Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater The PS12-ISB is here....well almost

Ray, the sub is in an internal corner, where SVS and HSU recommended. It's not so much that I have a problem (that's my opinion anyway), it's more that I was not comfortable that I did the calibration right.

I looked at the Denon manual again, and I when I choose small for the fronts, it sets the crossover at 80. There doesn't seem to be any additional options for crossover.

I will re-do the calibration using the DVD.

Regarding the 2CH/5CH/DD question......

When I calilbrate in DD, I wind up with 6 settings for the speakers and the sub. If I then play a CD in 2CH, the left,right and sub are set at 0 dB on the receiver. When I play a CD in 5CH, all the speakers are set at 0 dB on the receiver. Why, because I never calibrated in that mode and the DVD does not allow me to. Therefore, do I just take the DD settings and adjust the 2CH and 5CH settings accordingly??

Thanks, you da man!!!

As far as the phase goes, sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't depending upon the room and the relationship of the subs' position to any other speakers that produce bass.

The jist is that you don't want one cone pushing while another is pulling....cancelling out the wave to some degree. You have to be in the primary seating position while someone else flips the switch to see if it's making a difference (louder bass is the correct position).

Ah you're doing it manually!

See I have the Denon Mic... You plug it in, click "Auto Setup" and it cycles through all your speakers + sub and calculates distance, levels, phase, everything, automagically..

After that, works like a charm

- D

In reply to:

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Why, because I never calibrated in that mode and the DVD does not allow me to. Therefore, do I just take the DD settings and adjust the 2CH and 5CH settings accordingly??

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Apparently your receiver has separate speaker level memories for each input and possibly each input mode.

That's good but it raises the issue you stated. You have several options:

(1) Just copy over the speaker levels as you mentioned.

(2) If your receiver permits, manually switch to 2-CH mode when playing your Digital Dolby 5.1 calibration DVD. Set levels in 2CH mode and hopefully they'll stick.

(3) Use the receiver's test tones not the DVD. That may set levels for all inputs. That's less ideal since it doesn't calibrate the entire signal path.

(4) Get a separate 2-CH CD calibration disc.

If you have SACD, you'll need a separate SACD calibration disc.

I've got to defer to joema here. First because he's always dead nuts on with his answers, but also because I have no technical basis to be able to answer your last question.

I set the 2CH and 5CH levels to the DD settings. For the sub, I set it at +2dB for both. Why? Beats the hell out of me!!!

I guess my frustration lies in the fact that the fronts, center and surrounds are easy to calibrate without having to rely on my hearing. The SPL does most of the work.

For the sub, you must rely on your own hearing and personal preference and not the SPL. Bottom line, I'll probably add a db or subtract a db here and there and move on.

Although it has been frustrating, this will not detract from how great the sub sounds when I put a movie on.

Another observation, I keep calling them SVS subwoofers. I didn't realize that it is SV Subwoofers and the second "S" is for subwoofers! Wonder what "SV" stands for?

John

John,

Don't be concerned about making the small adjustments with the sub. I have SUB+ and SUB- commands for on my remote for each components. Aside from the difference in the source material LFE level that you may want to adjust for, I find that the difference between musiv and movies is sometimes 3-4 db. Personal preference can override calibration. I always try to return the sub level to what I calibrated when I am finished watching/listening to what I adjusted.

Ray, just curious. You said " I find that the difference between music and movies is sometimes 3-4 db". Is your music the higher number (more dB)?

No John, just the opposite. I like music that blends all of the audio. A heavy driving bass is distracting. If accentuated bass it is part of the sound mix, the calibration of the speakers will take care of that.

On the other hand, I like the chest-thumping parts of movies where bass is intended to live. Explosions, collisions, gunfire - all of those types of things seem a bit laid back in most movies. When we settle in for a movie and turn off the lights (except for the backlight), we like to crank it up a bit to get to a quasi-theater experience and I generally tweak the sub to help.

The neat part of that is the LFE that is uncovered. For example, bringing the sub up 4 db makes the difference from just watching Star Trek - Insurrection to being in the ships because of the undercurrent of LFE you feel.

Yeah, but why would you want to watch ST: Insurrection? That BASTARD Rick Berman....

I'm only bitter because I watched it on my birthday last year and had such high hopes. And it blew.