Receiver and speaker settings question!

[EM3]

Ok I'm not sure how to ask this so here goes. I have got most of my speakers for my little home theater. I have an Onkyo receiver that you can control how much sounf is output the each seperate speaker. Currently I have the receiver set on 43 and each speaker is set on +6. My o;d speakers I had each speaker set to zero with the master volume on 53. With the second setting I hit about 73db. Now on the new setting I hit about the same and if you turn the receiver up to 53 it can get real loud. Now my question is if I boost each speaker to a +12 I hear more detail. What are the chances of blowing a speaker if I listen at 43 with a +12 setting? I don't notice any distortion and the front speakers are Klipsch RB 61's and are rated for 100 watts max and 250 watts peak I think. The rears are rated for 75 watts max.

I just don't want to blow new speakers.

[mas]

I am not at all familiar with this.

Are you employing the large or small settings which set a high pass crossover point to the satellites?

I might suggest using this as well as the delay feature most likely determined by the disatnce of each speaker relative to the listening point....

Then it is a simple matter of using the volume control.

[Islander]

With all the speakers set at the same level, is the volume at the listening position the same from each speaker? That's the reason for the individual level controls. If they're not set to match from where you sit when you're listening, your surround sound imaging won't be right at all.

[mas]

With all the speakers set at the same level, is the volume at the listening position the same from each speaker? That's the reason for the individual level controls. If they're not set to match from where you sit when you're listening, your surround sound imaging won't be right at all.

OK.... sounds great...

I'm looking forward to reading a practical user usable set of procedures for not only calculating the optimal precedence levels for each speaker (in fact, I would love for someone to even find these levels referenced in the various format sites!) (after you establish the magic listening position which may not coincide with the specified Dolby/Dts/THX specified spot, which don't necessarily even use the same topologies!) and then relate the calculations to a real system who settings most likely have no bearing to any absolute calibrated level.

I would reserve a few minutes more than the time that reading the manual requires! You might want to begin by reading up on Henry's research into precedence and time issues.

;-)))))

[oldbuckster]

Be careful setting them that high.............receiver should kick itself off anyway, built in safety feature..........

[EM3]

With all the speakers set at the same level, is the volume at the listening position the same from each speaker? That's the reason for the individual level controls. If they're not set to match from where you sit when you're listening, your surround sound imaging won't be right at all.

1st questions answer is Yes according to the Rat Shack meter. My rear speakers are set to about a 2ms delay. Truthfully in my living room the ideal listening spot is on the end of the coffee table.

I was just worried about blowing a tweeter but then again I didn't want to feed them too little power either. I have read that sending too little of a signal can harm the speaker as well. I guess as long as I don't hear distortion in what is being played I should be safe. I need to hold off on calibration until I get the sub and replacement center channel.

I know I sound paranoid but this is the first time I have ever had speakers this nice and I want to keep them for a long, long time.

[Islander]

I was just worried about blowing a tweeter but then again I didn't want to feed them too little power either. I have read that sending too little of a signal can harm the speaker as well. I guess as long as I don't hear distortion in what is being played I should be safe. I need to hold off on calibration until I get the sub and replacement center channel.

"Too little of a signal can harm the speaker"? That's a new one on me. Perhaps you mean that using a low-powered amp and driving it too hard will send a distorted (clipped) signal to the speaker. That can definitely do some harm.

[Islander]

With all the speakers set at the same level, is the volume at the listening position the same from each speaker? That's the reason for the individual level controls. If they're not set to match from where you sit when you're listening, your surround sound imaging won't be right at all.

OK.... sounds great...

I'm looking forward to reading a practical user usable set of procedures for not only calculating the optimal precedence levels for each speaker (in fact, I would love for someone to even find these levels referenced in the various format sites!) (after you establish the magic listening position which may not coincide with the specified Dolby/Dts/THX specified spot, which don't necessarily even use the same topologies!) and then relate the calculations to a real system who settings most likely have no bearing to any absolute calibrated level.

I would reserve a few minutes more than the time that reading the manual requires! You might want to begin by reading up on Henry's research into precedence and time issues.

;-)))))

mas, I'm not at all sure what you're getting at, but I don't think that an advanced level of knowledge of acoustic theory is really needed to balance the volume levels of a set of speakers. It appeared that the original poster had set every speaker at +12 dB, which seemed unlikely to provide the correct balance for surround sound.