The importance of caliberation of HT

[lakshman]

How important is calibration in a HT

after sometime of wait i could finally lay my hands on a SPL meter a analog one similar to radio shack,previously my system did sound very good,and though not boasting many people said it was the best HT they saw.Now i got the SPL meter set up C weighting slow and play the test tones in the THX DVD player which i have and to my surprise they read 66 db per channel.

the common problems i faced..BEFORE calibration
were mismatch of center channel
2)over blown effects which were annoying
3)absence of a smooth sound stage i was surrounded by sound ,but immersed in it if you know what i mean...

4)the intense urge to upgrade my equipment by a 1000 USD to get the best sound.

now i calibrated all channels to 75db and sub to 78 db and i find that there is cohesive sound field and there are now dynamics which i could never make out in films like LOTR or TITANIC..it seemed as if the whole 5 speakers become one large speaker spread across the room and playing to perfection.

Gone was the urge to upgrade my system i spent 50 USD on SPL meter and another 20 on DVE saving me 930 USD to be exact.

i had previously found a lack of power and head room in my system but now as the system runs with independent amps i get almost 14 db peaks in films when measured in A wighted and fast.


I have one humble suggestion before you have your next desire to upgrade your audio setup,or even if yu have bought a HTIB ,i calibrated one with the SPL meter and DVE the showroom guy was blown away and said it sounded 3 times its price.

Buy a SPL meter buy a good calibration disc run the test tones try and adjust yurs speakers with the spl meter to get a smooth response of + or - 1db over all speakers lock your levels at 75 db or 85 depending on your disc,calibrate your display and your system will perform at 2x its price...

if you want to go further you can download some demo RTA software from etfsound.com and try RTA mesurement for room nodes and isolate them by treating the room or using a advanced 1/3 octave EQ .

enjoy the HT experience it was the best thing since movies came out..

i would suggest one pdf file for audio speaker setup it is the AES document on multichannel studios...

http://www.aes.org/technical/documents/AESTD1001.pdf

it is a free download and tells you how exact studio monitoring for 5.1 or 6.1 is and you can follow as many guidelines as possible based on your system capability

[Frankie]

I agree 100% laks. I would hazard a guess that folks on this board have tweaked their systems to some degree. Some more then others.

The use of a meter and calibration software like Avia or VE goes a long way. Whether it's a HT in a box or 10K worth of gear you owe it to yourself to finish what you started and calibrate the system.

My HK comes with it's own mic that I plug into the front of the Receiver and run the calibration routine. The manual claims it's the best way to do it but I've found that a meter and Avia gets better and more acurate results.

That tech document gets deep into the finer points of setting up your system and explains why we do it.

Thanks for sharing.

F

[lakshman]

just thought i could share something as i am HT freak myself..

your most welcome

[tomdkat]

It would be great if you would post your HT gear so we can get an idea of what you're working with.

Peace...