[treeman43]

which is best? i have the denon 3805, a huge room 35' x 40' x 10'. the 8' projection screen and 7.1 are positioned fine (i still have to play around with the sub placement however). the seating area is about 15' away from the screen, but off-center, because of a support holding up the floor above that's in the way. this used to be a church. now my question....is it better to use an spl meter with calibration disc, or a denon reference mic to get everything setup properly? this is used mostly for theater. thanks.

 

[Schwingding]

Try them both, see which you prefer. Use that one. Doing it manually will be more accurate as far as measurements go, which kinda is the whole point. Some of the AVR setup routines include speaker/room equalization routines, they can be kind of variable. The frequency response of my setup when I let the Yamaha YPAO setup routine do its thing looks absolutely ridiculous. When I do it myself with test tones and an SPL - way better.

 

[treeman43]

the reason i'm asking is because i don't have a mic or a meter or a disc. should i buy them all, or ideally the better way to go? which one? i've never done this before. help is certainly welcome. thanks.

 

[mccullpl]

I don't know anything about the Denon, but I have a Marantz SR-7500 with an auto setup feature. It doesn't do any EQing, just determines speaker distance and sets the levels. I tried both the recievers' auto setup and manually setting the distances and levels, and got almost exactly the same results. Since Marantz and Denon have the same parent company, there might be some shared technology. I say set it up with the auto feature, and if/when you get a SPL meter, check it manually. I'm sure the Denon has built in test tones, so you wouldn't necessarily need the Avia disc for basic setup.


Hope that helps!

Pat

 

[mccullpl]

I just realized you don't even have a mic for the Denon. In that case, I would buy the SPL meter. It's a lot more useful than a mic, and you could use it to measure room response too.


Pat

 

[treeman43]

thanks pat

 

[treeman43]

Ok...just to get my pea-brained confusion out of the way. once i get the meter, i would set it up with a tripod, pointing up at the ceiling, at my listen position. i would set the meter dial to 70, play the receiver's test tones on manual, and adjust the individual tones so that the meter reading is 75. the main volume control on the receiver stays unchanged at 0. am i right so far? should i put the fronts at 'small' eventhough they are large jbl's? i do have a sub. or can i stay with them at large? do i need to phyisically measure the speaker distances to my listening position with a tape? why? i'll be sitting off-center from the projection screen. how do i set the EQ manually? do i need to? is the 'delay' feature important to adjust? how do i do that? mmmmmm......sorry.....that denon manual is soooo confusing.....and i just don't know the electronics language. thank you for your help.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

RTFM. You set the delay according to the distance from each speaker to the listener. Use a tape measure if you do this manually. Setting the EQ manually? You need accurate spectral measurements from test tones, so.........................................


I recommend you use Denon's auto-setup. It will measure levels and distance as accurately as you can with a meter and it will set the EQ as well. That's what it is there for. Too bad you do not have the microphone and need to buy/borrow one.


For more info: http://www.audioholics.com/productre...5_review01.php

 

[treeman43]

no need to swear, kal. to help you understand that some of us are not well versed in this stuff, nor understand "OSD, wpc, ohms, PCM, kHz, dB, crossover, 05%THD; FTC spec rates with 2-channels driven, ALPHA 24 Processing Plus (AL24+) , triggers, SACD, etc., etc., etc.".


oh, i've read the "RTFM" and stuff like this:


AL24 Plus (AL24+ Processing Plus)

AL24 is a proprietary processing system whereby an optimized analogue waveform technology is utilized to read the 192 kHz sampling frequency of DVD-Audio discs. Denon claims that AL24 Processing Plus thoroughly suppresses quantization noise associated with D/A conversion of LPCM signals. This results in the reproduction of line level signals that have the best possible clarity for the format. Denon's AVR-3805 now supports AL24 Plus on all 7.1 channels.


...doesn't mean a thing to me.


sooooooo.........i've just ordered a mic, an spl meter, and a disc. i will go through that "FM" again for the 10th time....then get a friend who know this jargon to set it up for me.


in the meantime.........if you need help to do anything with visual art, plumbing, drywalling, building a deck, adding a room, designing new kitchen cupboards, maintenence on the car, fixing small engines, anything to do with computers...........i'll help you out........no problem.

and thanks for the link.....it's a little easier to understand.

 

[geodon005]

Treeman:


I would echo Schwingding's comments: see which one you like best. In my case, I use a combination, with my Yamaha's YPAO setting the distances (except for the subwoofer; it gets that wrong) and the EQ, but using an SPL meter to set the levels manually. I did this after several trials of just using the receiver's autocalibration compared with doing everything manually (still using an SPL meter, not just by ear), and I found this combination sounded best to me. Let your own ears be the judge (but do try to obtain a mic for the Denon so you can give its autocalibration a try!).

 

[WebEffect]



Quote:
Originally Posted by geodon005 /forum/post/0


Treeman:


I would echo Schwingding's comments: see which one you like best. In my case, I use a combination, with my Yamaha's YPAO setting the distances (except for the subwoofer; it gets that wrong) and the EQ, but using an SPL meter to set the levels manually. I did this after several trials of just using the receiver's autocalibration compared with doing everything manually (still using an SPL meter, not just by ear), and I found this combination sounded best to me. Let your own ears be the judge (but do try to obtain a mic for the Denon so you can give its autocalibration a try!).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the receiver SUPPOSED to set the subwooder farther than it actually is to compensate for something(forget what exactly)?

 

[treeman43]

thanks geodon,


i just bought (a few minutes ago) a new denon dm-s305 mic from ebay. once i get it i'll hopefully resolve some of my audio calibration ignorances. i also bought an spl meter and avia disc. i'll be loaded, but still stupid.


lol


i appreciate your help.

 

[geodon005]



Quote:
Originally Posted by WebEffect /forum/post/0


Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the receiver SUPPOSED to set the subwooder farther than it actually is to compensate for something(forget what exactly)?

That may be true, but my receiver actually sets the distance to my subwoofer several feet SHORTER than it actually is; hence the manual adjustment.

 

[Kal Rubinson]



Quote:
Originally Posted by geodon005 /forum/post/0


That may be true, but my receiver actually sets the distance to my subwoofer several feet SHORTER than it actually is; hence the manual adjustment.

Well, phase is somewhat circular, so every setting displaced by 360deg is equivalent.

 

[TumaraBaap]

EQ can get complex for the lay user. Use auto setup first. And then just verify what's easy to check, such as distances to primary listening position. An SPL meter and calibration DVD should be mandatory in any case. You could also check to see if a channel level has been correctly done by the Denon using the avia disc.

Some of the jargon in "TFM" is in fact crock. I doubt the boasts of Alpha24 processing can hold up in a double-blind listening evaluation.

If you're using a subwoofer, set all the other speakers to small, even if you think they're big.

Tumara Baap