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SPL Meter Measurement
#126986 02/06/06 04:19 AM
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ratpack Offline OP
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How do you folks use your Radio Shack SPL meter when you are calibrating your speakers? Do you:

1. Aim the meter at each speaker?

2. Just point it to the front and make all measurements from that single postition?

3. Point the tip of it vertical and make all measurements?

Just for reference, the instruction manual says to aim it at each sound source.

I'm just curious.


The Rat. M80s, VP-150, QS8s, SVS PC 20-39+, OPPO, Onkyo 703s, Harmony 880 Sony 60" SXRD HDTV
Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126987 02/06/06 04:28 AM
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The instructions that came with my RS meter said the mic is designed to pick up 360degrees around the testing position. I place mine ear height in the primary listening position facing up. Sometimes I use a tripod and crouch down not to interfere with the surrounds mounted on the ceiling. Other times I sit and hold the meter up with one hand and control the remote in the other hand.

If you think about your ears, you don't turn your head and face each speaker when your watching movies or listening to music, so you really don't want to point the device at each speaker. Of course, this is just my opinion, let the bashing begin....


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Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126988 02/06/06 04:28 AM
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I do #1.

And I've done #s 2 and 3.

#1 seemed to work best for me.

Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126989 02/06/06 04:42 AM
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Here is a quote from the below article on Audioholics.

"Step 7 Sound Pressure Level (SPL) Calibration
Place the SPL Meter at the listening position at ear level with the Mic end pointed toward the ceiling. Select “C” weighting, response slow then, turn the dB dial to 70. Activate the internal pink noise generator of your Receiver and select manual test tone. Now adjust each speaker to +75 dB reference. When you are adjusting the surrounds make sure your body is not in a direct path of the speaker and make sure the house is quiet. When doing the calibration, only the test tone should be heard (A/C, ceiling fans, ect. should be turned off). I like to adjust the subwoofer level to + 80dB for wow effect. Your taste may vary."



http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/loudspeakerplacement01.php


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Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126990 02/06/06 05:17 AM
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Bernard, unless there's been a recent change, the meter's supposed to be omnidirectional; so 3. would seem to be the way to go and it's what I do. Note that at a typical listening distance there's actually a bit more reverberent sound pressure from reflections than there is direct sound.


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Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126991 02/06/06 12:20 PM
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ratpack Offline OP
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Interesting assorment of opinions.

What started me to thinking was the Onkyo setup had a mike that appears to be pointed straight up. I did a manual setup yesterday with the RS SPL and some of the settings were a few dB different from that of the automatic Onkyo setup. I began to wonder why.

I'm going to "play" with the RS meter and see what, if any, difference it makes.


The Rat. M80s, VP-150, QS8s, SVS PC 20-39+, OPPO, Onkyo 703s, Harmony 880 Sony 60" SXRD HDTV
Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126992 02/06/06 02:54 PM
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My Denon mic setup also gives me slightly different results than my SPL meter when I calibrate to 75dB's.. I'm not sure when the receiver runs its tests what dB levels it is trying to achieve?


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Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126993 02/06/06 03:41 PM
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With my Denon mic the sub distance is always wrong. Usually by 15-20 feet.

Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126994 02/06/06 03:51 PM
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I think Alan has mentioned that the sub will be different than an actual tape measure distance. It has something to do with the internal circuitry of a sub?


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AnthemAVM60 Outlaw7700 EmoA500 Epson5040UB FluanceRT85


Re: SPL Meter Measurement
#126995 02/06/06 04:29 PM
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According to the Denon manual, speakers with a built in filter such as a sub might be set with a value that differs from the physical distance because of the internal electrical delay.


A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
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