Crossover Switch and Avia Help? (1 Viewer)

[scott_tinari]

I still need help on this. Again, I have the Energy Take 5 speakers and the Pioneer Elite VSX35 receiver. Now When setting my speaker levels using AVIA, there is a speaker and subwoofer test, that tells you to balance your subwoofer with each speaker for the IN-PHASE and OUT-PHASE and it says to have a friend to switch on and off the crossover switch on the reciever to see if you sub is setup correctly with each speaker, What crossover switch are they talking about. I have 2 swicthes on my Energy SUb 8" one for the crossover and one for the volume, now they are not switchs they are turn nobs, so how do I do this?. Also When setting your levels for your sub to make them sound even with each speaker, I cant get the sub to read 75DB like they say because I have my sub setting in my reciever the lowest it can go at -10 and I have my nob on my sub the lowest it can go and the needle on the SPL meter is way beyond 85DB, If I louden anyone of them its going to be even louder and the needle is of the charts, how do I calaberate my speakers to my sub at 75DB?. I have my master Volume when doing all the levels at 00DB Reference, and it is loud when setting all the levels. Anyone help please.

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

First, you have to have all speakers set to small and set the subwoofer's crossover knob to its maximum setting before you do the subwoofer calibration. Set the subwoofer status on your receiver to YES (not the PLUS setting, which will send bass to both your sub and your speakers, and you don't want to do that with the Take 5's). The subwoofer calibration tone on the Avia disc is not encoded in the LFE channel, and therefore you MUST set your speakers to small (which you should be doing with the Take 5 setup anyway). Your receiver's crossover should most likely be set to 80hz, given the frequency response of the Take 5's.
Set all your speaker levels on the receiver to 0. Then, start the left front speaker test tone and turn the master volume up until the SPL meter reads 85db. Then, go through the other speaker tones to get each speaker at 85db, using the individual level controls (NOT the master volume). Next, go to the subwoofer calibration section. The sub tone should now come almost entirely from the subwoofer (although some of the tone may come from your speakers depending on your receiver's crossover -- this is normal), and you should be able to dial it in to match the same level as your speakers. I recommend turning the sub level control on your receiver to about -5 and then using the knob on the sub to adjust the level.
The IN-PHASE and OUT-OF-PHASE section is to adjust the phase of your sub in relation to the other speakers. Your subwoofer should have a PHASE switch or a switch labeled 0 degrees/180 degrees. This is to ensure that bass from the subwoofer is not cancelling out bass from the speakers in the crossover range. You'll most likely want this switch set to 0 degrees, however, room acoustics can throw the sound from your subwoofer out of phase. The phase tests on Avia are for comparison, so you can try the phase switch at both settings and see which one produces more bass in the crossover range.