reference levels (1 Viewer)

[Richard cash]

i have seen posts about different levels you should set speakers but can't find what your speakes are supposed to be set to, the two numbers i have seen most are 85dB and 115dB. I have also seen some people talk about dolby reference levels.

could someone tell me what my speakers should be calibrated to

 

[Patrick Sun]

Ideally, if you calibrate you speakers so that they output 85dB SPL of pink noise at the seated location, whatever that volume level turns out to be, that would be your volume level to attain reference levels. The 115dB benchmark means that at the reference volume level, your system should also be able to put out peaks of audio up to 115dB when measured at the seated location (mainly the most centered seat in the room for viewing) when the source material demands it (a loud crash).

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Using a SPL Meter, Dolby Digital AV Receiver, the internal test tone playback = 75 dB (-30dBFS - Dolby Labs spec).
If you use one of the 2 Audio Calibration DVD, they recommend the following playback SPL for proper Calibration:
1) Video Essentials = 75 dB (-30dBFS)
2) AVIA = 85 dB (-20dBFS)
The following past/archived HT Forum thread was copied and reproduce here without any modifications: (THREAD COMMENT

I'm of the school of thought that a test disc such as Avia or VideoEssentials is the best way to calibrate, as it's coming from the exact machine you'll be doing most of your viewing on, i.e. the DVD player!

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Link Removed

 

[Richard cash]

""Ideally, if you calibrate you speakers so that they output 85dB SPL of pink noise at the seated location, whatever that volume level turns out to be, that would be your volume level to attain reference levels. "

i have heard of people mention pink noise before, can anyone clarify the meaning of this please

 

[Charles L.]

Richard Pink noise is undifferentiated signal having equal energy within each octave of the audio spectrum. It can be identified by listening for a "FFFF" sound. White sound is the sound your tv makes when theres not a signal on a given channel"SSSS" sounding. I've used white noise to help blend the subwoofer. Dolby reference levels are 105 db not 115.

 

[Steve Zimmerman]

Any one screen channel peak is 105 dB

LFE channel peak is 115 dB

Max total volume is 120 dB