Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Denon 3803 - speaker level calibration, Avia, etc.

Hi Allan. I'm using the 1802 so there is no onscreen programming (bummer) but the only time I can adjust the individual channel volumes is during the playing of the built in test tones.

Of course you're right Alan and of course I was missing something, I think I found the description near the back of the manual (I'm reading my receiver manual when I should be working). I only had a couple of hours last night to play around and I was looking but not seeing, trying to go go go. I was doing it all with the on-screen menu but the separate section on doing things with remote only spells it out. I'll give the Avia a try tonight. I think we've beaten this dead horse enough.

Dave, as Alan points out, there has to be a way to adjust speaker levels independently of the built-in test tones. In your case, look at p.55 of your manual, where it describes making further level adjustments "to suit your taste". The various set-up discs available have additional features for audio and/or video adjustments beyond speaker level, but the receiver test-tones are fine for the level setting. Whether they use a specified level(e.g. 85dB)doesn't really matter; all speakers will be set to whatever level the tones are at, when done carefully. The overall volume can of course be then either raised or lowered.

Edit: you may have just found that yourself.

Any help for me John, or am I hooped? Now I must say that I calibrated using the built in tones and then checked them against my disk and they were very good.

I am also missing something here. 80db is 80db whether it comes from the Avia or my AVM20. What difference does it make what I use to calibrate the speakers as long as they are calibrated with the SPL? Step in here Alan and help me. gthomas

I have found that with my Onkyo receiver, my SPL meter reads differently when I play back tones from a calibration DVD vs. the built-in tones -- and that's without adjusting the master volume. In other words, the levels do not match up when I measure the SPL of a DVD test tone against the level of the built-in test tone.

I'd rather calibrate from the source, since it's the DVD player is what's going to be playing all my movies.

Tin, you're never hooped, there's always salvation. In your case a study of p.30 of your manual will reveal the truth.

Gene, this may be getting tangled-up, but if we're on the same page, you're right; it doesn't make any real difference whether calibration is at 70, 80, 90dB or whatever, as long as it's done accurately(it's just a suggestion to use e.g., 85dB on Avia so that the level at calibration happens to match the level of the original production, but this isn't crucial). It also doesn't matter whether the source of the test tones is the receiver or a setup disc.

Peter? If the receiver test-tone level is different from the disc level, of course the meter will read differently; or isn't that what you're referring to.

JohnK,

The +/- db settings for each channel are not the same when I calibrate with the DVD vs. the built-in. For example, let's say the levels for my L,C,R,SR,SL,SUB are +2,+3,+3,+2,+2,+4 when I calibrate with the DVD and +1,+2,+1,+3,+3,+2 when I calibrate with the built-in tones.

Peter, I see that in fact you weren't referring to the base levels of the receiver tones as compared to the disc tones. If this is the same over a number of trials and isn't simply measurement error between one receiver tone try vs one disc tone try, then it's curious. The adjustments to the various speakers should be essentially the same, regardless of the source of the test tones.