"Official" Audyssey thread (FAQ in post #1) - Page 1943

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holiday121 

Great. I was planning on running mine sometime this week. I've had it for like 3 months

You have had it for three months and haven't run the Audyssey calibration?  :confused:

Edit:  Not judging!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cissado 

Hello, I copied this from onkyo 818 thread because it's more appropriate here. ..

I replaced a very old Onkyo which has lasted me for 10+ years. (TXDS-787) I was happy with it but wanted the xt-32 mostly and hdmi switching. I couldn't pass up the price when deciding between this and the 4311. I have a Parasound 2205AT amp (220wpc x 5) driving everything in a 5.1 system. Studio 40 v2 speakers, Studio CC center, and Servo 15 sub.... In ceiling surrounds, but oh well.

Hi - thanks for bringing this to the Official Audyssey Thread. We would have gone way OT on the 818 thread.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'where did the volume go?' - do you mean the system isn't playing loud enough?  If so, turn up the Master Volume until it is! Audyssey has calibrated your system so that it plays at 'Reference Level' when your MV is at 0dB. Reference level is 85dB average and 105dB on peaks (115dB for the LFE channel). See the FAQ here for more info on that:

a)3.   I keep reading about Reference Level'. What is it?

WRT to the crossovers, Audyssey doesn't actually determine the crossovers. It finds the -3dB rolloff point of the speaker being measured and passes that info back to the AVR. If it found that your level fell by 3dB at 40Hz it passes that info back to the AVR, which then decides what to do with the info - many AVRs will set a unit's speakers to Large for example if the F3 is detected at 40Hz. Remember this is the in-room response, so it is influenced by speaker placement - if your speakers are in a corner or near a wall they will appear to dig deeper than they actually do because of the reinforcement of the room. Changing the XOs to 80Hz is fine. For more info on this, see here:

c)1.   Why are my Crossovers set differently to my speaker manufacturer's specification?

c)2.   Why do I often see advice to raise the Crossovers to 80Hz?

c)4.   Is it OK to change the Crossovers from Audyssey's recommendation?
 

c)6.   Why is Audyssey setting different crossovers for my identical speakers?

Not sure what you mean exactly. If you change the levels of individual speakers and then redo the calibration, you will be back to where you were. Audyssey ignores all AVR settings when it does the calibration. Why did you feel the need to change some of the speaker trims?  Which speakers? By how much?  When Audyssey does the calibration, it sets each speaker to play at the same level at the MLP (75dB). If you have changed some of the trims, this means that now some speakers are louder than others at the MLP. Can you give more detail of what you did?  Can you post a photo of your room showing the location of all speakers and the sub?

Wrt to the bass:

f)5.    Since I ran Audyssey everything sounds great - but where has my bass gone?

Many people prefer to run their bass a little hot so there is no harm in turning the bass trim up by a few dB. It has no effect on the calibration as such.

No this isn't the issue (see my remarks above).  On Onkyos it doesn't say 'large' or 'small'. Once you set a crossover, the speakers are set as 'small'. The terms large and small are meaningless and have nothing to do with the size of the speakers. Setting a speaker to Large means you bypass all bass management in the AVR, Setting a speaker to small means you engage the bass management. Setting a crossover engages the bass management too (self-evidently).  More info here:

c)3.   I have big tower speakers at the front. Shouldn't I set these to Large'?

I need a better understanding of this spl level business. What MV setting are you using when you are finding that the loudness isn't what you want?  Make sure you have your MV scale set to 'relative' and tell me the MV setting you are using. Without this info, my thinking ATM is "just turn it up more". 

Please post the photos if you can (cellphone photos are fine) so we can see the layout of the room and the MLP. You may be sitting in a modal null for example and this will have a serious impact on the bass.

After taking the photos, can you try moving your sub to a different position?  How did you arrive at its current location?  Did you do a sub crawl?

I am sure we can get you sorted here - we just need more info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepar 

Are you using surge suppression?

Jeff - can you please elaborate on that and how it might impact his Audyssey calibration?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogorf 

OK, thanks 64deuce. So, if I were you I would do the following changes in the speaker setup.

1. Swap Front Left with sub. Swap Front Right with small table. Pull both Fronts to line up with front side of cabinet. Toe-in both Fronts to face MLP (Main Listening Position). These changes will significantly improve front stage imaging in your room.

2. Pull Center and nudge it off the front side of the cabinet. Use some decorative supporters to make it face seated ear height. This is most important for best dialog intelligibility.

3. Move surrounds away from couch as much as possible to the left and right. Make them face each other, i.e. the listener(s). This will improve surround effects.

4. Rerun Audyssey.

Report back please.

