Very good, Alex. Yes, the 8801 has the complete selection of Dolby and DTS modes.

As to using a "trusty" SPL meter, the only thing this would be relevant to would be calibrating speaker levels, and the auto-calibration for levels used at the first Audyssey measuring point(regardless of whether any room EQ measurements are to be made later)would likely be more accurate than manually reading an SPL meter, because of the added element of human error in reading the meter.

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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.