speaker calibration with test tone??? (1 Viewer)

[brettecantwell]

Ive been tinkering with my setup and my receiver has a test tone to set the speakers to be equal.
I dont really know how accurate this would be...but i tried using a sound meter smartphone app. I can get the fronts, center and surrounds within 1-2 db easily. The problem is when i go to set the subwoofer... If i set it to the same dB level the i have to crank the sub up ALOT ( on the knob and in the AVR).
If i set the sub to the same dB as the mains the sub seems like its WAY too much. It seems like the best subwoofer sound is with it set 10-15 db less according to the smartphone app.
Once again i dont really know if this app i tried using is a good accurate tool to use. I dont really even know what the proper method is really...
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Robert_J]

You are close but your AVR test tones are not reliable and the mic on your phone isn't designed to work with low frequencies. To do this correctly, you need a Radio Shack SPL meter (preferably the older, analog model) and a calibration DVD or Blu-ray. If you are only wanting to calibrate the audio, there are a bunch of used Video Essentials DVDs all over the web for about $10 each.
Not only will $50 of equipment help you with setting your speaker levels, we can go one step further and plot your sub's in-room frequency response. But only with the Shack's analog model. Anything else will not work correctly.

 

[schan1269]

Another place to find good sound quality check tones...
Depending on the quality of your computer(based on its sound card, and if you have SPDIF or HDMI) you won't have to burn a CD.
http://www.audiocheck.net/

 

[Jason Charlton]

For what it's worth, I have found that auto-calibration tools have a tough time getting the subwoofer level set to exactly the way I want it.

I think that the important thing is that you got "in the ballpark" with the rest of the speakers - it's certainly better than no attempt to calibrate whatsoever.

In my opinion, when it comes to the subwoofer level, "personal preference" comes into play and provides a lot of leeway to how your system can be set up.

Don't get me wrong - Robert_J is absolutely correct that if you want to get an accurate calibration, you'll need better tools, but if you'd rather not spend the cash on it, I wouldn't sweat it too much if you set the subwoofer to a level that you feel is comfortable (you'll probably have to listen to several different movies/CDs and find a happy medium, since all media are mixed differently, and you won't necessarily be comparing apples to apples in any case).

 

[Robert_J]

For what it's worth, I have found that auto-calibration tools have a tough time getting the subwoofer level set to exactly the way I want it.

A lot of times that is because the sub's in-room response isn't flat. With pink noise, it's hard to tell what frequency is really the loudest but that's what measures loudest on an meter or calibration mic and that's how the level is set.
When I ran MCACC on my sub, it was horrible to say the least. There was no low bass at all. The mid-bass was boomy. When I cranked it up a little so the low end would sound OK, the mid-bass was bloated like a cheap car stereo. That's when I plotted my sub's in-room response and found I had a 15db peak at 54 hz. I used an EQ to tame the peak and boost the low end a little. I re-ran MCACC and it sounded awesome.