Rear surrounds volume level....

[*** Nomis1 ***]

Hello all, been doing a little tinkering with my setup the last couple of days and was wondering what volume level you all have your rear surrounds set to?

[Buddy Christ]

How far away from the listener?

It is "ambient" sound so not overwhelming.
You will know when you play something like Days of Thunder. When the cars go around and hot the back stretch, if it feels "realistic" you are good. You really have to play around.

IMO

[*** Nomis1 ***]

Originally Posted by Blu2U

How far away from the listener?

It is "ambient" sound so not overwhelming.
You will know when you play something like Days of Thunder. When the cars go around and hot the back stretch, if it feels "realistic" you are good. You really have to play around.

IMO

Im 9ft 1 inch away from my TV. Rears are then approx 5ft away from me.

[Buddy Christ]

Originally Posted by *** Nomis1 ***

Im 9ft 1 inch away from my TV. Rears are then approx 5ft away from me.

Like what angle? Each 5 ft right behind or like 110 to the side 2.5 feet each.
But really the best way is to keep playing around until the sound feels real. Like if you crank up the rears, it sounds wrong!! Too low and meh. I have used Days of Thunder a lot to calibrate. If when the car is behind you and its louder, well then thats wrong.


I also have to say that I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night and many others will have better advice. Thats just my 3 cents (inflation)

[DaPenguinPimP]

I am having trouble adjusting the volume for the rear speakers on my Panasonic HTIB, any help?

[js666]

How 'bout calibrating with an SPL meter???

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by *** Nomis1 ***

Hello all, been doing a little tinkering with my setup the last couple of days and was wondering what volume level you all have your rear surrounds set to?

Mine are about ten feet back; I cranked them up +3db.

[solarrdadd]

I have all 7.1 of my speaker levels set to 0db and set the proper distance from the listener; it sounds fine with me, in fact I love it better than when i used the built in calibration. I also have all speakers set to 80hz. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it because i'm sure that many of you will say it's wrong, i'm saying it sounds great to me. i'm also saying that you should do some experimenting with the system. sometimes what is supposed to be "right & proper" for the individual, just isn't for an individual! get it right for you, not us!

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by js666

How 'bout calibrating with an SPL meter???

Exactly. I just added a new rear for 6.1 and set it up in the meantime for +2, while my side surrounds are +1 .... this may all change once I have time to properly calibrate it though.

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

I have all 7.1 of my speaker levels set to 0db and set the proper distance from the listener; it sounds fine with me, in fact I love it better than when i used the built in calibration. I also have all speakers set to 80hz. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it because i'm sure that many of you will say it's wrong, i'm saying it sounds great to me. i'm also saying that you should do some experimenting with the system. sometimes what is supposed to be "right & proper" for the individual, just isn't for an individual! get it right for you, not us!

If it sounds great to you, that's the most important thing.

For the longest time, I thought "I need to sacrifice the "Sweet Spot" if necessary in order to provide a more pleasant viewing/listening experience for the whole room..... and my guests.

Just as I thought.... If most people like ribbon tweeters (for instance), I should use them, even if I like something better..... as my media room's goal is to appeal to a large audience..... I shouldn't be so selfish... it's certainly not about ME ME ME.

BUT.

Then I realized.... most people can't tell the difference between my modest setup, the most outrageously extravagant setups, or my old boomy piece of junk setup........ (other than the look of grandeur, or lack their of) Many people just aren't that focused on their surroundings I guess. So with that said, I make sure to take care of #1

My wife certainly notices the larger things, like purchasing new speakers etc...... but my countless hours of calibrating and tweaking are lost on her..... but I notice, so that's all that matters!

