Buying a receiver without "Auto Speaker Setup" (1 Viewer)

[Jim Mcc]

One receiver that I'm interested in is the Onkyo 414, but it does not have the Auto speaker setup feature. Is this really a big deal? I'm used to setting up the speaker levels manually, with a decibel meter, with my last couple receivers. What do you guys think?

 

[Mr645]

Set up can be done manually. The Db meter is good for setting speaker volumes, just download a white noise track or something. Then you can measure distances from the listening position to each speaker, check polarity carefully for each and then perhaps tweak a little as you listen to various movies or music.

 

[gene c]

You also won't have the Audyssey room eq feature then. Or DynamicVolume and Dynamic EQ. I personally don't care for the room eq results Audyssey, MCACC, etc. come up with but I am in the minority. Most people love'm. I do like the ability to manually adjust the eq but again, most people think manually adjusting an eq can do more harm then good. If you really like the way your speakers sound in your room without the need for equalization then you really don't need automatic setup/roomeq. But it is nice to have. The 515 does offer quite a bit more (7.1, Audyssey, advanced OSD, video processing, USB input). Only thing I don't like about Onkyo is they don't offer the better MultEQ untill the 8xx models. The lower models have 2EQ. Denon offers MultiEQ on the 16xx series.

 

[schan1269]

I have Aud on all my AVR...and don't use it. For the AVR that have DynVol and Dyn EQ, you don't have to use the room correction anyway(you do at first...but both work even when not using the Aud setting)

 

[Ed Moxley]

I used Audyssey to calibrate my system, and double checked it with my SPL meter afterwards. Except for Audyssey setting my speakers to "Large", it was spot on. I set the center speaker a couple of dB higher, to make sure dialog is loud enough, set sub to SVS' s suggestion, and everything is great. Still great after almost three years. So, I personally, like Audyssey a lot. It never hurts to double check with your dB meter though, so you won't wonder "what if"......... Good luck.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Thanks guys. It seems like every receiver I look at is missing 1 or more feature I want. I just can't win. The Onkyo 414 doesn't have auto speaker setup, the HK 1700 and Yamaha RX-V373 don't have HDMI Standby Pass Thru. This is why I've been waiting to see if any new receivers were announced at CES.