YPAO or manual set-up

H

HurleyBC

Audioholic Intern
I am just finished redoing my house paint and all the flooring and have just put all my speakers and video equipment back in the room but now its time to set-up all my speakers. i was wondering if YPAO does a sufficient job or should I do it manually with a SPL. I am not very educated when it comes to speaker set up and db's and LFE's so I would have to learn but am willing to if it will make the most of my system. So if ya could suggest which to use that would be great.
 
WooHoo

WooHoo

Audioholic
First, I have not maually tried this with an SPL meter. From what I have read and heard the YPAO does an excellent job of measuring and setting the receiver and speakers. I have been pretty pleased. Beyond setting the output like you would do with the meter it will also set speaker distance check phase and set for PEQ.

Once you let it automatically run, you will need to go in and tweek it. For some reason, there seems to be a problem with the YPAO and the subwoofer. It does not accurately report the distance and it has a tendancy to set the crossover way too high. In my case, 20 feet with a 120 Hz Xover. In actuality it was 11.5 ft. YPAO also set the level at -5.5 Db on the sub. So I went in and manually "tweeked" it. I believe it is still more accurate than what I could have done manually.

I would recommend reading Clint's review of the the RX V-2500 on this website:

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/YamahaRX-V2500review01.php

It very effectively walks you through Auto vs Manual set up. Hope this helps.
 
Doug917

Doug917

Full Audioholic
HurleyBC,

Which recevier do you have? If it's the 2500 or the Z9 use YPAO. If its any other receiver, do it the old fashioned way.
 
A

Azz123

Junior Audioholic
Hurley.
Ive got the 1500 - Ive YPAO'd about 6 times now with different placements and changes with speaker settings, then SPL'd over the top of it while running test tones and the only thing that it has been a little off on was the sub (had it at +1dB over all else when SPL'd).
If you can borrow an SPL meter, run YPAO then SPL meter over the top. It may be perfect..

Regards.

By the way, DO use a tripod. DO run YPAO in the quietest environment, do leave the room/stand out the way while it runs..
 
R

rschleicher

Audioholic
I'd agree with running YPAO, and then reviewing what it says and possibly doing some manual tweaking.

As others have said, the sub-woofer settings from YPAO may well seem odd, especially the distance setting. But, this may still actually be a good setting, based on room issues, reflections, sub-woofer location, etc. trying multiple YPAO "runs" with the subwoofer in various locations may be helpful. But, playing with the subwoofer settings manually is probably worthwhile.

The YPAO for the RX-V750 is "partial YPAO", without parametric equalization. Unlike the higher-end models, you are not getting any frequency shaping - just speaker "size", level, distance/delay. On the one hand you are missing out on the chance for YPAO to clean up some glaring room-response problems. But, some purist-types might argue that the less signal processing, the better!

Your receiver DOES include a graphic equalizer function for just the center channel, which in principle could be used to achieve better timbre match between your center channel and the fronts. But, YPAO makes no attempt to do this, and leaves the center channel Graphic Equalizer "flat". Further, there are no separate built-in test tones for each band of the graphic equalizer, so it's never been clear to me what the best method would be to try and manually optimize things. If you have a CD or DVD with audio test tones at different frequencies, that would help in manuall setting the center channel GE.
 
H

HurleyBC

Audioholic Intern
sorry a tripod for the mic?! I am new to this so instead of just placing the mic in my seating position place it on a tripod?!
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
HurleyBC said:
sorry a tripod for the mic?! I am new to this so instead of just placing the mic in my seating position place it on a tripod?!
You want the mic as close as possible to the height of your ears when you are sitting (this is the same whether you are using auto calibration or doing it manually with an SPL meter).

You can sit and hold the mic about ear level, but it may be better to put the mic on a tripod and position the tripod where you would be sitting - that way the test tones don't reflect off of your body.
 

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