While i've been patiently waiting for 3 weeks for my Onkyo 905, I've hooked the new speaker system up to my old Pioneer VSX-710s. The speakers consist of PSB Image T55's for L&R, C60 center, four CW-260 bi-pole/di-pole surrounds and the SubSeries 6i sub.
I finally remembered to take the SPL meter home last night. I set it to C weighing and slow and tried it two ways. First, I put CARS in the PS3 since I knew it had a THX setup guide. However, everytime the test tone got to the sub, the sub made no sound. I verified that it's plugged into the Sub Out and I have a 1 F to 2 M RCA splitter plugged into the sub's inputs. The phase set to zero and had the volume set to the ¾ dot, probably close to 2 o’clock. The sub’s crossover is inactive thus, letting the receiver’s crossover handle the work.
So, I went up to the sub and realized it was producing sound every time the Test Tone played on the other 5 speakers (can't use the SB's until the 905 gets here). I then turned the sub all the way down which gave me more accurate measurements on the speakers.
Then, I turned off the DVD and used the Test Tone setup from the receiver. It did play through the sub. Though, it was really short and hard to get a good reading since by the time the sound hit the meter, it had already stopped playing. With these initial settings, the sub was hitting 98-102db with the rest of the speakers leveled at 75db. Leaving all other settings constant, I had to turn the volume on the sub down to the 10-11 o’clock position to get in the ballpark of 75db.
The 6i is no doubt an impressive sub. There’s a significant difference between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. Anything beyond the ¾ position is almost obnoxious and tends to make the dogs nervous
The THX setup also had a play-down test that started at 200hz and gradually stepped down to 20hz to test the crossover settings for the speakers and sub. I didn’t have a gap so the crossover seems to be working properly. Man did the house shake when it got down to the bottom end of the spectrum. The CFO said she didn’t like it “ ‘cause it sounds creepy”
Any ideas for better matching the output of the sub to the other speakers.
Sorry for the long post!