+1. I'd also suggest moving the couch further into the room if possible and away from the back wall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT INMY BLOOD 

hi all I hooked up my 818 last night and spent 5 hours between last night and tonight trying to run Audyssey calibration only to receive message "Ambient noise too high". The only time it measured the speakers it did not pick up the subwoofer. I set the db on the sub to 75db as instructed unplugged everything that made noise and even ran Audyssey when wife and kids weren't home. I also updated the firmware as soon as I took the 818 out of the box, do I need to do a factory reset and try again. This is my third Onkyo and I never had a problem running Audyssey before, I am open to suggestions and appreciate the time you invested in reading and/or responding. Joe

Uh oh. Read back a few pages and you'll see advice given to another 818 user with the same problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT INMY BLOOD 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbarnes701 

Thanks. If you have followed all the advice in the FAQ and the advice others have given you and it still barfs on the ambient noise thing, I can't see what else you can do. It may be the mic that is faulty (wouldn't be the first time) but short of borrowing a suitable replacement mic you can't really verify that. If it were me, I think I'd return it.

hi all I hooked up my 818 last night and spent 5 hours between last night and tonight trying to run Audyssey calibration only to receive message "Ambient noise too high". The only time it measured the speakers it did not pick up the subwoofer. I set the db on the sub to 75db as instructed unplugged everything that made noise and even ran Audyssey when wife and kids weren't home. I also updated the firmware as soon as I took the 818 out of the box, do I need to do a factory reset and try again. This is my third Onkyo and I never had a problem running Audyssey before, I am open to suggestions and appreciate the time you invested in reading and/or responding. Joe
I have a mic from my Onkyo 608 ill try that if it doesn't work I guess I'll be sending it back.

Factory reset won't cause any harm so you may as well try it. See the advice given to the other 818 owner too.

EDIT: remember there are two different sorts of reset now:

RESET Onkyo to Factory

To reset the AV receiver to its factory defaults, turn it on and, while holding down the [VCR/DVR] button on the unit, press the [ON/STANDBY] button on the unit. "Clear" will appear on the display and the AV receiver will enter Standby mode.

Completely clearing an Integra/Onkyo 2010 model the procedure is below.

This works on:

DTR-70.2

DTR-80.2

DHC-80.2

PR-SC5508

(And possibly others)

1) Set the Volume to Default Level: 30(absolute)/-52dB(relative)

2)Push and hold 'Memory' - then push 'Standby/On'

There will be some weird text on front panel display at this point. Press 'Return'.

3) It will show "All Clear??", then press 'Return' again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepar 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbarnes701 

Jeff - can you please elaborate on that and how it might impact his Audyssey calibration?

Spikes can scramble digital circuitry, including stored data. And it does it randomly with no rhyme or reason. Along with corrupting stored data, it can damade chips and other components.

Jeff

Ah right. I had the wrong end of the stick - I thought you were implying that the surge protector could be causing a problem, and I couldn’t figure out why it would. As I have my amps and my 5508 on a surge protector, I thought it best to clarify. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepar 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbarnes701 

Ah right. I had the wrong end of the stick - I thought you were implying that the surge protector could be causing a problem, and I couldn’t figure out why it would.

Not implying. You were inferring.

I was. And the inference I drew from the unintended implication was erroneous!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jima4a 

Many lower cost surge supressors can limit current from what I have been told which can impact amp performance. I have gone to a power company whole house surge with everything plugged directly into dedicated 20 amp circuits. A bit scary in Florida with all the lightening storms we have.

Hmmmm..... I wonder if this is true, or if it's Internet/forum folklore?  Anyone have any science to back it up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepar 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbarnes701 

I was. And the inference I drew from the unintended implication was erroneous!

I inferred you might be a bit paranoid.

Your inference was justified.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnyk 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jima4a 

Many lower cost surge supressors can limit current from what I have been told which can impact amp performance. I have gone to a power company whole house surge with everything plugged directly into dedicated 20 amp circuits. A bit scary in Florida with all the lightening storms we have.

Your investment in whole house surge supression is really the only logical way to go.

If you live in a situation where there are near lightening strikes, etc. then plug in strips are just eyewash.

I have a friend who lives out in the country where the homes are on 20 acre plots. He took a near hit and it took a lot of appliances out, including some plug-in surge suppressors. Many of the things that got destroyed were items that most would never think to plug into a surge suppressor like the washer and dryer. His investment in professionally installed whole house surge suppression was paid for by just one of the many items that were fried.

It has been over a decade since then and he has been safe.

Arny, where I live in the UK we have very stable 240v supply and rarely have any serious storms or lightning. The concept of whole house surge suppression is virtually unknown here. Nonetheless I am using a plug-in surge suppressor (for no other reason that someone gave it to me as a gift) and I am wondering if you are able to shed any light on the earlier comment that these can limit current and thus have a negative impact on amps that may be plugged into them. I don't notice any negative impact but if there is one, I can easily plug the amps directly into the mains power. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Selden Ball 

Some power strips include in-line inductors to reduce the amount of high-frequency noise which can be transmitted from one device to another over the power lines. As a result, they reduce the amount of high-frequency current. I don't know about you, but I want that noise filtration in my system. Some people like to claim that inline inductors also reduce the power available for the transient peaks in sound tracks. I don't agree with this. The capacitors in the power supplies provide the power needed for those transients.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theresa 

My experience with surge protecting power strips is that they will pass as much current as their circuit breaker allows, even to the point of melting.

So no need for me to be paranoid about limiting the current to my amps?