Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners BFD - Opinions on My Latest Graph Plot

re: mains plus sub vs. sub only -- there is no "right". Sub only is the most useful generally because everything you see relates to the sub (placement, EQ, level setting etc..) so you can get everything dialled in more quickly.

At the crossover region, graphing with sub + mains starts to be useful as (a) an "end to end check" on calibration, (b) confirmation that phase is optimal, but it's more of a final check than something you would use when you are tweaking EQ and placement.

Make any sense ?

EDIT -- the rolloff after 80 Hz looks OK to me, almost exactly the 24dB/octave you would expect from the receiver's bass management system.

MORE EDIT -- just noticed you had mains running as well. Hmm, that's not right. Either the sub level is WAY too high relative to the mains or something I don't understand is going on ;(

Rick, yes you shouldn't be getting that slope-off above 90Hz when the mains are also operating. The only context in which I've heard the "housecurve" idea discussed which made any sense to me was when it was suggested that the very lowest frequencies, say below 40Hz, be sloped up a bit to compensate for the lower sensitivity of the ear at those frequencies. I don't think that even that is necessary, but in any case it isn't your situation. DVE and the other setup discs have some good features, but it isn't necessary to use them for the basic volume balancing calibration, which the receiver's built-in test tones handle well. Just in case the slope above 90Hz resulted in some way(other than that 10dB difference)from the use of DVE, why not run a calibration using the receiver test tones?

John and bridgman,

Thanks to you both for your input. I will try the sub only method to see how my plot compares to what I have now. I really guess the final decision would be if I like what I hear and the wife and I agree so far that it really sounds good where it is now but I can't explain to her that "tweakers disease" that most of us have..LOL

I will also try John's idea and use the Onkyo's internal tones to set my levels and see how it compares to the DVE tone settings.

I feel like I am worrying much about nothing to be honest but just want to make sure I can get my system set to the best it can be.

Thanks to all for hanging in there with me!!
Rick