Official Pioneer SC-05 and SC-07 Owners Thread - Page 39

If you've calibrated your receiver & speakers, reference volume is at 0dB on each and every one of them.

Whether you want to listen at reference volume is a entirely different issue.

No, I was mistaken.

No you weren't...

If the unit is properly calibrated to your room and speakers they will all play the same volume at the seats with the same content.

My old Sony DA5ES did not work this way, but you couldn't change the volume of the front left or right speaker. They were fixed. The Pioneer is not like that. Every speaker is calibrated.

I always thought the Pios after calibration were set to do reference at 0db, thought maybe it changed in this series. No worries though, if I am wrong I am wrong. I am just happy to have this great receiver no matter what.

Found a hole in the wall electronics store today at lunch and they had the 6' SR+ cable for only $3.70. Well, got home, hooked it up and success, I now can see the volume, surround modes and a smaller version of the setup, kind of what you see on the receiver when you don't use the TV to enter the setup. Still miss the 7 channel stereo sound field and bummed about my wifes iPod, but otherwise, I am very happy. The iPod I am going to remedy by purchasing a DLO Ipod Home Dock Deluxe (used) for $50.00, it will hook up to the 05, and then the 05 will display the iPod info on the plasma. My wife will just have to find a new sound field when listening to her iPod.

Like FilmMixer said, you should check it for yourself. 0dB for 'reference' level was the old THX recommendation but that was before room EQ and all that fancy DSP stuff. A smart auto-cal system might choose to optimize S/N ratio, etc., considering that some frequencies might be boosted quite a bit, and sacrifice the 0dB thing to keep the digital and analog stages operating at their optimum gain settings. Kinda like setting up the gain structure of a PA system where you want all the components to clip at about the same time for the best performance.

I don have an SPL meter, I will give it a shot when the wife and kids are out shopping tomorrow.

Juan, Great news regarding the OSD! I know that was bugging you (as it would me, also). Glad to hear the SR+ worked. Glad you found a fix for the iPod, too. Enjoy. Blue

I just received my SC-07 this afternoon, so I'm still figuring things out. But isn't the EXT.STEREO mode (page 37) equivalent to 5-ch or 7-ch stereo, depending on how many speakers you have?

You might be right, I will give that a try. Thanks.

You use to set the receiver at 0db then you would balance each channel so you are 75 or 80db on your spl meter. Then you would put a disk in like VE and check what your reading where from a DVD. They never matched up so I just started using the VE DVD to balance my system. I don't know how Pioneers eq system works, but I would think where ever you set it up and balance the system at would be your reference.
Allen

Any recomendations on a good SPL meter and test disc to set up my new ELITE SC-07?

Any help is appreciated!

I use a digital Radio Shack SPL meter for my settings. It works great and not too expensive.

my sc-05 came yesterday....will post after hook up today to let u know what i think

EXT.STEREO worked, my wife is happy with that, thanks.

Very cool, congrats and enjoy hooking it up.

The Radio Shack SPL meter is a good one, but get the Analog version (you want average readings, which your eyeball/brain does naturally, from the wobbling needle). It is easier to use than the digital one (which is much harder to read while standing upright - which it should be for room measurement). This was what is recommended. A relative has the digital one and I found that my analog version was, indeed, easier to use.

The best test source is the Rives Audio Test CD2 (http://www.rivesaudio.com/software/softframes.html) for $21 - direct from Rives, only. It has test tracks that are pre-compensated for the RS SPL meter, so there is no need to use a spread sheet to adjust the readings for the meters low frequency roll-off. Rives main products are professional audio room calibration equipment and acoustic treatment tools.

PS -- I found out about the Rives CD2 from another AVS member, so I'm passing on the favor.
PPS -- The built-in MCACC works really good too, and it is automatic and will provide some room compensation as well.

