I have a bunch of easy questions for you guys
my equipment-hk 525 and 4 m22s
1 How much better will the video quality be going from non gold RCA video cables to gold RCA video cables(from dvd straight to tv)

2 I paid 38 bucks for my spl meter-is that too much?

3 My SPL meter has different ranges-60 to 120. which one do i use?
4 What volume should my reciever be at when using the SPL meter?

5 for hk 525 users- did you get a cd when you bought your receiver? The only 'test tone' i have is static.

6 I am having a hard time noticing a difference in bass output when changing the speaker settings from large to small. Is there a way to shut off bass to the m22s? I want to know how much bass output they have

7 when using the front 2 speakers in order to reach loud levels of listening i set the reciever at -35dbs. when using all 4 m22s i need to set the reciever to -15 dbs to recieve a simliar output. Is this normal? To me that seems like a big difference in output power

1. Probably not any.
2. Nope.
3. I don't remember.
4. I don't remember.
5. Nope. The static is pink noise, which lets the thing calibrate at many different frequencies at once (I think...)
6. The large/small settings change whether the M22s receive the frequencies below a certain level (80 Hz is the default, I think). I don't understand the second part of your question.
7. How do you have the 4 M22s hooked up? And what DSP are you using? The different DSPs often have different volume levels. For example, with my 2 speakers, Logic 7 and DTS are much quieter than Dolby PLII or no DSP.

7-the 4 m22s are hooked up to the reciever. I was reffering to the sound levels when using 2 channel stereo and 5 channel stereo

1.non
2.thats cheap
3.raise the level of you receiver to a level that you will mostlikely listen to...round -20 - -15 and bring the spl up to the range that the spl reads your volume
4. see 3
5.
6. until you have a source/music/movie that pushed below your crosover setting you won't notice a difference. If you set it to small it should pushs all frequencies below your crossover setting.
7. As with some receivers the output driven with 2 channels is higher than with all channels driven. Some brands cheat with power output. For instance in the past receivers say it is 100w x 5... but in actuality when 2 channels driven it is 100w. When all channels driven it is actaully about 72w with all 5 channels. Sony,Denon,Onkyo,Pioneer.
Based on past reviews usually Rotels, NAD, HK and Yamaha rated their power conservatively and did actually advertised the rating of the 5,6 or 7 channels driven. For instance my old Rotel receiver said it was 100w x 5. When all channels were driven it was around 102w x 5. With 2 channels driven it was running 123w x 2.
Based on a past review the HK 4550 is advertised at 50w x 6 channels at 8 ohms
When they measured the output it came out to 95w x 2 channels. 75w @ 5 channels
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displayreview.php?reviewid=3343

7. I got that bit. What I meant was which speaker terminals?

The 5 channel stereo, I have noticed on other setups (not mine, lacking, well, 5 channels) does tend to be quieter than the 2 channel. It's another DSP. I'm not sure why this is, but it is.