Speaker levels?

[www]

I'm setting up my new Onkyo and Beta 40 speakers, but don't understand much about speaker sound level. I did the first time setup according to the manual, and then went to advance settings. There I found the speakers at various level settings so I set them, all except the sub at -4 dbl. The sub I set to 0. When I tried a few tv stations, the sound had an intermittent swooshing noise mixed in with the tv sound. So I did the first time setup again and it's fine.
I realize that all receivers are different for sound measuring, but what wouldmake the swooshing noise? Also, what is a reccomended speaker level to start from, including the sub. (Premier Acoustic PA-12)? And what voulume do I set the sub's control at? Thanks.

 

[j_garcia]

The only way you can set the levels correctly is with a SPL meter. Check your local Radio Shack.

 

[www]

I thought that I wouldn't neeed an SPL meter unless I wanted to get down to the nitty gritty. Isn't there some middle of the road rule to follow without spending another 75 bucks?

 

[MDS]

You can do it by ear but that will only get you close and is not really sufficient. As j_garcia said you need to buy an SPL meter ($40-$50 depending on which model).

When you did the 'first time setup' was that using the automatic calibration? If so, it is probably pretty close to what you would achieve doing it manually using an SPL meter and you should just go with that.