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Question regarding sound calibration with SPL meter


Kain

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Sometimes it's simpler to move the listening position than move the speakers, but I agree with Mike about the advantages of having pairs of speakers equidistant from the listening position. Sometimes the surround imaging is more convincing with a symmetrical speaker layout.

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Thanks, I will try re-calibrating.

BTW, I think I know why there is a volume "difference" in the mains and that is because one speaker is next to the side wall where as the other is not and I cannot change the placement.

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Mike... "For surround sound do I speak....like the rear left speaker should be the same as the rear right speaker. Of course, this will require that both are equidistant from the listening position, but that has other advantages of its own."

LOL, So putting one 2 feet from you and another in the next room is not allowed?? How about a center speaker mounted in the ceiling? People do some strange stuff. LOL>


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Okay, so I just re-calibrated my system and it made a very big difference! The bass is MUCH cleaner and louder and the sound just seems more "open" and "bigger."

The settings came out to as follows: left: -1, center: 0, right, -2, surrounds: 0, with the volume control at -5 (at this volume setting the center is at 85 db).

This is logical because previously the center channel was set to -5 as I calibrated the system with the volume control at 0.

BTW, for 2-channel playback, instead of setting the left main to -1 and the right main to -2, I set the left main to 0 and the right main to -1. This should be better for 2-channel audio, correct?

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Glad to hear the reset improved your sound, Kain! As for the left-right difference, I had that with my previous speaker layout, with one speaker less than a foot in front of the wall dividing the living room from the dining room and the other speaker with the nearest wall ten feet behind it. In that case, the speaker that was more in the open needed to be set +0.5 dB with the one near the wall at 0 dB. Now they're in a more symmetrical layout and both are set at the same level.

As for your setup, when you're within 1 or 2 dB the differences will be less noticeable. 0 and -1 should be slightly better than -1 and -2. After a certain point, some of the improvements are not due to what you hear, but what you think. If you think you have addressed every detail as well as you can, you'll be more relaxed and enjoy the music more.

Happy listening!

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