[Dartel]

Hi All,


My current system consists of TV: Panasonic TC-P58VT25, Receiver: Pioneer SC-75, Speakers: Vienna Acoustics Front L/R - Mozart Grands, Center and Rear L/R are Waltz Grands (Until I can find a deal on a Center Maestro and extra Waltz to make a 7.1 system) Sub woofer: Rel T2 I have my speaker distances input into the receiver and ran the auto calibration it set all my speakers to small with Cross over at 100Hz I bought a SPL meter from radio shack to try to get everything reaching the listening area at the same level.


My questions are 1. How do you determine if a speaker setting should be large or small, 2. I read the SPL levels for THX should be 75 but I do not know at what volume the receiver should be to start with before adjusting the level settings. 3. Can anyone suggest a good site on calibrating the setup with a SPL meter that is simple to understand?


Thank you in advance.


P.S. I was running this setup on a Denon 891 receiver till yesterday which is only rated at 8 Ohms instead of the needed 4 Ohms for the Vienna I have to say while it did not drive the speakers with the punch they should have had I was VERY impressed that the Denon did run them with out over heating and shutting down.

 

[Jack D Ripper]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dartel  /t/1526444/help-setting-spl-levels-on-my-system/0_100#post_24583741


Hi All,


My current system consists of TV: Panasonic TC-P58VT25, Receiver: Pioneer SC-75, Speakers: Vienna Acoustics Front L/R - Mozart Grands, Center and Rear L/R are Waltz Grands (Until I can find a deal on a Center Maestro and extra Waltz to make a 7.1 system) Sub woofer: Rel T2 I have my speaker distances input into the receiver and ran the auto calibration it set all my speakers to small with Cross over at 100Hz I bought a SPL meter from radio shack to try to get everything reaching the listening area at the same level.


My questions are 1. How do you determine if a speaker setting should be large or small, 2. I read the SPL levels for THX should be 75 but I do not know at what volume the receiver should be to start with before adjusting the level settings. 3. Can anyone suggest a good site on calibrating the setup with a SPL meter that is simple to understand?


Thank you in advance.


P.S. I was running this setup on a Denon 891 receiver till yesterday which is only rated at 8 Ohms instead of the needed 4 Ohms for the Vienna I have to say while it did not drive the speakers with the punch they should have had I was VERY impressed that the Denon did run them with out over heating and shutting down.

1. Whether the speakers should be set to large or small depends on whether they are more or less capable of deep bass than the subwoofer. In almost all cases, they are less capable of deep bass than the subwoofer, so in almost all cases they should be set to small.
2. You should just use the automatic setup for levels and delays; follow the directions in the manual. If you follow the directions there, then you will get every channel reaching the listening area at the same level.
3. See # 2.

As for the crossover point, normally this should be above the -3dB point of the speakers' bass response. Thus, for example, I use bookshelf speakers with a frequency response of 50-40kHz +/-3dB, and I set my crossover to 80 Hz. Since I use identical bookshelf speakers for all channels (other than subwoofer, obviously), I have the same setting for all channels. If you have different speakers for different channels, and if your processor/receiver allows it, you can set the different channels differently. But in all cases, it should be set above the point where the speakers are dropping off in their bass response.


Judging from what Vienna says about the frequency response of your speakers (though they do not specify a tolerance, which makes their numbers almost meaningless), probably 100 Hz is right. For the front right and left speakers, if you can set the crossover differently, you might want to drop it down to 80 Hz or maybe even 60Hz. But you do not want the crossover that low for your center and surround speakers.