Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Calibration & reference points

I just calibrated my speakers on my new Yamaha RX-V657. When I went into the menu to set the test tones on my old Denon, it automatically went to 00 on the volume control. On the Yamaha, I had to turn the volume control up manually to 0. I set everything to 75db during the calibration so I'm assuming (uh oh!!) that when I'm at 0 on the volume control, I'm at 75db. If I wanted to listen at 85db or whatever higher level, the volume control would have to be set at +2, 5 or whatever # that would get me to that particular db level?? Am I thinking correctly?? Thanks....

Yes and no. If the test tones are about the same signal level as typical DVD content then yes, you would get 75dB with the volume set to 0, 85dB with the volume set to +10 etc...

Having said that, the test tones are probably not the same as typical DVD content (DVDs seem to be getting louder and louder ) so you're going to have to play some DVDs and see.

Charles, your "uh oh!!" is more on-target than your assumption. You've calibrated to 75dB at 0 on the master volume control when a test tone of a certain loudness level is being used. When you're playing something other than the test tone the actual loudness level at 0 on the volume control might be much higher or lower than 75dB, e.g. 100dB or 50dB, depending on the level of the program material at that particular instant.

Yes, exactly. The 75 dB is a calibration, but not what you are hearing at reference volume 0 for movies. All DVD's will vary, but typically dialog will be about 80-85 dB, and peaks (explosions, etc.) will be over 100 dB (110 dB or more can be common).