Avia DVD Question

[Omega Supreme]

I am thinking about getting the Avia Setup DVD and was wondering what all it can do for me. I know I can calibrate my tv with it which I have done already with the THX optimizer on one of my DVD's. My question is mainly for setting up the audio side. Will it help with adjusting my EQ? I have a 3805 and spent $65 on the setup mic. and went through the setup only to be disapointed with the sound with the EQ turned on. It sounds much better with it turned off. Will the Avia DVD help me setup my EQ manualy and is it worth the $40. Thanks for any input.

 

[JVC]

I don't remember an EQ setup on it, although I wasn't looking for one, since I don't have an EQ.
The speaker calibration, is for getting the all the speakers set to be the same volume, at the sweet spot, whether one speaker is by your head, or across the room. With all the speakers at the same volume, no speaker will overpower the others. If they aren't calibrated right, the background music in a lot of movies, will overpower the dialog, so you can't hear what's being said. Some folks like to run the center channel, just a bit hotter than the others. I set all of mine to be the same.
Good luck!

 

[jcPanny]

Avia setup

The setup mic that you bought for the receiver will do a fine job of balancing the speaker levels for the main, center, and surround regaurdless of its performance on the EQ modes.

Get the Avia disc if you want to do a more thorough video calibration of your display with its numerous test patterns.
You can get from Amazon for about $25.

 

[ronnie 1.8]

Some folks like to run the center channel, just a bit hotter than the others. I set all of mine to be the same.

One of my favorite movies, The Polar Express, has one small bother for me. The dialogue, especially in the opening scenes (up until the train leaves, at least) is very very low, making it difficult to hear. Not sure why it is, but it's to the point of me increasing the center channel level before playing it. It happens to be one of my fave demo discs.

 

[pbarach1]

I am thinking about getting the Avia Setup DVD and was wondering what all it can do for me. I know I can calibrate my tv with it which I have done already with the THX optimizer on one of my DVD's. My question is mainly for setting up the audio side. Will it help with adjusting my EQ? I have a 3805 and spent $65 on the setup mic. and went through the setup only to be disapointed with the sound with the EQ turned on. It sounds much better with it turned off. Will the Avia DVD help me setup my EQ manualy and is it worth the $40. Thanks for any input.

I have the AVIA DVD, as well as a 3805. There's nothing on the Avia disc that addresses EQ directly. However, there are some audio tests in which pink noise is slowly panned in a circle around all of your speakers (except the sub), so you can hear if there are pronounced differences in tonal balance from one speaker to another. This might be one way of seeing what effects the 3805's auto setup is having. There are also some other audio tests on this Avia DVD that are helpful in improving audio quality. For example, there is a low-frequency sweep that will help you notice if you have any vibrating objects in your room that are triggered by specific frequencies (in my room, there was a window that rattled at 36 Hz and a door that rattled at 45. If you have a sound pressure meter (such as the Radio Shack), the sweep will also tell you if room acoustics and/or uneven frequency response in your speakers are causing bump-ups at specific low frequencies.
By the way, on the 3805 I found that setting the Room EQ to FLAT rather than NORMAL produced a better result. Even turning the Room EQ off gave me better results than the NORMAL setting. I wish Denon had bothered to explain what's NORMAL about the NORMAL setting--I would think that a flat frequency response would be the desirable outcome!

 

[MACCA350]

I wish Denon had bothered to explain what's NORMAL about the NORMAL setting--I would think that a flat frequency response would be the desirable outcome!

Here is Denon's explanation

- NORMAL (flat response up to 2kHz, above 2kHz -3dB/oct)

cheers