared to the other speakers as well.

As you move speakers around and cables, maybe you should recalibrate each time you move something then look at the results. If the AVR is adjusting levels and frequencies that follow the changes, then you may have something 'bad' in your system.

If the AVR is making the same changes only to the right side, then it is sensing and compensating for something in the room acoustics.

No, the 705 doesn't let you look at the equalization, nor does any other receiver with Audyssey MultEQ XT (barring the pro version that will show you the correction curve on a PC, but you still can't tweak individual frequencies). The Yamahas use a very broad and basic EQ with pre-defined bands, so it's easy to display that on the screen. Audyssey can make hundreds of dynamic adjustments, so there's no way receivers could even represent the equalization on-screen. It basically reads hundreds of points along the frequency range then creates an inverse of what it hears in your room to give you flattened response.

AudioGenics

good deal... the old and tried process of elimination prevails.

still should see if you can determine the real root cause...
possibly a faulty cable or connection or 'gremlins'.