What is the correct way to set speaker levels?

[rplace]

When calibrating you speakers (via SPL meter or ear method) with test tones do you guys set the Loudest or most efficient speaker to 0db then bump up your others in the +db range. Or do you put your quieter speakers to 0db and bring your louder speakers into the db values?

Is there any advantage one way or another? My guess is that you are using the SPL meter to bring all speakers to the same level so as long as you are not overdriving your amp it does not matter. Then I started to think if you have an 8db difference between a khorn main and a heresy surround (my left khorn is set to 0 and my left heresy to + 8) then you might be overdriving the one heresy amp channelbut I dont hear any issues. I could probably set the heresy to 0 and bring down the khorn in negative range till it matches the reading on the spl meter.

What is the right thing to do or does it matter?

[Olorin]

I'm not sure it matters. Say you need 85 dB out of your Heresy. Does it matter if the master volume is at -50, the mains flat, and the center +8, or if the master volume is at -42, the mains -8, and the center flat? If you're using one multichannel amp, isn't the overall demand on it the same?

On mine I set my mains flat, my center up, and my surrounds down. It works for me. Is it "right?" I don't know. Is there a "right," or is it right if it works?

[rplace]

O, I agree that it might not matter. My gut tells me it does not...but my gut has been wrong in the past. My goal has always been to get them "sounding the same" or reading the same on SPL meter. I just got to wondering if it really did matter, if so why. Surely there is no lack of opinions here and quite a few smart people (smarter then me anyway). Most are not too shy to offer up any info they have concrete or otherwise (ducking)

[Olorin]

Hey, I may not be smart, but I can speculate and make stuff up with the best of them.

[rplace]

Remarks not intended for you, O. Just say things with conviction and they become fact.

[michael hurd]

Always cut the loudest speakers to match the less efficient ones!! Going back to basic math, an doubling of electrical power ( wattage ) will result in an additional 3 decibels.

So, say you were to increase the least efficient ones, rather than cut the louder ones. If we compared the Klipschorn to the Heresy, to match the level ( without taking different distance to the respective speakers into account ), you would need to increase the level by 6 db.

You would need a little less power, if you sit closer to the Heresy, compared to the K-horn. The inverse is also true.

6 decibels above 30 watts, would be 120 watts. Increasing the less efficient channels will increase the likeliehood of amplifier clipping and distortion, at louder levels.

Now, if you wanted to boost the bass an additional 3db, you are creating even more demand on the receiver.

[johnyholiday]

yamaha's parametric, auto set up, uses the left front as the reference point, for speaker level,then does the distance set for time alignment,for what thats worth

[jheis]

With my B&K system (which has a test tone) they tell you to use a SPL meter set to C weighting and slow response - and then set each speaker to 75 dB - which is the THX reference level.

James

[sivadselim]

----------------

On 5/11/2005 4:54:04 AM jheis wrote:

With my B&K system (which has a test tone) they tell you to use a SPL meter set to C weighting and slow response - and then set each speaker to 75 dB - which is the THX reference level.

James

----------------

yeah. but how you do that, exactly, is what this thread is about. read the thread and you'll understand what they're getting at; especially olorin's first post. see?

[ygmn]

should not matter how.....

If all the speakers are putting out 75 dB.....then the wattage to each is what it needs to be no matter how you have it set....

[sivadselim]

the speakers don't "put out" 75dB. that's what your ears (or the spl meter) hear. at your listening position, your left front may be adjusted to be at 75dB. but if you put your head (or an spl meter) 1 foot away from your left front speaker, you'll hear something much higher than 75dB. exactly how many dBs you'll hear at 1ft. will depend upon how far away your front speakers were from your listening position in the first place.

[jheis]

The procedure I use in setting up my speakers with the B&K pre/pro is to put the SPL meter on my camera tripod in my listening position at ear level, set the distance in feet to each speaker, and then point the SPL meter at each individual speaker and set each to 75 dB. The B&K allows you to send the test signal to one speaker at a time.

Very convenient and only takes about five minutes to set up my seven speaker system. Just did it this morning to dial in the new La Scala fronts and the Cornwalls that I moved to the rears.

James

[ygmn]

----------------

On 5/11/2005 9:56:33 AM sivadselim wrote:

the speakers don't "put out" 75dB. that's what your ears (or the spl meter) hear. at your listening position, your left front may be adjusted to be at 75dB. but if you put your head (or an spl meter) 1 foot away from your left front speaker, you'll hear something much higher than 75dB. exactly how many dBs you'll hear at 1ft. will depend upon how far away your front speakers were from your listening position in the first place.

----------------

My point was when using a SPL meter....and trying to set each speaker to 75dB at your listening position....then it will not matter how you get them there...as they all will be balanced at that position...and the settings are what they are....

[rplace]

You are all missing the point. I know you want them set to the same level at a given listening position. My question is to setting the individual speakers. You will for sure end up with some on the + side and some on the - side if you just randomly start adjusting. So it is better to pick one and set it to zero then the others +1, +3, +5 or whatever it takes to get the right spl meter reading or is it better to set the "weakest" speaker to zero and the rest in the -db ranges?

I think Michael Hurd answered it bets...at least it makes sense.

The rest of you go back and read the first few posts.

Thanks for all the interest, Rich

[Olorin]

This will help you set your speakers level.

[jheis]

This one goes up to 11.

James

[CECAA850]

With the AVIA disc, I set my L.F. speaker to 85dB with master volume on 00 and adjust the rest of the speakers accordingly up or down to match. Works fine for me.

[Yesfan70]

As far as using different Klipsch speakers, I don't know. Seems to make sense if one speaker is +3dB while another is at -2dB that the +3db speaker would be "eating more fuel" from it's amp channel.

But with most multichannel amps and receivers using single power supplies for all their channels, would it really matter? Wouldn't a single power supply adjust for that imbalance and keep everything going to the channels equal? I'm just guessing, since I'm no engineer.

When I first hooked up my surrounds, I figured all the speakers would be set at the same volume level, individually since they were replacing a pair of less efficient Yamahas. Even with identical speakers, I still have differing individual volume levels. One speaker might be at 0dB while another might be +2.5 and another at -1.5 dB.

If the goal is getting the amp channels supplying the speakers to be the same with one not being over/undertaxed, I'm guessing that's going to be impossible due to the room the system is in. The layout of the room itself will be the factor, unless the room was an anechoic chamber.

Just a guess, even if you used a lot of room treatments, you would still have differing channel levels. Maybe not to the extreme as without them, but none the less I would think one amp channel is going to be pumping more wattage than another.

[rplace]

YesFan, you may have hit on a significant difference between me and most HT users. I totally forgot that most will have a single multi-channel amp. I have three two channel amps (all the same but separate none the less). So my concern was that I might be better setting my "weakest", "Less efficient", "Quietest", "Farthest Away" what ever you want to call the speaker that needs the most addition input to the zero or base line, then adjusting all the others into the negative db range rather then setting my mains (most efficient) to zero and "Plus-ing" up the other to positive db range.

Wow, that is one ugly sentence above. At any rate, I doubt there is any real difference. A 225 watt amp driving my Heresy surrounds for movies takes about 2 watts on the high side. If the Pre/Pro is set to give them +8db or zero it probably does not matter.

My thinking would be that making the neediest speaker zero and the rest in the negative range would be better then making the least needy zero and putting all the rest on the positive side.

[Olorin]

Wow. If you have 225 W available to each channel, I think you've walked right into "I've got so damned much headroom that I've just overthought a complete non-issue into a gigantic festival of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing" land.