I will preface by stating as a CPA in tax time, I just don't have enough time to do the in depth research I feel needed to fully understand the 3020's capabilities. Over the past couple of weeks I've tried some tweaking, but before I dig even deeper I have a few questions.
First, the simple question (and probably a stupid one) - in order for the AV App to work are you required to have the receiver hooked up to wifi, or can it be hard wired (as I have it now)?
Hard wired is fine, as long as it's hard wired to a wireless router.
Now the important stuff - maximizing the sound. When I first got the unit I ran YPAO practically out of the box. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the sound as it seemed too bright and lacking low end punch. I have begun using the parametric EQ which is making the sound better to my ears. That being said, I am probably thinking too much, but I am confusing myself with regards to proper settings. At this point, all I've done with the EQ is set the db level of my front speakers pushing the db levels up on the lower and higher bands to a more bell curve look, a sound I've always liked. But then I note if I set the front speakers to small (the are ADS 1290's so I have them set at large right now) that I can manually set crossover. Will that give me more power to adjust the sound to my liking? But, with all of this "playing", will I be affecting the 3020's built-in DSP modes? I don't use them often, but when I do I am wondering by playing with the speaker setting through parametric EQ will I mess things up.
Unless you have a solid foundation in understanding how speakers work, I wouldn't go messing with the PEQ too much. IOW, so long as none of the bands are wayyy up or wayyy down, you should be OK. That said, YPAO is going to shoot for accurate sound, especially where the bass frequencies are concerned. If you mess with the PEQ you're screwing up the YPAO results.
If you like to watch movies, then setting them to small and utilizing subwoofers is by far the better choice (well, depending on your subs) and even with music it can be preferable since you can place subwoofers in optimal spots in the room to get the smoothing and cleanest sounding bass. Whereas if the towers are running full range, then all your bass frequencies are coming from your towers and you have to rely on EQ and room treatments.
The DSP modes are more for matrixing sound to your other speakers and spreading the sound out or widening the front image etc. So no you're not really messing with those.
Honestly, if you want to tune by ear you can, but then we can't help you except to caution you on what not to do so as to not destroy anything because we don't have your ears. I know I wouldn't be any help because I prefer accurate sound, which is not something it sounds like you are doing.
And, since I'm doing all of this manual adjustment, will there ever be a need to run YPAO again?
Thanks in advance. Now back to taxes. Ugh.
Other than to set distances and level match, YPAO is of very little use to you.
No help yet? :-(
Actually, I have a more specific question.
In manual mode, if a speaker is set to small, you can adjust that speakers crossover. So with ADS 1290's which are large, smaller side effect and Klipsch rears. To really fine tune speakers, what should the crossovers be? Is it just a matter of listening? It sounded pretty good with the fronts at 120hz. But is there an optimal crossover setting for each speaker set?
120 is definitely too high IMO. At that kind of crossover level it'll get to the point where the discerning ear can localize the subwoofer. Bump it down to 80 would be my advice. The optimal way to set crossover levels is to measure your speakers and subwoofer in room and where everything is going to be placed and set it according to where they best overlap for the flattest response.
