Calibrating and Tuning...

[bsodmike]

Hello guys

This is my first serious attempt at a serious Home Theatre. My setup comprises of a Denon AVR-3805 7.1 AV Receiver, B&W LCR600, DM602s (fronts), DM601 (surround) and ASW675 sub. I may later add some rears for full 7.1 spec.

I've ordered a SPL meter off eBay which should get here in a week or so. I have also looked at a couple guides on the site for calibration with a particular (ratshack) SPL meter and test CD.

Does anyone know of any online shops (that ship worldwide if possible) that sell decent test CDs and a guide detailing how to tune and calibrate the whole setup (i.e. everything + sub) ???

Thanks

--Mike

 

[listener]

Check the websites of stereophile, ultimateAVmag, and hometheater. Some or all of them have test cd's available. But with the 3805, it has its own auto-calibration and equalization setup routine, you will need their optional microphone, or some of the process you can do manually. Check the manual or recent magazine reviews for this product.

 

[bsodmike]

Yup, I got the mic free with it and plan to run the auto calib with a tripod once everything is properly setup

Thanks for that info!

--Mike

 

[wilkenboy]

Mike,

Here are my comments, based on my experience and a lot of searching:

Receiver EQ: The auto setup / EQ of most receivers w/mike do a very passable job of handling most setups, but lack in the area of taming some key room modes at lower frequencies. Just not enough EQ bands down that low, usually only one or two which doesn't cut it. For real bass management many people (myself included) recommend the Berhinger Feedback Destroyer Pro. Its a little more complex than the average receiver to set up, but once you figure it out its very powerful. Search this forum, the AVS forum, or htguide forums and you will find some very useful threads on what it does and how to operate.

Test CD: There are plenty of test CDs out there from various sources. Rives offers a popular set. Most come for around $10-20 and offer some standard things for calibration. I found all of them to lack just "that certain thing" I wanted to do - I want 1 Hz resolution at low frequencies! To that end, if you have the ability, I'd recommend the NCH generator found at http://www.nch.com.au/tonegen/. You can use this to generate any tone, sweeps, or noise you wish, then burn them to CD. Personally I made 1 HZ increment tones from 10-100 Hz then a few sweeps (10-400 Hz to look for crossoever holes, 10Hz - 20 KHz for whole response, and some other random ones)

SPL meter response: You will also want to consider and account for the inherent frequency response of your SPL meter - the Ratshack analog one is very popular and you can find its response at many places on the net with a good google search.

Summary: use the receiver's auto setup, then for bass managment a Ratshack analog SPL meter ($25), your own test CD ($1?), and the Berhinger Feedback Destroyer Pro ($100) will give you all the "poor man" tools you need to tweak that audio setup to your heart's content!

Hope this helps! When you're done post your freuquency response data here for all to enjoy and fawn over!

~Josh