I got the DVE DVD and was going through it. It said to set the volume at reference level. Is that O DB on the receiver? The calibration is a bit confusing on what to do. Or maybe I"m just brain dead.

I just got all my speakers delivered last week (M22tis, VP150, QS8s, EP175) in brushed silver. I will post the pics later!

If your receiver works with numbers such as -20 db, then yes, 0 is reference. Reference stands for 85 db, or the standard volume listening level for a movie theater.

What's the reference level for LFE in DD or DTS? DD goes up to 0db and DTS goes up to +10db?

Wouldn't it also depend upon the sensitivity of the speakers and also on the source?

The receiver doesn't "know" how loud a 0db setting is in your room on your speakers at a certain distance. It can be a useful relative reference point.

My experience is that a setting of ~-10db on my modest Denon 1804 is quite loud on DD sources (DVD's) and is uncomfortably loud on analog sources (my old CD player, DirecTV box, etc.). I'm sure the average energy far exceeds 85db. I've never approached a 0db setting, even while drunk.

Getting a Rat Shack spl meter and a setup disk like Avia or Digital Video Essentials is a good way to go. It helped me a lot.

I basically ignored the reference level thing on the DVE disk and calibrated to a level I'm more likely to be listening at (-15 on my receiver). I had a hard time navigating the disk until I figured out the search command on my DVD remote...

You know, I think I screwed up this question and misfit had it basically right. Sorry.

I have the Sound and Vision disk (not DVE). I seem to remember somebody else saying that you should use 85db as a reference for DVE. I'm pretty sure S/V uses 75db.

HOWEVER, you may very well get to 85db with pink noise on your reference speaker well before you get to the 0db setting on your receiver.

Tom Tuttle speaks truely. 85 db is reference. Which is what the 0 is for. -10 db on a receiver essentially is 75 db. He's also right in stating that the receiver doesn't know what reference is. Thus the SPL meter comes into play. Now if you want to play the game so that 0 is 85 db then you'll calibrate all your channels so that 85 is 85 or when you hit 0 on your receiver you should be getting an 85 db signal on your SPL meter.

To add to this most people do not watch movies at reference levels, usually below this.

Also reference level testing on some disks/receivers vary. Most receivers calibration will be based on 75 db, as well as some disks such as Sound and Vision. The Avia disk, however, bases their sound test off of a 85 db signal.

TomTuttle and Misfit:

Indeed. Just set the level with the pink-noise generator to "fairly loud" or a comfortably loud level, usually around 80 dB SPL (C weighting) at your listening position. 85 dB SPL is termed "quite loud" and 75 dB SPL may not be quite loud enough to get accurate measurements with the Radio Shack meter. If you don't have a meter, you can do approximate adjustments by ear, but an SPL meter is considerably more accurate.

Regards,