Thread: Professional Audio Calibration?

I was wondering if a professional calibration on my 3.1 system is worth the cost as compared to letting the audyssey 6 position setup run and setting the speaker size and xover right?

Denon 1909
Klipsch 12" Sub
Def Tech Fronts and Center

Would prob let Gregg Loewen do it while he's over for my plasma

Honestly, unless you have super high end gear Audyssey is going to be perfectly fine.

I agree. I don't think it will make that much of a difference.

S~

Thanks. The price he gave me to add that next Friday is REAL cheap, and even he said it may not be worthwhile. Im going to let him do it once, just to watch someone who is a professional do it. I like Gregg, he explains what he's doing and why while he's doing it.

I've heard great things about Gregg so I'm sure he'll treat you right. I'm curious how much it costs.

I'll PM ya.

Ok, so we spent a little time on speaker placement, crossover settings(per thx), speaker measurement, then we turned the audyssey eq OFF (dont tell anyone at avs ) and then tweaked with his radio shack analog meter.

Im watching I Robot now, and feel it sounds better than ever. One thing Gregg stated is that Audyssey is OK but far from perfect. He also said it was set up for a square/rectangular room, and when you have weird shaped rooms like mine its not as effective.

We basically set the speakers in a way he recommended (better sound field), measured distance off, entered, set everything at 80hz, and then adjusted the levels.

All I can say is I Robot sounds very good, and I feel Im getting more side to side surround out of it. Could be the speaker placement or not, but it is def giving more of a surround feel.

The problem with sound is that it is so dependent on what is in the room. A TV image is fairly easy to calibrate because you really only have to worry about ambient light and most situations it can be controlled to a level that works well without much effort (i.e. don't have sunlight beaming right on the screen).

With sound you have to worry about the shape of the room, what is on the walls, where the furniture is, what materials are on all the objects in the room, etc. This is where a dedicated theater room works best when you can have a square/rectangle room with symmetrical furniture placement, and have walls that are all treated to minimize reflections.

Audyssey is a huge compromise, but tends to do a fairly good job, but it is not going to cover for the furniture arrangement or wall treatments.

I agree. I think for plug and play, the audyssey does a great job, especially the 6 and higher position units.

Some of the difference coulda been in my speaker placement too, but I feel it did improve the fullness of the sound.

Plus the fact I had my fronts and center at 80hz and the sub at 120. Gregg had me change the sub to 80 also.