Anthem AVM 20 setup (1 Viewer)

[Gary_Z]

Can someone please help me with 2 things about the Anthem AVM20. First is, what is Req-Eq? I only have a 5.1 setup, does that matter? I can turn on THX, and when I hit the THX button again it goes to Req-Eq.. I cannot tell when it does by turning it on and off.

Also what Digital Normalization? I see this messege sometimes when switching sources or first turning the unit on and will have a value such as -12db after....

 

[Mifr44]

Gary,

Also what Digital Equilization? I see this messege sometimes when switching sources and will have a value such as -12db after....

That's a new one on me. Maybe someone else knows what's going on.

Michael

 

[Gary_Z]

Sorry I meant Normalization....
Does anyone elses unit give this messege?

 

[Bill Kane]

I don’t know what the DN feature performs on the Anthem 20, but FWIW here’s a brief description of the process (culled 1/25 from AVS Forum, by poster “hwc”)

The "dialog norm" parameter is THE key element in Dolby's reference playback level scheme…the recording engineer is supposed to tell the Dolby encoder what his average levels in the mix are by setting the “dialog norm" parameter. Then, on playback, the Dolby decoder takes this information and adjusts the entire soundtrack up or down (in the digital domain) so that the average levels (dialog) play back at exacty -31 dBFs, that is, 74dB at reference level. The purpose is indeed to ensure that various types of recordings playback at Dolby reference levels.

If the recording eningeer measures his average levels at -31dbFS and sets the encorder parameter properly, then the Dolby decoder doesn't adjust the level during playback. If he sets any other value, the decoder will increase or decrease the overall playback level up or down to achieve the desired -31dbFS result.

One of the reasons that Dolby soundtracks are often recorded "too hot" is that the engineer fails to enter the "dialog norm" parameter. In this case, the default setting of the Dolby encoder is used (-31 dB). But, if the actual average levels of the soundtrack are really 4 dB louder (which means the engineer should have entered a -27dbFS dialog norm), the Dolby decoder will fail to attenuate the levels properly and the soundtrack will playback 4dB too loud. This is very common.

It's also one reason that DTS soundtracks are almost always "too hot". DTS doesn't have a "dialog norm" parameter, so if the soundtrack's average levels are recorded at a typical -27dBFS instead of the desired -31dbFS, the soundtrack will playback 4 dB louder than DD.

 

[Mifr44]

Okay, Digital Normalization. I think Bill has given you a nice, technical description of it. For a brief description from the AVM-20 owner's manual, see section 5.5, page 24.

Michael

 

[Gary_Z]

Yes thank you for that great explaination. I usually get messeges that say offset -12 to -14db range.