YPAO. And speaker leveling

[3db]

YPAO nailed it perfectly for me on both my RX-V1500 and RX-V1800.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Ok, that's not true. I had the subs turned down, way down and at a reasonable volume, and YPAO does not level speakers correctly. Even PENG had said in past discussions That YPAO was not right, somethings wrong . Meaning why would it set my very efficient mains to +6 and subs to -7. ?? So another said well maybe I am using the wrong tap on my Mcintosh amp, and YPAO is compensating for That, and Said I should be using the 4 ohm Tap. Well I did. Apples to Apples I switched to the 4ohm tap and ran YPAO again with the subs , and now YPAO adjusts mains to+ 9 and 10. So for the hell of it I decided to run YPAO without subs and perfect. Mains are not at +6 or + 10. Now +2.5 and +3.5 my center to -3 and surround and pres speakers to -2. At the end of the day I am not trying to calibrate YPAO. Iv only used YPAO to set (Distance) and (level). YPAO will never do any kind of sub adjustments for me again.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

YPAO nailed it perfectly for me on both my RX-V1500 and RX-V1800.

What do you mean ?

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

John Fickel,
I'm sorry, but it seems you're trying to calibrate YPAO instead of calibrating your speakers. The purpose is to balance all your speakers. If YPAO is setting some speakers loud, it means some other speaker is loud and YPAO is trying to balance. If one of your main speakers is not the culprit, it's your sub(s).

Rather than investigating YPAO or my amp, I would look at my speakers and sub(s). Look at speaker locations and your sub(s) gain.

You have received more technical info about YPAO and amps than you likely understand. Do you really think a mainstream consumer product like YPAO requires the level of detailed understanding explained here to operate? I don't.

All the speakers are in strategic locations, In a pretty open room, nothing blocking any of the speakers. And the mains are not near side walls. It's an L shaped living room HERBU.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

YPAO nailed it perfectly for me on both my RX-V1500 and RX-V1800.

Oh I see. You have had no problems. Wish I was that lucky. But I'm getting there lol

 

[3db]

My secondary system consists of bookshelves for the main and surrounds, a center channel and a sub. It sounds very well integrated and I hear no hole in response as the mains transition from midrange into the bass region. I looked up the settings afterwards and some serious frequency boosts were put into play. I don't care about the corrections because it sounds very well integrated with a very smooth transistion throughout the frequency range.

In my second system, I only use YPAO when watching movies. I set my towers to small even though they can hit the mid 30s . It also sounds very well integrated with the sub.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

My secondary system consists of bookshelves for the main and surrounds, a center channel and a sub. It sounds very well integrated and I hear no hole in response as the mains transition from midrange into the bass region. I looked up the settings afterwards and some serious frequency boosts were put into play. I don't care about the corrections because it sounds very well integrated with a very smooth transistion throughout the frequency range.

In my second system, I only use YPAO when watching movies. I set my towers to small even though they can hit the mid 30s . It also sounds very well integrated with the sub.

Cool. Yea I havent used the Eq feature in a while, All the speakers sound phenomenal on the Mcintosh. When I did use the eq feature in the past iv used (Front). So it didn't change the mains. I do believe tho I'm going to switch back to the 8. Ohm tap. On my MC252. Like Mcintosh said. 8ohm on and 8 ohm tap. 250w. However 4 ohm on a 8 ohm tap well over 400w And that amp never gets hot

 

[PENG]

Even PENG had said in past discussions That YPAO was not right, somethings wrong . d be using the 4 ohm Tap. So for the hell of it I decided to run YPAO without subs and perfect. Mains are not at +6 or + 10. Now +2.5 and +3.5 my center to -3 and surround and pres speakers to -2.

I don't remember saying YPAO not right and if I did then I must have meant not right in your specific way and/or of doing it under your specific conditions.

Have you tried turning the volume knob of your sub down to just a little above the min, say below the 9 am position? I still think your sub is just much too loud relative to the L and R, not loud for your taste but too loud in absolute sense. You can always crank it back up after letting YPAO does it job properly.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Yes. I have turned the sub down to the 9am position and lower. If I go down to the 7am position I get an error.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

I believe it's just better to let YPAO adjust for distance and leveling. However, I would strongly suggest turning subs off while YPAO is doing level adjustments. And do subs by ear, Or with a SPL meter

 

[PENG]

Yes. I have turned the sub down to the 9am position and lower. If I go down to the 7am position I get an error.

