While watching a movie, a car door slams. Do you set up your sub and system so that when that car door slams, the sound punches you in the chest?

I mean, in the real world, you would NEVER hear or feel that sound when a car door slams, so an argument COULD be made that if you're system is set up that way, it is not reproducing what things REALLY sound like.

On the other hand, one can say, "Who cares. I want to be blown away. I could care less if I am getting an accurate representation of reality."

What camp are you in?

I use the hallway gunfight scene in Terminator 2 to set up my sub and bass-shakers. When the 'bad" cyborg is shooting his sidearm you can just feel it, but when Arnold lets loose with his shotgun it shakes the couch. I agree with you, car doors shouldn't sound like explosions!

I don't think you can or should necessarily calibrate your system like that... I think that's why receivers have Audyssey and/or pink noise and a lot of us use db meters to calibrate.

What one movie and/or sound designer wants could be totally different than another. For instance, I haven't seen it, but I heard others comment on how the movie "Hot Fuzz" really, really exagerates a lot of the bass on things like car doors slamming. But it's intended to be like that and not realistic, to kind of poke fun at movies.

Some movies have gun shots that sound like they're in the room with you (Mr. Brooks, Open Range, etc.) and some don't. That doesn't mean you have to calibrate and adjust your setup to turn up everything up so that every gun shot in every movie sounds the same. That's impossible and probably not what the director and/or sound designer intended.

Just calibrate to a reference level and and enjoy what the director/sound designer intends. At least that's how I feel...

Good point Dave. I too would never calibrate my sound to sound affects. I calibrate using an SPL meter, but many will alter those settings based upon personal preference.

When I asked the question regarding car doors slamming, I was not taking into account the sound designers intent. Again, good point.

Automatic cals are notoriously poor when it comes to subs, and do nothing for bass-shakers! Many like to set up subs with a house curve, which will typically show a rising low end response. Using your spl meter for your sub (which I use as well) and using test tones (I use the Rives test cd) will usually just show the various nulls and peaks induced by the room. After running my room calibration I use the T2 scene to make sure my bass is set for the level I like, as I am very familiar with the scene and know how I enjoy it. For music I turn off the bass-shakers and use several familiar CDs to set another, lower sub level for music. To each his own, but don't put all your faith in Audyssey!

I'm using a Lexicon Mc-1, so I've never used Audyssy (sp). I've hear both pro and con regarding that set-up, and many have stated that Audyssy will result in a sub level that is not loud enough.

Many that use an SPL meter to measure their subs will report that the needle is bouncing all over the place because of room nodes, and in this case, it IS pretty hard to dial it in. Luckly, the needle on my meter hardly fluctuates at all and its as easy to dial in the sub as it is the mains.

When using pink noise through the sub the meter is really reading the room induced peaks. The individual low frequency test tones can vary by as much as 15db or more as you go through the low frequency band. That's why I use an SMS-1 to smooth things out, and verify results by using my ears!

If my meter was reading room induced peaks, wouldn't the needle be jumping all over the place. Mine stays pretty stationairy, even when I switch from slow to fast readings.

Well, of course you don't have to go by what Audyssey says and you should tweak things to your own personal preference if it varies. I just meant for basic calibration that's a much better starting point rather than just one scene or sound.

If you like more bass in general, then by all means turn it up a few db's...

Movies are ment to be quite compared to the real events.

Gunshots would make every loose their hearing.... Any scene where someone is wearing ear protection you would need to as well.

The goal of movies is to allow you to have some of that sound without hurting you :)

Eqing your sub is a MUST.

You must have that rare room that is free of issues! Try a test cd of individual low frequency tones and see if the meter can pick up peaks and nulls. If you don't have them you're extremely lucky!

Well, of course you don't have to go by what Audyssey says and you should tweak things to your own personal preference if it varies. I just meant for basic calibration that's a much better starting point rather than just one scene or sound.

If you like more bass in general, then by all means turn it up a few db's...

I agree, I always start with an auto cal, verified by my Ratshack meter. The final test is, of course, done by ear!

While watching a movie, a car door slams. Do you set up your sub and system so that when that car door slams, the sound punches you in the chest?

I mean, in the real world, you would NEVER hear or feel that sound when a car door slams, so an argument COULD be made that if you're system is set up that way, it is not reproducing what things REALLY sound like.

On the other hand, one can say, "Who cares. I want to be blown away. I could care less if I am getting an accurate representation of reality."

What camp are you in?

For movies, let the door slam, hard!;)

I calibrate them all to the same level and run the sub a little hot. This is not because I feel I have to have the sound be just like it was engineered. I don't care what someone else says sounds good. I just feel the whole system sounds immensely better when it's all calibrated. My yamaha's setup is absolutely terrible. It sets speakers to different levels and sounds horrible.

What camp are you in?

Reality, its lonely here.

Reality, its lonely here.
:D Awww............don't be lonely. I'm there with ya.

:D Awww............don't be lonely. I'm there with ya.

lol :D

I set my subs equal to my other speakers and then adjust it by ear until music sounds right with my front speakers set to small.

If you want a car door slamming to hit you in the chest it is available, but you have to listen at close to reference levels.