rickneuropa

For what it's worth to others who'd like to setup their TL to the best, seemless sounding surround possible, here is what I did tonight with a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter (digital, using c weighted and slow settings) I set the bass and treble settings to flat (0) and used my DVD-Audio test disc that I bought from Towerrecords.com. Chesky's Ultimate DVD Surround Sampler & 5.1 Setup Disc see info here:http://www.chesky.com/catalog/body_c...274&CATEGORY=2
It's a DVD-Audio disc that one can use to calibrate your system and also has various songs mixed in DVD-A 5.1 surround. The test material is on a different chapter than the default, so it was nice to find out how to change chapters on this forum!

Down to the settings, positioning the sound meter on a tripod in the drivers seat, I faced it at a 45 degree angle facing up towards the celing, and forward. I did not move the sound meter with each measurement. What I found was quite interesting. The center channel, as many have found, is on the weak side. I set the meter to read 80db I measured the left channel at 80, then moved to the center, I cranked it up to +6, and was still 2 db's off, so I set the fader to rear +1 to equalize the front stage...so now I was only off 1 db between the center and the left and right. The L-R balance stayed at 0, as the right front measured 80db. I was hoping the rears didn't get too loud from the +1 setting on the fade. It measured perfectly 80db for the right rear and left rear, so, so far, I'm within +/- 1db for the 5 speakers. The sub also registered a tad underpowered. Some experts say to set the sub equal to the other speakers, and some say add up to 10db. I had to crank the sub up +6 to get the reading to be equal to the other 5.

To recap, the settings on the unit are: +6 for the center, +6 for the sub, and +1 rear (which seems to boost the bass a bit).

There are a lot of test tones on this disc. I decided to listen to most of them. First, I'd like to point out, that all speakers need to be "broken in" before they perform at their peak. Ususally by playing music loud for about 10 hours to let the speakers loosen up so to speak, and sound smoother, and deeper. Well the bass note test on this disc seemed to really improve the bass responce on my system after it was run. Obviously this helped break in my speakers. This test is also used to pinpoint any rattles you have, and boy did it find some....right in the back window, and in the front pockets of the car, where I stored the DVD-A's... This test starts at 20Htz and goes up from there. And you can hear the 20 Hz tone just fine, and feel it all the way up. So this system is capable of that.

After I had all the settings dialed in, I popped in some DVD-A's. The Police DTS disc sounded so good now. The midrange really improved with the front speakers leveled, and the bass is so much deeper and smoother. Sloop John B on the Beach Boys Pet sounds DVD-A has this fantastic deep Bass line that felt soo good. HOW OLD IS THIS RECORDING????? The fantastically crystal clear guitar at the begginning of Roundabout on Yes's Magnification, was breathtaking!!

There is still some shortcoming in the treble area I feel in this system, and the power could use a little more umph on some discs, but otherwise, I recommend getting a test disc to really dial in your cars system, as I'm sure my settings won't be the same for everyone elses. And the bass tones alone are worth it, just to get your system loosened up!!! Good luck! I'm much happier with the results now, it may have headed off my thoughts of putting my sub and an amp in the trunk for a while.

TLover

^^^I'm going to check it out. Thanks for that.

dAveSPEC

Thanks for the research ...What are your bass and treble settings if you don't mind me asking?

rickneuropa

I have yet to settle on a Bass and treble setting...right now I've got bass set to +1 and treble to +3 I'm going to use my Audio test CD to see where I'm lacking accross the 20-20khz sweep. It's not real easy to do it with a sound meter, but that's what I will use.

dieselNJ

Changed to your recommended settings and the sound is fantastic. The front soundstage is so much fuller along with an overall gain in the surround experience. Great post!!

rickneuropa

Thanks, after driving around with the new settings, it's like listening to a whole new system. The surrounds are so much better now, and the vocals are clearer. It's amazing what a little measurement and dialing in can do to a systems' performance. Definitly recommened for home surround systems as well. The surround performance is so seemless with dialed in properly!

Pankul

WOW ! a great POST . I will change mine tonight

DarkWraith33

Great post... And just MAKING SURE since I'm slow...

When you say +6, that is moving the slider to the RIGHT, correct? -6, for example, would be to the LEFT?

What would be AWESOME, is if someone would take a picture of their sound setup screen when set to optimum levels and post the pic!!! (Or PM me and I can host the picture on my lil website....)

That would clear up any confusion and could become a sticky so that we all have the perfect sound setup!

Any pics?

rickneuropa

Well unfortunatly, I have the non-nav version, so I can't take pictures of my setup, as mine would say what I typed. +6 is the maximum for the non nav. So adjust yours accordingly.

*update* I checked my levels again last night, it seems that when I took the levels above, it was before the speakers broke in from the bass tests. The bass is so much more pronounced now, that the meter measured the sub output well above 80. I adjusted it down to 0 for the subwoofer adjustment to get it close to 80. However, since I like more bass, I set it to +2. Subwoofer adjustment as it says in the test DVD, is merely a guide compared to the other speakers, as you should adjust it to how you like it. Also, I did adjust the balance to the right +1. to get all speakers even.

So my new settings are:
Center +6 (maximum)
Balance +1 (right)
Fader +1 (rear)
Subwoofer +2 (after the break in test)

Seminole

Thanks for your information and hard work. Did you conduct the same test with XM radio, and, if so, do you suggest the same settings?

rickneuropa

There really isn't a way to do it with XM, as the test tones have to come from a source. Setting up the car with the proper levels for DVD-A, will set the system itself for equalization, not just the DVD-A source. so once you've set it, your good to go with all sources. However, it will only produce as well as the input it's given, and my experience has been, that XM is like listening to Mp3 files in 128 Kbps or lower, as the compression is too great to have "CD" quality output... It's not CD quality! I'm dissapointed in Satellite radio, after being told it's digital, and CD quality. Because it's far from CD quality. In fact, sometimes FM sounds better.

rickneuropa

Pankul, Darkwraith, tell me how you like it once the change was made. Also, did you order the test disc to break in the sub and speakers? Just curios.