Goon Posted April 1, 2002 Share Posted April 1, 2002 On HornEd's advice, I used an SPL meter for my speaker level adjustments this weekend, and what a difference it made! Thanks HornEd. I'm now wondering what other adjustments the meter can help me with? How do I use the meter to find standing waves and correct bass problems? Is there a way to use an SPL meter to help with sub placement? Also, when doing speaker level adjustments, what should the sub's level be set to? I had my sub at around 1/4 turn (about +5db), then used the receiver level to adjust it to 70db with the rest of the speakers. Is that the right procedure? Hope I'm not rehashing things that have been repeated too much, but I couldn't find my answers by searching the forum. ------------------ Klipsch Epic CF-3s Klipsch KLF-C7 Center Klipsch RS-3 II Surrounds Sunfire MKIV True Sub Integra 8.2 Receiver Pioneer DVD player Monster Cable Interconnects and Speaker Cable JVC 32' TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted April 3, 2002 Author Share Posted April 3, 2002 Just wanted to give this a bump up. I'm really curious about more uses for this SPL meter. ------------------ Klipsch Epic CF-3s Klipsch KLF-C7 Center Klipsch RS-3 II Surrounds Sunfire MKIV True Sub Integra 8.2 Receiver Pioneer DVD player Monster Cable Interconnects and Speaker Cable JVC 32' TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Sorry, Goon, I did not see your post earlier. Congratulations on making the big step up to calibrated sound. As I probably mentioned before, their are latency and acuity issues with human hearing that make it unreliable for critical set-up work. Most people prefer their subs at plus 5-6 dB. The reason is that human ears tend to not process the long waves of low bass as efficiently as they do sounds above about 80 dB. That's why the put a "bass boost" button on some preamps... and, of course, Boom Boxes! Some set-up disks suggest that you move the SPL meter laterally across the sweet spot when setting your subwoofer... and then average the readings taken. The reason is that low bass waves usually exceed the length of your room and can bounce back and cancel out sound in spots around the listening area. When testing the effect of subwoofer waves in your listening area, it is better to play something with a variety of low bass frequencies rather than listening to "pink noise" or a generated tone. The characteristics of a bass wave changes with each frequency... If memory serves, the Radio Shack SPL meter can only measure down to about 35dB... and so bass material that has plenty of sound in the 35dB to 80db makes a good test source. I like to walk around the room holding the SPL meter at a rakish angle pointed toward the ceiling and being careful not to point it to any loudspeakers that could potentially distort the survey. If you find areas where a bass wave goes from no volume to twice the anticipated volume... you have identified a standing wave in that frequency... and they are not fun. If you run into one, post it and I'll try to make some more comments. Sometimes people use SPL meters in conjunction with their ears for locating an ideal placement of a subwoofer. The trick is to put you subwoofer in the center of your sweet spot... and then sample the room for places that produce a higher bass response (without being part of a standing wave). Where it sounds best and the SPL meter provides proof, put the subwoofer there. BTW, SPL meters can be helpful in adjusting the "toe-in" for horn based speakers. Cones are like shotguns and horns are like rifles when it comes to aiming. Well, I hope this helps... -HornEd ------------------ Photo update soon! -HornEd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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