[HD-XA2] Setting up analog 5.1???

[cruzmisl]

Hi All,

I just got my XA2 and I was setting up the analog 5.1 so I can benefit from Dolby TrueHD. I was setting up the speakers in the player and I have a question on the speaker calibration.

The only option for levels is 0 to -12dB. The sub level is about 4-6dB lower than the mains/surrounds but I can't raise it through the DVD player. What's the best way to level out the settings? Should I reduce the others by 4dB or so to match?

Any suggestions? I'm not sure how accurate the internal test tones are. I could use my avia disc but it would take 5 times as long.

Thanks,
Joe

[RollsRoyce]

My XA-1 has the same issue. About the only thing you can do is to use your sub at 0 as the reference and reduce the others to that as you mentioned. If your receiver or pre-pro allows you to set the sub and other speaker's levels on a per-input basis as my old Pioneer used to, then you can do that instead of or in addition to the player's setup.

[cruzmisl]

Thanks! I don't think my MMC-1 has that ability I guess I'll just bring the other levels down.

[bobgpsr]

What I do for both my XA1 and my XA2 is to set the player's sub/LFE at 0 dB and all the other chans -5 dB down (although these chans can be tweaked). Then I boost the sub level another 10 dB at the sub's amp input gain control - not the AVR/Pre-Pro. Must use disc based test tones -- the players' test tones are messed up. After getting the 6 chan direct input calibrated, I then select a S/PDIF or other two channel input on the AVR and then have the AVR do another calibration (to get the internal to AVR sub level back down to cal). The speaker distance settings in the player should repeat what the AVR/Pre-Pro has set. Note that the above is for a AVR/Pre-Pro that does not re-digitize the 6 channel analog inputs and setting all speakers to SMALL in the player.

This is to get the normal +10 dB LFE boost plus the needed additional +5 dB boost when the player re-directs SMALL set chans to the sub/LFE channel. Have to do exactly the same thing for most DVD-A/SACD player's analog outputs also. Just a normal thing to do for audio industry practices.

For the XA2 you must have the player's internal SETUP menu have the SPDIF set to PCM. Kinda a XA2 bug. Otherwise the SMALL set chans do not get proper low freq crossover to the sub added to the sub/LFE channel. Yes, this is a bug workaround.

[cruzmisl]

So I would be best to use my avia test disc? I'm a bit confused about spdif output. Will setting it to PCM affect when I watch a regular DVD through the toslink?

[bobgpsr]

cruzmisl wrote:

So I would be best to use my avia test disc? I'm a bit confused about spdif output. Will setting it to PCM affect when I watch a regular DVD through the toslink?

Yes Avia works very well.

If you really feel that you want to use Toslink to your AVR when playing a standard DVD, then yes, you need to go through the hassle of setting the player's SPDIF back to BITSTREAM to get 5.1 or 6.1 decoded by your AVR.

But the player does have DD and dts decoders so you could leave your set up to always use the 5.1 analog player outputs.