Setting speaker distances...How i do it.. (1 Viewer)

[MikeGee]

I'm wondering if anyone here tweaks their Pioneer 1014 or any other receiver by ear?
I let the automatic MCACC do its thing and finished watching a movie and it seemed to be way off as far as making transitions from sound passing from the front to rear channels.

How i adjust my settings on mine is i go into the manual MCACC menu and for Speaker distance i go through each speaker and it will continuously play a test tone.. What i do then is play around with the settings.. say i'm doing the front right speaker.. i close my eyes while adjusting the distance (on the remote) until i get a sound that sounds exactly where the speaker is...
The problem i find is that the MCACC doesnt do this at all accuratly.. i'm not sure if this is how its supposed to be done i'm kinda curious if anyone else uses a similar method or thinks i'm nuts... Cause i rewatched certain scenes in the movie and now the transitions seem dead on.
The test film was X-men 2

 

[Shoaib Lateef]

take a tape measure and actually measure the distance from each speaker to the primary listening area.

the settings on your receiver should be in feet or meters...measure the distance from your front, center, and surrounds and plug those #'s into your receiver settings.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Mike.

Those test-tones are to adjust the VOLUME for the different speakers, not the distances. Distances are a different matter.

Shoaib had the right suggestion. Measure from your head at the central seating position to the tweeters on each speaker to set the distances.

Most people who adjust the individual speaker volumes by ear are suprised when they buy the $40 SPL meter from Radio Shack and see how far off they are. Check the Primer/FAQ on speaker calibration for info about how we do it manually. : Home Theater means Accuracy and Calibration

 

[MikeGee]

Actually yeah i'm going to buy an SPL meter except i'm in Quebec... i'm not sure about everywhere else in canada but Radioshack was bought out by circuit city and they do not sell radioshack's spl meter.
I was told by the salesman there that they will all be returning to the store with the circuit city name on it. All i know is that to my ear right now it sounds awesome, So once i get my spl meter i can't wait to see how much off i am.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Well....

Look - dont worry as much about the SPL meter until you have done lots of adjusting of your speaker positions, putting feet under the center, using a laser-pointer to adjust the toe-in of the L/R speakers, etc.

The MCACC likely got you close, then your hand-tweeking to fix any problems is probably going to be fine. The MCACC is likely a lot better than what most people use (which is nothing unless they hunt for the info on level-adjusting).

Enjoy your system and dont sweat the SPL meter for now.