Different test tone levels from receiver and SACD player? (1 Viewer)

[JonStern]

Hi all,

My system has just the front and surround speakers--no center, back, or sub. All the speakers are 6' from the listening position and on 30" stands.

I have the speakers set as FRONT-LARGE, SURROUND-SMALL, CENTER-NONE, SUB-NONE on both the Denon 1905 and Sony SACD player.

Using the Denon receiver's speaker level setup test tones and the Radio Shack SPL meter, all the channels showed the same level without any adjustment needed.

However, when repeating the test using the Sony SACD player's test tones and the Denon set to "Ext. In" (i.e. the multichannel/passthru input), the surrounds played at a noticeably lower level, maybe 5 or 6 db.

Can someone tell me why the two sets of test tones produce such different results?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Brian L]

Most likely the frequency content of the test tones is not the same resulting in different readings via the SPL meter. One or the other could have encoding errors, but I have found that no two test discs produce the same readings due primarily to differences in the frequency content.

Not to cause undo concern, but some Hi Rez players will not redirect bass from the .1 channel to the mains when No Sub is selected. I think I also read that some do not redirect the center when no center is selected.

If any of your SACDs have test tones, you might try those and make sure that you are not losing anything.

BGL

 

[John Garcia]

Nearly all receivers bypass all receiver settings when using the multichannel inputs, meaning no tone controls or bass management are applied to these inputs. The assumption is that your source is handling this, since it is an analog signal. Some receivers can adjust the levels of the multichannel inputs separately from the normal receiver settings.

Don't list your gear in your signature or all your posts will show up in searches that include any of your gear.