1+ what CT_Wiebe said. The analog is the proper SPL to use.
In my case I can actually say that when I used the MCACC feature on the VSX-03THX, I was impressed how accurate it was all channels came to 75db.
One thing I did do was:
1. Turn off everything in your house
This means turn off your AC, fans, computers, radio etc... Anything that generates any kind of sound, If possible wait until your refrigerator finish setting the temperature it needs to keep and then perform your setup after the refrigerator is "off". I wanted to make sure everything was as the manual said.
2. Reset your receiver - just in case reset to factory setting - I know it is new do it anyway.
3. Pick a place in your room where you are going to be sitting down that minimizes any bounce in sound so that you are not contributing to the setup calculations.
4. Place the microphone in your listening spot and make sure that it is elevated at the same height as your ears. – in my case I used a small foot rest and put it on top of my sofa to build the height.
5. Run the setup and don’t make any sound.
6. If you get any errors like subwoofer too loud correct the issue and start with for the beginning, don’t continue.
You will be very satisfied with the results.

Awesome reply's everyone. Thank you very much.

Off to buy the meter and rives cd.

Much appreciated!!

WS

Hi all, this is my first post here on AVS, i must say it has been fun reading the forum.
I made my purchases based on reviews and replies from here on AVS, actual users, and along with some previous product knowledge.
Ok my pockets are allot lighter, but well worth it. here is my setup...

Pioneer SC-07
Pioneer BDP-05FD
Pioneer PRO-151FD Kuro
Snell LCR7 XL x3
Snell SR 30THX x3
Snell ICS Sub24mk3 Subwoofer
Monster MPA 5150 SS Five Channel Power Amplifier
Monster Pro Power 7000 Power Source UHC


I just did the whole room over 25' x 25' and was redone with Home Theater in mind.
i could not be happier with my purchases, the sound is breath taking, the hard part now is getting company to leave after you have them over.
Just played U-571 on Blue Ray, when those depth charges dropped you actually felt pressure on your chest, it was insane.
i look forward to being a participating member here, thanks for having me..

T

Primopup -- Welcome to the AVS Forum and the Pioneer "club". You've got a nice system.

Enjoy.

aquafire -- You are very welcome. Glad to be of help.

olilugo -- That is certainly the ideal way to do it. Typically, you should start out with the sub-woofer amp's gain set around 30% to 40% of full scale. Most of them have the best linearity in that region. But, as you said, that can always be changed, if the calibration (MCACC) doesn't come out right. Mine winds up around 20% for the best performance (a lot depends on the subs placement and room acoustics too).

Thank you CT...

Welcome!.......and I'M JEALOUS! Nice set up.

spent most of today running mcacc and routing wires... ran mcacc a few times, bass was a bit "boomy", so re-ran the anti-mode 8033 setup, then mcacc again... the last time was the charm...

i'm really not much into "audiophile terms" (i.e. "a veil has been lifted", etc.), but i can say that this sounds REALLY REALLY good... it's like the sc-05 has more "control" (for lack of a better term) than my 82txs did... it definitely runs cooler as well...

need to spend some time doing some more listening... probably needs a bit more massaging, but not a lot, the mcacc seems to hit it pretty darn close...

without a doubt, it was worth the wait and the money....

some eye candy...

Congrats, and the blue cables look cool.

Well I finally picked up my SC-07 today, Just staring at it sitting on my shelf right now, perhaps I'm gonna set it up tomorrow. Looking forward to it immensely.

Congrats, you got some patience, I could not do that. Enjoy setting it up.

Received my BDP-51 on Wed and SC-05 on Thu. I rewired my speakers for cosmetic reasons. After everything hooked up, my right front had no sound. I switched my right and left fronts and the problem followed the speaker, so I'm pretty sure I have a dead speaker. Need to think about this for awhile. It's a B&W 602 1998 ver, so probably can't find a replacement. Bummer.

ok....finished hooking up my sc-05......set up was easy....mcaac ran very smoothly and was pretty close to perfect......the sound is incredible watching movies.....still have some tweeking to do but so far so good.....the video scaling could be better, lose a little of the clarity when running hdmi through receiver as opposed to directly to projector......but the sound makes up for that and then some.......a big step up from my pioneer elite 80.

current set up:

84" elite screen
panasonic ae100u
pioneer elite sc-05
pioneer elite 05fd
mitsubishi 2000
klipsch 7.1