Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater SPL meter or Auto Setup

Now that my speakers will arrive soon, I am just wondering if it is really worth it to buy an SPL meter if my reciever has an automatic setup program.

According to Audioholics, the Yamaha YPAO auto setup can determine acurate trim levels and speaker distances to the primary seating position. This is essentially what a tape measure and an SPL meter can do right?

They stated that the (few) differences in manual setup were not more than 0.5 db.

Of course the speaker type and crossover will have to be changed manually almost all the time with auto setups but if the mic can accuratly determine the trim levels and distances, Do I really need to buy an SPL meter and waste $50?

Me personally, I'd say go for the SPL over the auto function for the setup. Back whenever I first used the auto setup function on my HK635 the system didn't sound very good at all and whenever I calibrated using a disc and the SPL meter I could see why, calibration was way off. Some say the newer stuff is better though.

I also believe an SPL meter is probably one of the most useful tools for anybody who wants to take a stab at setting up, *and* maintaining the setup of their home system.

I am having my sister ship up a Radio Shack SPL meter so you could just borrow mine sometime.

I found that with my Denon, the built in test tones are not consistent with test tones played from a DVD (like Avia). For me there is a couple of DB differance between the settings from autosetup and Avia. So I recommend doing the setup yourself with a meter. The meter also helps when trying to setup your crossover settings for most even bass response with the Avia frequency sweep.

bflat

I do use the autosetup of my Denon 2805 to take care of distance, initial dB levels, and polarity check. I then follow up with the SPL meter to verify that all speakers are measuring the same SPL. It has been very accurate for levels and distance.

I do not use the auto setup results for Room EQ, that screws up the sound in my opinion. Now, the latest Denon's with Odyssey have great reviews from highly rated websites, so I would like to give that a chance some day.

Aside from the center channel, our systems are identical.

I found that YPAO set my sub to -10 dB, and the satellites to +10 dB. This essentially turned the sub off. I really needed the Avia disk and the SPL meter to get the sub to the right level. You should be able to get pretty close with the manual setup tones though.

It also puts the sub at 24 feet compared to about 10 for the rest. I'm not sure if that is right or not.

Did radio shack put a store in Calgary? They came back to Canada and there is a store in Toronto where I got my meter. They are closing down again though, so they are having a clearance sale. See their web page.

Jared

I have heard that your sub should be alot more distance than what it really is. Jakeman is the local sub guru around here (so I have noticed) and has some threads on this board saying that the distance should be more than actual and for a good reason too, it just slipped my memory though.

My friend has an Avia Disk, and I plan on getting an SPL meter. Radio Shack used to have alot of stores in calgary, I am going to google them in calgary and see if they are still around. I think not though.

I may go with this deal for the Avia Disk and SPL Meter for $99 CAD...not too shabby.

I also just ordered the Avia CD but finding the elusive Radio Shack SPL Meter in Eastern Canada is like finding the Holy Grail. So I started researching other options. There are certainly lots of options but I have a question.

It seems that all similarly priced meters I can find online say that they only function in the Frequency Range: 125Hz to 8KHz. Some don't mention a usable range at all so one must assume the worst.

Avia (I assume) has level setting tones are in that range but if I wanted to get into testing improvements from room design and treatments, do I need one that covers much more of the audible spectrum? Seems so, obvioiusly such limited meters will not help me much with a room's bass management.

If so, am I getting into a several hundred dollar price jump? I can't realy justify that. There are not many other models mentioned in this forum when I search.

Answer is somewhat self obvious but I also wonder how many people get into that type of testing and if you do it, might you be using another model besides Radio Shack that you could share?

Thanks

Curcuit City (of the USA) bought Radio Shack Canada and renamed the stores The Source. My local "Radio Shack turned The Source" store looks pretty much the same as the old store with pretty near the same product lines (albiet some new manufacturers). A quick check to see if they have a website and I found this SPL meter. It is different from the traditional one Radio Shack carried in Canada (and still carries in the USA) and is digital (some people here prefer the analog version). Don't know if the new one is better or not, but a phone call to your local store will determine if they also carry other meters.

I can't comment on the frequency range the meter covers as I don't know the specs, but my recollection is the meter I have registers the base sweeps from the AVIA disc. Also, I don't recall folks on this forum (who are far more knowledgable on these topics than I) who have discussed efforts to eliminate frequency nodes mentioning a concern about meters than don't cover the full audible range.

Paul