Receiver EQ & other settings.

[Tarub]

I finally got a chance last night to setup my new Infinity Primus speakers.

Ok, After all the speakers placement and hookups I did the Receiver's auto calibration setup. In my case the MCACC (Pioneer Elite 74txvi) auto setup using the provided microphone. After the auto setup I manually put the 2 front speakers (p362)from LARGE to SMALL, Subwoofer on YES and 80hz crossover (5.1 setup). The MCACC did all the EQ settings and speaker distances on all speakers.
My question is...do you guys recommend to put the EQ settings on all speakers to zero flat? How about the speaker distances? Is it wise just to leave it alone after the receiver auto calibrate it in accordance with my room setup?

 

[sholling]

I confirm distances with a tape measure.

 

[oppman99]

I think the answer to your question is: Which way does it sound better to you? I used to have a Pioneer 1016 and I was never really happy with the MCACC. Had all Primus speakers too. MCACC was always off on the distances and like yours, set the fronts to large. To me, my old gear sounded better without the auto EQ, but that's just my preference. If nothing else, you can use the auto EQ as a place to start and make adjustments until things sound good to you.

 

[gmichael]

I usually set mine back to flat. I manually check with a Rives CD and a db meter and only make changes if something is way out of whack.

 

[Alex2507]

All of the above if that's actually possible.
Congrats on the new speakers and thanks for making
AH one step closer to being all Infinity all the time. Yeah!

 

[TLS Guy]

I confirm distances with a tape measure.

I think the distance measurement is the one area where auto Eq is especially helpful.

The auto Eq will take into account not only the actual distance but time delays in the speakers.

When I used Audyssey, it changed the speaker distances from measured considerably. This made for for a great improvement on the ambient sound stage and also focus. I had to override the sub distance though as it averaged the sound arrival of the LFE signal and the TL port output. The problem is that a driver in each main speaker has the LFE output and the diffraction compensation signal. So I had to set the sub distance to the same distance as it set the mains. That means there is still delay in the port output, but at frequencies below 60 Hz that is an insignificant problem.

So the auto Eq in this aspect is more likely to be right than the measured distance.

 

[Tarub]

I confirm distances with a tape measure.

That's what I did. But 4 speakers are way off by 2 to 4 feet

MCACC was always off on the distances and like yours,

I did 3 MCACC auto memory setup at 3 different seating position and YES, the speakers distances are always off on most of them

I think the distance measurement is the one area where auto Eq is especially helpful.

The auto Eq will take into account not only the actual distance but time delays in the speakers.


So the auto Eq in this aspect is more likely to be right than the measured distance.

I think that what it is....its measuring the time delay not the actual distance.

 

[Tarub]

All of the above if that's actually possible.
Congrats on the new speakers and thanks for making
AH one step closer to being all Infinity all the time. Yeah!

Hopefully that doesn't mean I get a hug from you my friend.

 

[3db]

The YPAO nailed both distance and speaker sizes dead on for me in two different rooms that my system was in.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

I always wondered this myself; some say use a tape measure to verify distance from the primary seat to each speaker, and some say the auto routine looks different with different results because it's taking into account time delay algorithms and such, but what's the final answer? Does anyone know which is actually confirmed? If we don't use auto setup and EQ (as I do on my system, leaving Audyssey 2EQ off and manually setting everything) are we actually not hearing the soundtracks and delays correctly?