I need some help with REW

bevo

I tried to run REW for the first time today. I read and read the help sections to make sure I kind of know what I'm doing, but I just can't get my SPL calibrated right. I go to the calibration part and set the REW program to 78 just like my spl reads. After that I try to run a measurement and it almost alway either says I'm clipping or that it wasn't loud enough. My SPL will read like it's somewhere between 75 and 85, but REW's meter never does run that loud. It always says somewhere in the 30's to 60's. Out of 20 tries I only have a few measurments, and I know they are not even close to being right.

I have my SPL meter hooked into my laptops mic jack, and my headphone jack is going out to my receiver. I looked around the AVS forums, but there are so many posts I couldn't find anything to help my problem.

Any help with tricks to make REW easy for a begginer would really help me.

On a side note, today was the first time I've really had a chance to sit down and try to tune in my sub. I found out that it was 20db higher at 15-50hz then 60-80. I used the subs PEQ(i think that's it) and got it to be within 6 or 7 db all the way down to 15hz except for at 60hz. For some reason at 60hz it drops way off by almost 20db compared to 40hz.

Anyway it sounds much better, I imagine the huge dips around 60, 70, znd 80hz is why audyseyy was always setting my sub way to hot. It always sets it about 7-8 db high when I run it. Maybe now it will be better.

bevo

Well, since no one had any advice I kept reading and reading and finally found the answer to my own question. I can't use the mic in jack, it has to be a jack straight to my sound card.

After I found that out I started doing more manual testing. I found out that my sub is all screwed up and that my seating is horrible. Almost everywhere in my room at head level is a dead spot for 60hz by about 20db, and 70-80 at about 10 db. I think this is why my avr always tunes my sub up way to high.

I started messing around with the PEQ on my sub and got 60-80 raised up anywhere form 7-15 db, and got my 50hz down about 5. My 15-30hz is still about 10db higher then everythin else, but I kind of like it like that because you get the floor shaking when it needs to, but the audible bass isn't overwhelming when it's loud.

I'm going to look into a sub EQ to try and fix everything, because moving my sub and my seating position would really screw up the whole room.