[mtbkr]

i have my surounds set at +1 on the left and +4 on the right because of room acoustics. when sitting in the sweet spot i cant tell which speaker the sound is coming from, it just fills the room and the ambient sounds are dead on. surround panning i think has a lot to do with the timber matching, but holy crap my new axiom qs8's are awesome.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

I have all 7.1 of my speaker levels set to 0db and set the proper distance from the listener; it sounds fine with me, in fact I love it better than when i used the built in calibration. I also have all speakers set to 80hz. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it because i'm sure that many of you will say it's wrong, i'm saying it sounds great to me. i'm also saying that you should do some experimenting with the system. sometimes what is supposed to be "right & proper" for the individual, just isn't for an individual! get it right for you, not us!

YES! If someone has the trepidation to learn the finer aspects of their receiver's operation, custom setting the speakers can result in a more personally pleasing result.

Auto-calibration tools can be of great help, are are definitely recommended for the beginner and those looking for setup simplicity. The "tweakers" love to tinker!

I have done more tweaking with the speaker volumes than anything else, including the 9-band, multichannel equalizers on my Pioneer Elite SC-05.

Currently, my surrounds are set at +3dB (with a 0dB front speaker reference setting), and my surround-backs are at +5dB. They absolutely do not overtake my fronts, and have a nice presence to them. I've always liked a little more presence in the surround channels. My center channel speaker is set at +4dB. Crossover for all is 80Hz.

At reference volumes, movies sound superb!

[-DLS-]

Originally Posted by js666

How 'bout calibrating with an SPL meter???

+1.. I set mine up before getting an SPL meter and had them evenly at +2 for surrounds and rear surrounds while my fronts were set to 0.. All 4 surrounds are about 4-5 feet from the center seat of my front row. Each speaker is now set at all different levels after using an SPL meter but the sounds is so much better now for 5.1 and 7.1 movies. I couldn't have been more off trying to set it myself. The difference between my lowest setting and my highest setting for surrounds is 8db since one side of my room is kind of open to another room and the other 3 speakers are mounted on or right against the wall.
Try it out with an SPL meter even if you like your settings now.. you might like it even more.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by js666

How 'bout calibrating with an SPL meter???

+1, I strongly suggest getting an SPL meter, it will provide the proper balance you are looking for from not only your rear surrounds, but for all of your speakers and sub too.

[xneox]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

My wife certainly notices the larger things, like purchasing new speakers etc...... but my countless hours of calibrating and tweaking are lost on her..... but I notice, so that's all that matters!

We're so very much on the same page.

I was doing the video calibration of the V10 last weekend using the DVE disc...and I was at the point where you view the color bars through the supplied filters. She came walking through the room, took one look at me peering through the white piece of cardboard with blue, red, and green plastic lenses on it, and just started laughing.

Later she said "I'm sure we have the best picture possible out of anyone we know with all the crazy tweaking you do...NO ONE we know would do any of that".

And she's right. So to echo what you said, Beta Man, please yourself first (while always considering the WAF for major purchases/decor changes), and all of your friends will be in awe by default.

As to the OP, I used the test tone to adjust the volume of all channels so that they sound as equal as possible from my viewing position (after setting the distance). Wherever they ended up is wherever they ended up.

[DarkDune]

Originally Posted by *** Nomis1 ***

Hello all, been doing a little tinkering with my setup the last couple of days and was wondering what volume level you all have your rear surrounds set to?

You could do like we do, and "up" the dB a bit on the Surrounds.

The other night I got creeped out watching Star Trek the Complete First Season (believe it or not) when the Enterprise scared the crap out of me when it flew by from back to front



They really do rock as high -- in dB and height -- as they are. Also, we moved the couches off the wall about 2 feet, and that gives us better ambient sound

[DonRSD]

get a pair of dipole/bipole surrounds sound speakers to 'disperse' the sound as it should be.

besides my onkyo 806, the polk fxi3's i bought = the best thing i have bought.
i used to have a pair of polk monitor 30s yet unless you sat in the 'sweet spot' you couldnt hear both speakers........with the bipole/dipole speakers everyone hears everything.
the best part is when people come over and something with surround sound is in they look around to see the speakers then start asking questions as to why they look funny (speakers are angles outwards @ 45 degree angles)

check my gallery for pics