I'm rather confused and most likely misunderstanding how to use my Denon AVR-2309ci and Audyssey Multi EQ setup. This is in particular to the speaker level portion. I was told to run auto setup and after the first step, calibrate and then look at the speaker levels. Now what I'm getting confused with is the speakers supposed to be within the -3/+3 range? I.e.:

FL -3.0
FR -1.5
C -2
SR +1.5
SL -2.0
SW -8.5

Or does it not matter? Is my subwoofer way off? I don't get any of it.

TIA!

I'm rather confused and most likely misunderstanding how to use my Denon AVR-2309ci and Audyssey Multi EQ setup. This is in particular to the speaker level portion. I was told to run auto setup and after the first step, calibrate and then look at the speaker levels. Now what I'm getting confused with is the speakers supposed to be within the -3/+3 range? I.e.:

FL -3.0
FR -1.5
C -2
SR +1.5
SL -2.0
SW -8.5

Or does it not matter? Is my subwoofer way off? I don't get any of it.

TIA!

If you followed the correct procedures, this is probably accurate. There are wide variations in speaker level and response and both are greatly affected by the room acoustics and positioning. That's why one does this procedure!

If you followed the correct procedures, this is probably accurate. There are wide variations in speaker level and response and both are greatly affected by the room acoustics and positioning. That's why one does this procedure!

Those numbers were made up as I was trying to show what I was talking about. My speakers sound great and all actually fall within the -3/+3 range according to the Audyssey summary after calibration. It's the sub that's more problematic to me. At a higher sub volume level (speaker level -12 to -4.5 )my sub sounds "too boomy with grumbly type of sound" if I stay under the -3 then the sub sounds like a "thud". I most likely have a crappy sub, Monitor Audio ASW-100, but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

1) So does it really matter what the numbers are since Audyssey is correcting the EQ or do I want to stay within the -3/+3 range?

2) What am I actually looking for in the summary of the auto calibration that would make me redo calibration? Speaker level? Distance? Crossover? I understand turning speakers to small and changing the crossover but didn't understand why I was told to check the calibration after one pass if i still had 5 more passes to go.

Those numbers were made up as I was trying to show what I was talking about. My speakers sound great and all actually fall within the -3/+3 range according to the Audyssey summary after calibration. It's the sub that's more problematic to me. At a higher sub volume level (speaker level -12 to -4.5 )my sub sounds "too boomy with grumbly type of sound" if I stay under the -3 then the sub sounds like a "thud". I most likely have a crappy sub, Monitor Audio ASW-100, but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

1) So does it really matter what the numbers are since Audyssey is correcting the EQ or do I want to stay within the -3/+3 range?

2) What am I actually looking for in the summary of the auto calibration that would make me redo calibration? Speaker level? Distance? Crossover? I understand turning speakers to small and changing the crossover but didn't understand why I was told to check the calibration after one pass if i still had 5 more passes to go.

Hi Adrian,

The ±3 dB levels in the Audyssey setup guide refer to the subwoofer trims. The idea is to ensure that you don't have the gain controls on the back of your subwoofer too high or too low such that it would result in maxing out the trim levels on the receiver after you ran the calibration. The ±3 dB numbers are just a suggestion, they are not magic. Any number that wasn't at your Denon's maximum settings of ±12 dB would be fine.

The reason for checking the calibration after one pass is to get that initial subwoofer level to make sure it wasn't at ±12 dB.

Larry