Audessey Setup question

Pycroft

Hi all...

WIth the new speakers, I ran the Audessey setup on my receiver, and without fail, it sets every speaker to Full Band. It did the same thing on my last speakers, and it begs the question...why? It was always suggested to me that 80hz is a good cutoff. It did the same thing with this setup:
Monitor 50's (fronts), CS1, Monitor 30's (Rear) and Def. Tech Prosub 800. I switched all to 80hz. Now the speakers are: RTA11TL's (Fronts), CS400 center, Monitor 30's and Def Tech Prosub 800. Same settings - all Full Band. Is it doing this because the microphone is not picking up my sub as much and the setup feels it needs more bass? Or...is it because it thinks all the speakers can handle the low bass? Maybe the speakers I have now, but the Monitor 50's and CS1??? I know it's supposed to be a guide...I will probably change the settings to 80hz, but I always wondered why it would always set my speakers to Full band. The receiver is an Onkyo SR606.

Thanks,

James

wutadumsn23

I think that may be a default in the program that if your speakers can handle being set to Full Band, it automatically does it. I ran Audessey when I first set up my HT and I am pretty sure it did the same thing with all of mine. I used it as a guide like you said and fine tuned from there. Good luck.

-Jeff

kuntasensei

This is a known issue with Onkyos. Chris Kyriakakis of Audyssey said over in AVS' Audyssey thread that they recommended 40Hz as the threshold for "full range", but Onkyo used 80Hz. So if your speaker plays cleanly below 80Hz (which damn near all Polk bookshelves will), it'll detect as full range and be equalized across the whole range. The good news is that you can change it to 80Hz yourself and Audyssey's equalization is still good down to that point. So just change it to 80Hz, with LPF OF LFE to 120Hz (this isn't changed by Audyssey setup, but defaults to 80Hz, though you want it set to 120Hz so you aren't truncating audio in the LFE channel).

Pycroft

Great info...thanks! Am I correct that the only other things that the audessey setup changes is the speaker loudness? If so, I probably won't have to do anymore setups because I can just change to 80hz without thinking about it, and set the volume where I like. Is there anything else it changes? I saw something in the avr setup that said: Equalizer: Audessey. Does it change treble/bass, etc.??

James

wutadumsn23

I'm not sure what all Audessey changes, but loudness and eq. settings I know are on the list. It doesn't hurt to run it, it atleast gives you a place to start. All in all a good program, but has a few "bugs".

-Jeff

kuntasensei

On your 606, Audyssey 2EQ does a 3-position equalization of all channels except the subwoofer. Whether you'll like the effect it has is up to you, but it does a far more precise equalization than the typical 5-band EQ. It also rolls off the very high end slightly to help with near-field listening.

Audyssey MultEQ XT, on the other hand, can make hundreds of EQ changes per channel, including the subwoofer. They're both very useful tools... but are really far more complex to use correctly than your average person will bother doing. For instance, you should be placing the mic on a tripod, in your listening position, with the mic capsule slightly above the headrest of your seating. Audyssey is very much a garbage-in/garbage-out proposition.

vc69

I have a 606 and for HT I am extremely happy with the Audyssey setup. I wish I had MutliEQ but for what this receiver costs it does an amazing job I think.

There are some caveats as Kuntasensei mentions. I use a tripod just as he says and I also have taken numerous runs at determining exactly where I wanted to place the tripod for the 3 measurements. Different placement yields different results for sure. A little above head height (seated) works best for me. My three positions are staggered across my main seating area so I measure at each end of my couch (and a little behind) and in the middle (in front of center) of my couch. That covers four people seated very well.
I DO NOT mess with the level/distance settings. I have messed with level adjustments and found that the Audyssey settings were better left untouched. It has always accurately calculated the distance but always set the level trims at negative values so I would raise the values equally across all channels until one was zero maintaining the differences in level Audyssey set. I found that to be undesirable as it affected the the related equalization and negated the positive affect. IOW...I change only the crossover settings. 80 for center and rear and 120 LPF of LFE. I run fronts large as it suggests but I have large fronts as you do Pycroft. So I would actually run the RTA's large. The LFE will handle the subsonic effects as it should. Others may recommend setting the fronts to cross at 80 to take the burden off of your receiver but I have found the 606 to be quite capable at the levels I watch movies at. YMMV.
After many tries and some experimentation, this is what I have learned works for me. I have a very coherent and lifelike soundstage in a rather imperfect room configuration. That I credit to Audyssey.

I hope some of that info is helpful to you.:)