Then set the sub to 7:30 or 8:00 just to avoid error.

 

[PENG]

I believe it's just better to let YPAO adjust for distance and leveling. However, I would strongly suggest turning subs off while YPAO is doing level adjustments. And do subs by ear, Or with a SPL meter

I trust YPAO and the mic that came with your flag ship avr more than doing it manually using the RS spl meter. I am sure 3 db will agree with me.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Ok. I will try for sure , I also agree with you about the AVR being more a accurate. Thanks PENG

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Now would you set the sub levels in the AVR down low too?

 

[PENG]

Now would you set the sub levels in the AVR down low too?

No I wouldn't, in fact you can turn it up to your liking after. The idea is to let YPAO integrate the sub with the your very capable mains. To do it manually using the RS meter is much more tedious and you have to really know what you are doing.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

No I wouldn't, in fact you can turn it up to your liking after. The idea is to let YPAO integrate the sub with the your very capable mains. To do it manually using the RS meter is much more tedious and you have to really know what you are doing.

What I meant was before running YPAO should I also turn subs levels down in the AVR ? So you say no? I'll turn the sub down to 8 am on the back of the sub, just wasn't sure what to do with the levels in the AVR for the sub, prior to running the test

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Basically does one have to be concerned with the levels of the speakers in the AVR before running YPAO ?

 

[lovinthehd]

You raised an interesting point. Anyway, I first thought you said Audyssey said the sub level (channel) independent of the other speakers (channels) independently, that I disagree, and even in the link you provided, Chris said:

"@DUCLAIR: The level that Audyssey sets for the subwoofer will depend on where the analog volume control is set on the subwoofer itself. There is only one correct subwoofer level setting if you are interested in listening to the same calibration they use in the studio. So, if you turn down the subwoofer volume control then Audyssey will find a higher level setting for it. "

Now in your last post#78, you seemed to be saying Audyssey will "max out" the sub level one way or the other alone, and that I would agree even just base on common sense/logic. In my experience though, it would seem that Audyssey use some sort of algorithm such that if you turn the sub volume too high, at some point (say at or near the "max out" point), it would actually turn the levels up on the other speaker channels too. I would have no objection to that strategy and I really thought I had seen it before when I was playing with it everyday. I am just too lazy to try it again now. I cannot tell you this is the case with the older and lower XT version, as I have XT32 for almost 3 years now.

In my previous discussions I don't recall anyone confirming that Audyssey worked as you posit, but rather confirmed that they are separate beasts. In the quote he is talking about subwoofer level, not speaker (it vs them). I'll find out at least with XT32 on my Denon as that is the system they're going in for now. Can try XT on my Onkyo later....maybe, as you say no real need to rerun it on that system unless I change up speakers there as well....

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

In my previous discussions I don't recall anyone confirming that Audyssey worked as you posit, but rather confirmed that they are separate beasts. In the quote he is talking about subwoofer level, not speaker (it vs them). I'll find out at least with XT32 on my Denon as that is the system they're going in for now. Can try XT on my Onkyo later....maybe, as you say no real need to rerun it on that system unless I change up speakers there as well....

Do you change speakers levels before you run Audyssey or YPAO , OR does running these tests override the levels already set in the AVR ?

 

[lovinthehd]

Do you change speakers levels before you run Audyssey or YPAO , OR does running these tests override the levels already set in the AVR ?

Audyssey wipes out any existing speaker levels, it starts from scratch each time you run the routine. Only level set manually is that for the sub via gain level on the sub's amp as the first step in the Audyssey routine (and you aim at a reading of 75dB thru the measurement mic at your primary listening position, and this is where you tweak level to send the sub level setting post-Audyssey into the negative range by raising the gain on the sub so that the routine deliberately has to lower the level in the avr accordingly). I would think YPAO also wipes the slate clean with each run, it doesn't mention that in your avr's manual?