Fight_club

I have a midiland 8200 if you are here i assume you know what it is.

These are possible probs with my system:

I am happy with it but i have heard alot about calibrating the sound fields latley can i calibrate this the same way ? with a spl meter and avia, also can anyone explain how to use the spl meter ( tripod listing levels???) I'm asking this because this system doesn't have a traditional receiver. The only controls on the receiver are volume for each speaker and delays for the center and surrounds.

I have my front 3 speakers mounted on my wall they are 3 feet above my tv is that ok ? should i have the center on my tv ? also my walls are weird so the left speaker is only about 2 feet away from the center and the right is about double that. is that a problem ?

my surrounds are 3 feet above the listing area and the ls is 2 ft way from listing are and the sr is about 4 ft away. The listening area is against a wall so i have the surrounds pointing in. any probs ?

This sounds pretty good to me but i want to get everything outta the ht experience

Also what is refrence level, how many db ?

At what level should I calibrate my system


plz help
any suggestions at all would be appreciated

Fight_club

can anyone help ???

also is there a decoder i can buy that will upgrade my system to dts ?

are there any recievers with g9 (9 pin din outputs) ? the sub has a g9 input for all the sound.

thanks

audrey

here's how to use a SPL meter:

set the meter to C weighting and the db scale to the value closest to what ever reference volume you want; e.g. 80db (set it lower if you normally listen at lower levels). hold (or better yet use a tripod) at ear height and point the meter toward the tv for all measurements (don't aim the meter directly at each speaker); make sure that you stand to the side of the meter to take the measurements so your body doesn’t block the sound.

i generally, turn the sub off to calibrate the FR/FL/C/SR/SL. then calibrate the sub to –6db of the reference level used to set the mains.

w/ respect to the speaker distances:

ideally the left and right front speaker s/d be equidistant, but sometimes "odd" configurations can't be helped. by properly adjusting the volume and speaker distances (if your receiver supports individual distance settings for each speaker) you can minimize the negative effects of your placement.

the height of your front speakers s/dn't cause a problem; mainly you want the center and L/R to be w/in 2ft vertical of each other. from your description, it sounds like they are in the same plane.

the "standard" reference level is 85db, but you should choose a value that is close to your normal listening levels (85 is pretty loud).

Fight_club

thanks for the spl meter help

so the right speaker is further away i should pump up the volume on that speaker wouldn't that throw off the spl meter readings?

also does calibrating make that much of a diffrence ?

audrey

you use the SPL meter to set the volume levels for each speaker; by adjusting the relative volume of each speaker so they meter to the same db level, you will even out the sound. so yes, in effect the volume will be set louder for the speaker that is the greatest distance, but from your listening position it will have the same relative volume as the closer ones.

in general, calibrating a system will make a significant improvment--but how much difference depends on how well it was set up to begin w/. The room, the care taken to calibrate, the speakers and associated electronics, etc. all play a factor as well.

good luck.