The Optimal Audio Settings for my Pioneer Receiver!

[Assaf09]

I've been picking and choosing and just tinkering with random settings on my receiver and thought i'd ask in this forum for some expert advice.

Here's some information that could affect the setting choice:
1. I have klipsch 3.1 RF82 Speakers (if that matters)
2. In my basement and also have a sub.
3. I sit about 8 feet away from the speakers and the room is about 30ftx10
4. I listen to Metal, lots of drums, and guitars, Cymbals and all that with clean vocals. I will also listen to some hiphop if it has a sweet beat!

Anyways, I was hoping to figure out what settings and how to apply these changes would drastically improve my sound quality.

I basically just use Stereo for Metal and THX MS setting for Rap and haven't played with the original settings apart from that, still a rookie.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
(If all you have to say is it depends on person preference, i've heard it a million times, I can always switch back to my personal preference if the suggestion isn't good)


References.
1. My Receiver: http://www.pioneerelectronics.ca/POCEN/Support/Home+Entertainment/A+V+Receivers/Pioneer+A+V+Receivers/ci.VSX-9040TXH.Kuro?tab=B
2. My Sub: Velodyne VDR-12
3. My Speakers: http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/rf-82-overview/

 

[Kai]

One of the benefits from having all those sound features is you can customize the sound to suit the music genre and your listening preferences.

First I'd make sure the speakers were as well placed as they can be for the room.
Next I'd run the "calibration" system the receiver uses.
Once that is done use a SPL meter to check the calibration and tweak it as needed. You may want to change it per your likes...I increase the sound to the surrounds a bit as I like them to be a bit "hotter" than my MCACC (Pioneer sound calibration system) likes.

From that point on it is open territory.
There are NO rules...only your likes and dislikes.

I usually use "stereo" for music listening though for some music/video dvd's I may use the recommended sound preferences.
I generally don't use the settings such as "cathedral, etc." and often use "neural" or "pure" or whatever the "no screwing around with the original sound" settings allow.
I may tweak the specific audio settings but generally leave it to the MCACC system to do the work.

Again...there are no rules...only what sounds good to you...maybe just for that moment...that is the benefit...you get to change it at whim to be pleasing...enjoy ! ! !

Tell us what you do...we are always curious.

 

[Pyrrho]

On the subwoofer, bypass the internal crossover if possible; if not, set it at the highest frequency. The subwoofer volume level you will probably want to try would be about midway up (you will be using the receiver's settings to balance the sound, though if the receiver sets the sub out level much different from "0", you will probably want to change the level and rerun the calibration in your receiver; if the level is much higher than 0 for sub out on the receiver, turn the level up on the subwoofer and rerun the calibration; if it is much lower than 0 for sub out on the receiver, turn the level down on the subwoofer and rerun the calibration).

Your subwoofer also has some customizable settings, and you will want to bypass any extra processing before running the calibration on the receiver. Later, if you want to apply the customization, you may do so, though you will be altering the frequency response from what was originally intended (which should be done if you like it, and not if you don't).

After carefully placing your speakers, you want to run the room calibration that your receiver can do (that is the calibration I am referring to in the parenthetical remarks above); see its manual for how.

You will probably want your speakers set to "small", and the crossover should be set where you like it best between 40-80Hz; I recommend trying different settings on that, but keep in mind, each time you change that, you will want to rerun your calibration of your receiver for the comparisons so that it sets everything properly for that setting. If you don't want to bother with that, just pick 60-80 Hz with those speakers and be done with it. If later, however, you add smaller rear speakers, you will probably want to run those at a higher cutoff frequency (if you buy decent rear speakers, probably 80 Hz).

As far as the various processing settings go, you may set them as you wish; you may or may not like what they do with the sound. If you want to just hear the music as it is on your discs, set your receiver to "straight" or "bypass", but check your manual to make sure it does not remove the subwoofer from being used that way, if you want the deepest bass in the music. If it does cut out the subwoofer, select "stereo" for CDs and other stereo music to play it without extra processing.

 

[Assaf09]

Thanks guys, yep, the speakers are kind of squished because of the limited space, about 6 feet apart with a center in the middle, can't do anything about that until I get a bigger place but they sound great none the less.

The Subwoofer is on "Direct" and the auto on is set to "Active"

In the pioneer settings there is THX Audio settings:
Currently they're set to:

1. Loudness Plus - ON
2. THX Select2 SW - YES
3. BGC - OFF
... is that good?


Center is set and fronts are set to Small, with a subwoofer, and I like 80Hz the most.

PS/ my fronts are bi-amped.

.... Pyrrho, not sure what you mean by: though if the receiver sets the sub out level much different from "0", you will probably want to change the level and rerun the calibration in your receiver;... the Channel level is -3.5 for the sub.

 

[Pyrrho]

Thanks guys, yep, the speakers are kind of squished because of the limited space, about 6 feet apart with a center in the middle, can't do anything about that until I get a bigger place but they sound great none the less.

The Subwoofer is on "Direct" and the auto on is set to "Active"

In the pioneer settings there is THX Audio settings:
Currently they're set to:

1. Loudness Plus - ON
2. THX Select2 SW - YES
3. BGC - OFF
... is that good?

"Good" is a subjective word. If you like it, it is good, but it is altering the original signal, as you can see from reading your receiver manual about those settings.

Center is set and fronts are set to Small, with a subwoofer, and I like 80Hz the most.

PS/ my fronts are bi-amped.

.... Pyrrho, not sure what you mean by: though if the receiver sets the sub out level much different from "0", you will probably want to change the level and rerun the calibration in your receiver;... the Channel level is -3.5 for the sub.

-3.5 is probably close enough to 0 to not worry about it. If it were -8 (or lower; e.g., -9, -10, etc.) or +8 (or higher; e.g., +9, +10, etc.), then I would suggest adjusting the volume control on the subwoofer and rerunning the automatic setup.

 

[Assaf09]

beautiful! Appreciate the help pyrrho