What exactly am I hearing

[derrickdj1]

I can hit 112-114 db when I watched Wrath of the Titans this past weekend. I had the avr at -5, the wife was out of the house, he he. The speakers should not go pass 105 at reference level so, is this from the sub? The sub should not be near reference level also so, is the the output a reflexion of bass summing and db gain from multiple speakers? All speakers are set to small, sub level in avr -1.5 and gain on sub 10-11 O'clock, not that this is helpful. I measured with a radio shack meter at 12 ft. from the screen.

[CECAA850]

Subwoofers produce peaks and nulls in most rooms. A null is where the bouncing bass waves cancel each other. A peak is where the waves are summed. You may be sitting in a peak. Try taking readings in other spots in the room.

[CECAA850]

I forgot to add....................The RS meters aren't terribly accurate with bass but they ARE consistant. There's several tables on the internet that will give you correction values for specific frequencies if you ever measure with sine waves.

Carl

[Thaddeus Smith]

some would also argue that you need to turn down the sub gain and increase the trim level in your AVR if you want to increase bass output. It's not a volume knob.

[derrickdj1]

Maybe I did not word the question correctly. I have the subs setup correctly and have a pretty flat respone in the room. What I was asking is how much of the SPL was pure sub and how much sub plus redirected bass. I have ran Real Traps test tones but do not know what spl to set the sub since the frequencies change. For example, do I use 30 Hz, 40 hz, or some other number to calibrate the spl and run the tones, and can I do a 115 db sweep? I don't have a computer setup to do the formal testing. I am not trying for more output, just curious to know the in room performance of the subs.

[CECAA850]

You can figure out the sub output by running your sweep and disconnecting the mains to be sure they're not providing output.

Your receivers test tones are normally a good way to set the SPL of your sub. Normally I get my subs close and tweek the SPL by ear. I generally run my subs hot as a sub calibrated with the same output as the mains generally sounds thin to me.

[MikeFord]

Most likely thing is the location of the microphone was in some hot spot in the room.

If I understand correctly you are saying -5 on the AVR cooresponds to a reference level of 105 db? Any chance that reference level is -10 db from peak levels?

[prin1113ci]

Your child has hearing issues or profound deafness is a big shock .