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Speaker setup question

post #1 of 5
1/23/07 at 10:59pm
Thread Starter 
I'm new to the home theater scene, and I'm looking to purchase a system (speakers and receiver). I started down the path of receivers that have auto speaker calibration with an included microphone. Now I'm thinking of going more entry level, and I don't think something like the Onkyo 504 has that feature. So how does one set up the system to calibrate speaker distance and whatever else the auto setup function would do?
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post #2 of 5
1/24/07 at 11:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyerinsd View Post

I'm new to the home theater scene, and I'm looking to purchase a system (speakers and receiver). I started down the path of receivers that have auto speaker calibration with an included microphone. Now I'm thinking of going more entry level, and I don't think something like the Onkyo 504 has that feature. So how does one set up the system to calibrate speaker distance and whatever else the auto setup function would do?

Most things you will be able to set, by going into setup menu. You can set speaker size (small/large/no), subwoofer (yes/no), crossover frequency depending on FR of your speakers, speaker distance etc manually.

Only thing which auto setup will do for you and you won't be able to do without a SPL meter is level calibration. You can roughly adjust the level for individual channel, but for an accurate setting you will need SPL meter.
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post #3 of 5
1/25/07 at 8:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by axs View Post

Most things you will be able to set, by going into setup menu. You can set speaker size (small/large/no), subwoofer (yes/no), crossover frequency depending on FR of your speakers, speaker distance etc manually.

Only thing which auto setup will do for you and you won't be able to do without a SPL meter is level calibration. You can roughly adjust the level for individual channel, but for an accurate setting you will need SPL meter.


Thank you, axs. In doing some shopping yesterday, it seems that stepping up from a Denon AVR 1507 to a 1707 only costs $100, and that gets me the auto calibration. I don't know what SPL meters cost, but it seems like a reasonable price to pay for the functionality, assuming it works.
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post #4 of 5
1/25/07 at 9:32pm
Setting up manually isnt that hard.

The Analog Radioshack meter is around $30.00.

So all you would need is a SPL meter, tripod, tape measure, and a test disk. You probably already own at least one DVD that has the THX optimizer in the menu. This will work fine for getting your levels close. The only one that will probably be off is your subwoofer. I usually get this close and then listen to music to dial it in by ear.

Plus if you get stuck someone in the forum would more than likely be able to help you.

If your like a lot of people after you get bit by the HT bug you'll probably want to tweak the auto settings anyways
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post #5 of 5
1/27/07 at 7:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DolfanJay View Post

Setting up manually isnt that hard.

The Analog Radioshack meter is around $30.00.

So all you would need is a SPL meter, tripod, tape measure, and a test disk. You probably already own at least one DVD that has the THX optimizer in the menu. This will work fine for getting your levels close. The only one that will probably be off is your subwoofer. I usually get this close and then listen to music to dial it in by ear.

Plus if you get stuck someone in the forum would more than likely be able to help you.

If your like a lot of people after you get bit by the HT bug you'll probably want to tweak the auto settings anyways

Thanks for the info. I ended up purchasing a Denon AVR-1707, which has the auto speaker calibration. It was part of a package at Magnolia with Definitive Technology speakers for $150 off of the price if I purchased everything separately, so I essentially got the receiver for less than the cost of the 1507 that doesn't have auto calibration. Seemed like a good deal. Now I just have to hook everything up!
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