Came accross this article,found it very interesting,maybe someone else will 
http://www.surroundassociates.com/spkrcal.html
http://www.surroundassociates.com/spkrcal.html
referance sound levals
- Thread starter GSB
- Start date
Interesting read, I am going to increase my speakers to 85db and sub to 89db and see what happens. Through the Cambridge audio of course.
michael hoy
Well-known member
duaplex said:
Be careful, also 75dB is the accepted calibration setting.
Note: "Because 85dBC test tones can be very loud in a small home theater room and can damage hearing, receiver manufacturers through the encouragement by Dolby and THX decided that a reasonable test-tone level is 75dB and that is the level that most receivers use." gleemed from another site (lost the link though).
Just gave it a try.
The bass punches harder as one might expect, but the boom on the floor stands is too much. Perhaps for a sub sat package this works best.
75db for me is good.
The bass punches harder as one might expect, but the boom on the floor stands is too much. Perhaps for a sub sat package this works best.
75db for me is good.
Another area where my knowledge is drained. I set levels to be the same using a meter. I then need to increase centre and tweak the sub. How does the level matter? 60db, 75db, 85db? How does it matter as long as they are equalised?
michael hoy
Well-known member
RobinKidderminster said:
My understanding is:
The internal test tones of most receivers are recorded at 75dB level. Discs are typically full-range pink noise and recorded at 85dB. It really doesn't make a lot of difference which method is used as long as all the speakers are balanced.
Just note my previous comment about the higher 85dB level.
I think Michael you are 'agreeing' with me. I think my point is balance at any level is fine so why try to attain any specific reference level be it 75, 85 or 60?
Cheers
Cheers
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
'Balancing at any level' may not be the way to go. It's a little hard to explain, so I'm going to explain it another way.
Films are mixed and mastered at Reference Level, because they're going to be played bak at Reference Level in cinemas. I have noticed in the past that a system set up this way sounds fine at 'normal' levels, but even a few dB below Reference Level, it seems to be missing something. Once you reach that 0dB point, everything just seems to click into place and everything sounds perfect and balanced.
When you have a speaker system where the speakers are all exactly the same, I think you can get away with balancing at any volume, but when you have a speaker system comprised of say a pair of floorstanders, a smaller centre speaker, and even smaller rear speakers - where impedances and sensitivity ratings vary - I think it is important to balance at your own preferred listening level - so if you usually listen at -20dB, balance at -20dB.
Films are mixed and mastered at Reference Level, because they're going to be played bak at Reference Level in cinemas. I have noticed in the past that a system set up this way sounds fine at 'normal' levels, but even a few dB below Reference Level, it seems to be missing something. Once you reach that 0dB point, everything just seems to click into place and everything sounds perfect and balanced.
When you have a speaker system where the speakers are all exactly the same, I think you can get away with balancing at any volume, but when you have a speaker system comprised of say a pair of floorstanders, a smaller centre speaker, and even smaller rear speakers - where impedances and sensitivity ratings vary - I think it is important to balance at your own preferred listening level - so if you usually listen at -20dB, balance at -20dB.
Indeed, I am going through this right now and was about to post something similar. I generally listen at around -20 to -15 DB and balance my speakers accordingly. If you are using -20 as a starting point then reaching 85db is impossible on some devices, like I found last night on the 751db. You will have to go up to about -10 on the listening level and then tune it to 85db, which I did and it was booming as GSB found out too.
-15DB tuned to 75db, with the sub on 85db words well for me. Untill you watch something like Dredd that loves its Bass. :O
-15DB tuned to 75db, with the sub on 85db words well for me. Untill you watch something like Dredd that loves its Bass. :O
This makes more sense to me logically. Balancing output levels at an everage listening level makes more sense than a 'mastered for cinema' level. Surely it is only at these 'normal' levels that individual electronics etc and room acoustics can be validated. So can we ignore 'reference level' when balancing our home systems?
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
RobinKidderminster said:
I suppose for a system in a living room, yes - those with a dedicated room are more likely to benefit from Reference Level. Although most will benefit from a reference level of some sort, whether that be -30dB, -20dB etc.
As I don't get above -15dB, I initially set my 8200AP up to balance at -15dB, although in my system it is probably less of an issue as I always use the same speakers all round. I suppose there is still the speaker/sub balance that will benefit from that.
michael hoy
Well-known member
I believe that most AV receivers disable the volume control when using the in built test tone and set this at 75dB, so it would not make a difference whether you set the dial at -50 or 0.
I recon my volume works. Must check. However, best to generate test tones thru cd/bd player maybe?
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
michael hoy said:
Some do, some don't. If the volume is disabled for the auto setup, then it doesn't matter what it is set to during this process.
michael hoy
Well-known member
RobinKidderminster said:
Robin,
I meant to say use the 75dB or at a push the 85dB (which is extremely loud) for a test tone.
My LX83 has a set tone volume so adjusting the speaker setting to -15, -20 etc makes no difference. But with the CA 751BD that has no set tone level, So i can confirm what is being said above.
Watching Dredd(again)this time with soundtrack thru the analogues is what got me into this mess... :rofl: man that is one kiss-ass sountrackduaplex said:
The bass is literally insane on this movie. So insane that it made my wife feel physically sick lol.
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