FXI Calibration

[jesyjames]

My FXI30's arrived and I wall-mounted them (high, to the sides) and then proceeded to calibrate the levels using S&V Guide to Home Theater. No problems there.

I then ran my internal receiver test tones(Denon AVR-1803) and the front/center speaker levels were spot on, but the rears were about +4 or +5 db too high.

Which to believe?

I'm inclined to go with the DVD calibration only because it accounts for the source, but I'm wondering why the rear(side) surrounds are now significantly higher in level when running the internal test tones. It was not this way with my previous speakers.

While, I've got your attention:
if I were to switch the dipole to bipole would that create a more focused surround environment? Does anyone do this that has mounted the speakers on the sides?

Thanks folks.

-Eric

[ChrisDurano]

The increase in decibals might have something to do w/ your receiver's digital converters. If you do switch your surround setting to "bipole" you will get a more focused sound field because your surrounds will be in phase then. I'm not sure you really want to do this if you have your speakers mounted on the sides. You'd probably really notice the location of your speakers when you're listening to a dolby digital movie. It might sound great for PL or 5.1 audio though. Do you want your surrounds to be more focused?

[mantis]

What????????

Plain and simple......

Calibrate all speakers to 75db c weighted and set to slow.....

Set all levels the same all the way around.The rear speakers are closer to you I believe and that wahy they are louder......cut em to match the front 3 and sub.All levels should be exactly the same

[Dr. Spec]

Mantis:

I think you missed the main question. He calibrated with S&V DVD and balanced all the channels. Then he ran the Denon internal tones at the same Master Volume and the surrounds were louder than the rest of the channels.

Eric:

I have not had this issue with my Avia DVD and the 3803. At Master Volume 00, if I calibrate to 85 dB all around with Avia, the internal test tones check in at 81 dB, but they are still all very close in volume (maybe just 0.5-1 dB difference) with respect to each other.

Doc

[jesyjames]

Still haven't quite figured out what's going on with the surrounds. I ran the Toy Story II thx optimizer to sort of independently gauge the surround levels and they were spot on with the sound and vision disk. In movies it sounds just right as well, so I think I'll just leave them as is.

What I did notice is that when I turned on the "surround backs" and ran the internal test tones they were right on. But when the extra rears are off and I'm just using straight 5.1 is when the internal test tones run too hot. It's almost like they are getting more power with the extra rears off, but who knows.

I'm going to try and borrow my brother's avia disk and see what kind of results it gives me. For now, it remains an enigma.

On an interesting side note(only interesting to me)-- wife and I were watching some dumb movie on Saturday night and it was getting late so I thought I'd turn on the "Dynamic Range Compression" to keep the peace so to speak. Well, turns out it was already on and I suspect it's been on for at least the length of time since I upgraded my speakers(a month or more). Apparently I forgot to turn it off the last time I used it. I don't think I really noticed it was on, because as far as I can tell it doesn't effect DTS soundtracks and most of the movies we've been watching lately were in DTS. But, I popped in Toy Story II(DD-EX) and I was amazed at the difference. Suddenly the movie wasn't so limp ; 0

[jkratzer]

This may be a problem with the 1803 receiver test tones.

I have a Denon 3803 but I am using RTi28's for surrounds. After calibrating all speakers with the Sound And Vision DVD to 75 dB using an SPL meter, when I switch to internal test tones, my SPL meter shows 71 dB +- 0.5 dB for all speakers.

Anyone know why there is a drop in dB when switching to internal test tones?