What are your Audyssey Settings and Preferences?

[Zen Traveler]

Meant to post this before, but lost power yesterday due to the snow.

Bill, I agree with your post. Before I owned the La Scala's I used an 7.1 RF-83 setup. I was using one of Onkyo's flagship receivers, but I immediately noticed an improvement after adding the ATI AT2007 amp. Car doors, drums, etc all sounded better than the AVR (TX-NR905) alone.

I think the issue is the large impedance swings of the three 8" woofers really demand a lot from an AVR already running 7 channels, plus the fact that no AVR is actually rated for what's stated on the box. Even AVR's rated with all channels driven still state @1kHz, which is not realistic at all as the lower frequencies are going to demand the most power from the power supply.

TKD, realize ATI rates their stuff with all channels driven so it's a lot more powerful than what it looks like. Now compare the rating to this: http://www.onkyousa.com/Products/model.php?m=TX-NR905&class=Receiver&source=prodClass Notice how sneaky Onkyo is with the specs? Who the $%^ listens to only the rear channels with no other channels driven? Why even publish that confusing stuff? The dynamic rating is really telling, it's only with one channel driven...

Certainly, the LS II's do not need a large an amp like my RF-83 setup did. However, there's nothing wrong with having headroom, a really large power supply (the amp weighs almost 100 lbs), and actually having a clipping indicator (never seen this on an AVR). For others: I didn't pay retail for my amp, but if you call ATI and ask for Jeff, he'll give you a great deal on a "B-Stock" unit.

Ironically I had a similar discussion with a guy who was driving Cornscalas and he didn't feel it was giving him enough juice either (which I thought the Onkyo would do) and he had to use external amps...That said, my Denon AVR-4806 was certified to drive speakers with lower impedance dips (4 Ohm) and did well on the Bench: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_4/denon-avr-4806-receiver-12-2005-part-5.html

Edited February 21, 2014 by tkdamerica

[Thaddeus Smith]

BTW, this is ATI's website for selling B-stock items: http://www.classicaudioparts.com/index.php/amplifiers.html

[Zen Traveler]

L RF-7 -8 @ 9.6 ft R RF-7 -8.5 @ 9.5 ft C RC-7 -8 @ 8.9 ft LH RB-5 -5.5 @ 13 ft RH RB-5 -4.5 @12.8 ft SS RF-3 -9 @ 5.4 ft SS RF-3 -11 @ 4.4 ft RL RB-75 -5 @ 8.6 ft RR RB-75 -5 @ 8.1 ft Front RSW-12 -9 @7.9 ft Rear RSW-15 -6.5 @ 10.6 ft

Tkdamerica,

...With that said, Audyssey is going to set your speaker's distances and volumes based on how the microphone reads them in your room. Remember Audyssey sets the volumes/delays based on when the sound arrives at the microphone. Take two rooms of the exact same size and one is heavily damped and the other is hard and "live", Audyssey readings can differ almost like night and day.

Bill

Hey Bill, I remember this post and wanted to get back to it because even though all of our rooms are all different, I was curious what numbers people were coming up with...The reason I think this is interesting is because so many things in the Hobby of Home Theater is subjective, the volume in which we listen shouldn't be. Of course there are things that can skew the readings, but I am under the impression that we should have similar SPL readings on a meter that correlate to the Main Volume on Audyssey calibrated systems.

Edited March 1, 2014 by tkdamerica

[derrickdj1]

Here are my numbers, L -4.0, R -3.5 , C -4.0, FHL 0.0, FHR -1.5, SR -5.0, SL -4.5, SW -4.5. When I was upstairs on hardwood the Mains were around -7 to -8. The basement that I am in is a sound absorber. Also I am using a different amp. The Yamaha and Carve gave -7 or -8 (mains) and -7.5 (center). I don't think I need any panels in the basement to absorb sound.

[etc6849]

I think this is interesting and telling of efficiency differences between the reference and heritage line. The next biggest difference would probably be to distance from the speaker, then due to the room.

It's crazy though how the RF-7 levels range from -3.5 to -8. For my LS II's Audyssey set them to the lowest setting. I had to use 12dB of padding between the preamp and amp to get them close to -3.5dB.

L RF-7 -8 @ 9.6 ft R RF-7 -8.5 @ 9.5 ft C RC-7 -8 @ 8.9 ft LH RB-5 -5.5 @ 13 ft RH RB-5 -4.5 @12.8 ft SS RF-3 -9 @ 5.4 ft SS RF-3 -11 @ 4.4 ft RL RB-75 -5 @ 8.6 ft RR RB-75 -5 @ 8.1 ft Front RSW-12 -9 @7.9 ft Rear RSW-15 -6.5 @ 10.6 ft

Tkdamerica,

...With that said, Audyssey is going to set your speaker's distances and volumes based on how the microphone reads them in your room. Remember Audyssey sets the volumes/delays based on when the sound arrives at the microphone. Take two rooms of the exact same size and one is heavily damped and the other is hard and "live", Audyssey readings can differ almost like night and day.

Bill

Hey Bill, I remember this post and wanted to get back to it because even though all of our rooms are all different, I was curious what numbers people were coming up with...The reason I think this is interesting is because so many things in the Hobby of Home Theater is subjective, the volume in which we listen shouldn't be. Of course there are things that can skew the readings, but I am under the impression that we should have similar SPL readings on a meter that correlate to the Main Volume on Audyssey calibrated systems.

[Zen Traveler]

Okay gang--I changed my side surround speakers from the RF-3s to RB-75s and here are my new numbers with everything else being the same or close:

Front Left RF-7 -7.5 dB
Front Right RF-7 -7.5 dB
Left Height RB-5 -5 dB
Right Height RB-5 -5.5 dB
Center RC-7 -7dB
Front RSW 12 Sub -7.5 dB
Back RSW 15 Sub -6.5 dB
Left Surround RB-75 -8 dB
Right Surround RB-75 -8.5 dB
Left Back RB-75 -6 dB
Right Back RB-75 -6.5 dB

Edited May 30, 2014 by tkdamerica

[willland]

PM sent about another subject.

Bill

[derrickdj1]

I was looking at my old post and never commented back on it. I had higher negative numbers like the -7 or -8 for the main when I was upstairs. The basement levelis a very dead room in comparison. Less reflections and fully carpeted with plush furniture. So, I think it is hard to use my case as efficiency of the reference line. I am also in a very large room but, I like the concrete bunker, lol.

[Zen Traveler]

Bump.