Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Using an SPL Meter

Can someone answer those questions, I too would like to know!

I understand you leave your LFE setting @ 0db on the receiver, but before running Audyssey/YPAO, how do you set the volume knob on a EP500? In my case, the knob is almost at mute, I'm at 6'oclock because when I tried 9-10'oclock as Alan suggested in his article, YPAO was unable to calibrate properly the sub and it was booming, it was very loud.

I actually set the sub to "0" on my reciever and calibrated the sub manually to 75 db. This make it easy to know exactly where 75db is, if I want a little less bass, bump it down to -5, if I want to run it a bit more, up to +5. But I always know where 75db is with the rest of my system. Makes it easier to play with sub settings and being able to put it back to normal.

The sub should be set no more than half way. You can tell if it was too high by looking at the trims after running Audessey. If the sub trim is a large negative number (-10 or more), you should adjust the sub's volume down and rerun Audessey.

On the Onkyo's (and I assume the Denon), the volume makes no difference. The test tones are set at -30db from reference (or 75db actual).

Kk this makes sense. On my Yamaha, you have to adjust the volume manually when running the test tones, while in automatic calibration (YPAO) I suppose it must be something similar to what you've mentioned (-30db from reference).

On the Denon, the test tones are indeed preset levels and adjustment is strictly done per speaker up or down to adjust as you need to reach your desired levels on the SPL meter.

While not trying to disagree but whenever I read this, the first thought to cross my mind was these poor fellas who's manual efforts were useless during this computer generated and controlled ride ... Along for the ride.

Frightfully scary.

As I anxiously wait for fedex to ship my speakers I have a related question.

Is the AVIA 2 a good calibration DVD along with the radioshack SPL meter, or do people have other recs??

Thanks again

Sam
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Denon 3808-M80s-VP150-EP350v3-QS4s

Avia has some nice features to easily test phases and transitions that do not require any expertise whatsoever as they are meant to make "problems" cleanly audible.

The rest of calibration is more on the bass management-side. For that, the Avia disk will give you some initial elements that are worthwhile.

I will let other people who did more expirement fill you in on additional stuff you can do for bass (I am one of those lucky bastard who happens to have a room with nice smooth bass, so I have not spent much time correcting!).

For the highs, just avoid flat reflective surfaces. Paintings, carpets, bookshelves on the walls can help taming fast-reflecting highs.

I find DVE(Digital Video Essentials) to go a little more in depth than Avia for audio set up, but that could just be me, Avia will give you what you need with some decent sweeps etc. The 3808 does a good job with Audyssey for seting up the speakers and then you can go into the curves and adjust them as you see fit. Something to note if you do use Audyssey, it will set the sub lower than most people want. It will set the sub to blend in so much that you won't know it is even on. It seems almost every one bumps the sub level up 5-6 db from Audyysey's settings, myself included.