I did it by ear and then about 2 months later decided to get a meter. I was off by quite a bit. I had the sub way too loud ( a common mistake when configuring by ear). The other speakers were slightly off, but not by a lot. That could be attributed to the spot I was sitting in at the time. It's amazing how just sliding your seat over about 2 feet can change how the system should be configured to put you in the sweet spot.