Help needed on 1015TX settings.

[Bluesmoke]

Ok, right now, I'm using a 2.1 setup with my fronts and Sub. I was uncertain whether or not I wanted to get better Polk stuff for the center and surrounds. So I returned the rest - for the time being while I make up my mind.

Anyways, the auto MCCAC set my fronts at 11 feet (right) and sub at 15 feet, even though it is right beside and a foot back of my left front. I understand it has to take delay into effect, but is this too far? I have a open concept living room with kitchen behind it.

Also, the fronts are set to -2.5 and -3.0 DBL and sub set to -8.5 DBL.

I manually set the speakers to small and left the sub crossover on the receiver to 80hz. My Velodyne's sub crossover is also set at 80hz. Should I set it to "direct" or leave it?

I find that the bass isn't really shaking me and it helped greatly when I set the Sub's DBL at -5.0 in the MCCAC. My sub placement is pretty good, as that corner of the room has a lot of bass when I crawled around.

Any advice on ballpark settings that should help?

 

[j_garcia]

If it set the sub that low, you need to turn the gain (volume) down on the sub and re-run MCACC. Don't worry about the delay, it should be close enough. If you measured the actual distance, it is probably closer than you think. Your sub's x-over should be set all the way up or bypassed if it has that (direct?). If direct is bypassed, then it should be set that way. You only want the receiver to handle the x-over in 99% of all cases. Many people run their sub a little hot, so let it calibrate and if you feel like turning it up a bit, then go ahead.

 

[Bluesmoke]

Thanks. It now set the fronts at 0.0 and -0.5 and sub at 2.0. I like this setting.
I put the sub on Direct and set the crossover to 80 in the receiver.

 

[Bluesmoke]

Also, I've noticed that when the receiver is doing pink noise test tones during calibration, the left and right fronts don't sound the same. How critical is this? Are they supposed to sound identical?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Also, I've noticed that when the receiver is doing pink noise test tones during calibration, the left and right fronts don't sound the same. How critical is this? Are they supposed to sound identical?

Well, not sure about identical as they are in different acoustic space and surroundings, and you may perceive differently to the left or right, a smaller factor, but they should be close. How different are they? A real time analyzer would show you visually what they are doing.

 

[Bluesmoke]

Well, not sure about identical as they are in different acoustic space and surroundings, and you may perceive differently to the left or right, a smaller factor, but they should be close. How different are they? A real time analyzer would show you visually what they are doing.

Well, the right front doesn't seem to have as much high end as the left. The mids are also more prominent on the right. I don't know if this is Pioneer's way of calibrating or not, but I assumed both speakers would sound relatively same. They are of equal distance from the side walls and tv.

I hope my speakers are not damaged or anything. Visually, they look mint.

 

[j_garcia]

The pink noise is the same, so the differences are due to other factors such as the room, location and positioning of the speakers. Example: If one speaker is near a wall and the other is not, you will hear more reflections off the wall and the speaker will sound different than one on the other side with no wall.

 

[Bluesmoke]

The pink noise is the same, so the differences are due to other factors such as the room, location and positioning of the speakers. Example: If one speaker is near a wall and the other is not, you will hear more reflections off the wall and the speaker will sound different than one on the other side with no wall.

I have a 1/2 wall with pillars going to the ceiling from about 4 feet off the ground (where the wall end) on the right speaker side (The one that seems to have more mids and less highs). Is this normal?

 

[j_garcia]

"Normal" yes. Are the speakers angled in, or pointing straight out? Whenever they are near a wall, you want to angle them in slightly, so the first reflection off the walls do not hit you about the same time as the original sound.

 

[rumble]

Well, the right front doesn't seem to have as much high end as the left. The mids are also more prominent on the right. I don't know if this is Pioneer's way of calibrating or not, but I assumed both speakers would sound relatively same. They are of equal distance from the side walls and tv.

I hope my speakers are not damaged or anything. Visually, they look mint.

Why don't you swap the speakers and see if the problem still exists? If it does then your speakers are ok.

 

[Bluesmoke]

Why don't you swap the speakers and see if the problem still exists? If it does then your speakers are ok.

D'oh, the simplest answer... and it never occured to me.

 

[stan191a]

What is :direct"

Thanks. It now set the fronts at 0.0 and -0.5 and sub at 2.0. I like this setting.
I put the sub on Direct and set the crossover to 80 in the receiver.

I also have the Pioneer 1015 and experience distance discrepancies. What do you mean by setting the sub to Direct? My sub has crossovers that can be varied from 40 all the way to about 180 or so...I see no direct. Should I turn the crossover dial all the way up to 180 or the max and let the receiver maintain the cross at 80? Is this what you meant? Stan

 

[Bluesmoke]

I also have the Pioneer 1015 and experience distance discrepancies. What do you mean by setting the sub to Direct? My sub has crossovers that can be varied from 40 all the way to about 180 or so...I see no direct. Should I turn the crossover dial all the way up to 180 or the max and let the receiver maintain the cross at 80? Is this what you meant? Stan

Yes, that means allowing the sub to amplify everything it sees. But since the 1015 has a default crossover of 80hz, then it will send only frequencies 80hz or below to the sub. Make sure you set all speakers to 'small'

 

[stan191a]

thanks

Thank you very much. I will make the needed changes.

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, that means allowing the sub to amplify everything it sees. But since the 1015 has a default crossover of 80hz, then it will send only frequencies 80hz or below to the sub. Make sure you set all speakers to 'small'

Not exactly, 80Hz is the point at which the signal being sent to the sub BEGINS to be reduced and vice versa for any speakers set to small. The sound is reduced over a range, but depending on the slope, you will still hear sound possibly as high as 160Hz at a reduced level. This is normal and is how all crossovers work.

 

[Bluesmoke]

Update:

I ended up returning the speakers and receiver. Here's what I did. I switched the speakers numerous times, and sometimes the right channel seemed brighter, sometimes the left seemed brighter. Both speakers therefore was most likely fine. Swapped speaker cables, moved the speakers. Room acoustics is not an issue either.

I think the culprit may be the 1015TX. Its crossover settings might be funky between the right and left channel. One is overly bright, the other is too dull. Seems like the highend from one channel bleeds into the other. No matter how much I manually adjusted the EQ, I could not get one speaker to sound remotely similar to the other.

The speakers are useless to me without a receiver and none of the Best Buys in my area has any 1015s. So the speakers went as well as I couldn't confidently rule them out as problematic either and my 30 day return policy is approaching.

I might give the 1015 another shot. It's a real bang for the buck. The RTi8s, same I guess. Just soured on having problems with my very 1st setup.