PLEASE help with Volume Levels..

 

Anonymous
What is your volume levels set at on your receiver?

My fronts are at +5
My centre is at +7
my surrounds are +10
My Sub is set at +8

do these sound right? I heard to leave the fronts at 0 and turn up the surrounds to +2 and leave the sub at 0 also.

But when i put the fronts at 0 and the surrounds at +2 i cant hear the rears.

I really would like to know what is everyone else as their volume settings on the speakers.. Thanks...
 

Johnny
The volume levels of speakers vary greatly from situation to situation. It all depends on room size, what type of furniture and carpet you have in your room, and distance from each speaker to the main listening position. My advice is to go buy a relatively cheap SPL meter from Radio Shack. I bought one for $50 and it made speaker calibration a snap. When I calibrated mine, I used the center speaker as the starting point (0) since it is the speaker that gets used the most in movies. I then calibrated the rest of the speakers to be equal to the center. If you can't afford or can't find an SPL meter, just do the calibration "by ear". Using your test tones, raise and lower the levels of each speaker until they sound the same.
 

Johnny is correct. For me to tell you what my settings are would do you no good. Do you have the same model speakers at all locations? If not then aside from the factors mentioned by Johnny you're also dealing with differences in efficiencies of the speakers. Also, do what sounds best to you. I went through and calibrated the speakers. Then while listening to a movie I turned up the rear surrounds by 1.5 dB. Is this correct? It's probably not what the director intended. But it sounds best to me. So what do I care.
 

Anonymous
Thank's for the info guy's. Does your surround speakers have to be very loud or not? How much use do they get when playing movies like Matrix. Is the sound mostly from your front speakers? It is very hard to adjust my rears because they are In Wall mounted and are on a gable ceiling about 10ft high. The room is about 24' x 16'. speakers are 10 feet apart including the SUB.

So when i turn up the fronts a little i can't hear the rears very well. I did the test by "ear" but no luck. It is very hard. I will play around with it till i like the sound i guess.

I am new to this Home Theatre stuff and having lot of problems adjusting the receiver to match the speakers.

Also when my volume on the receiver is at -25 the speakers don't sound that loud. That's all the info i have so far. thanks...
 

Johnny
Anon,

Like I said earlier, I think it is a matter of personal preference. When I watch movies, I like to turn my center channel and surrounds up a little compared to where they are when I listen to music. However, do not expect to get that much sound from your surrounds. The rear speakers are used mainly for effect, like when a jet is flying by or a huge explosion. The center channel is the speaker that gets most of the action in movies as it carries the dialogue. I mean, don't get me wrong, you should definately hear SOMETHING from the surrounds, but there should by no means be nearly as much sound coming from them when compared to the center and front channels during movies.
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