Sub setup/calibration. Help needed please.

[P-P-S-S]

I have a BK XLS200 sub that i am using with my home cinema setup (see my signature). I have got a RadioShack SPL meter and am waiting to receive a Rives audio test CD2 and a BFD DSP1124P and intend to use REW because i am sure that my sub will need the latter two. I have done quite a bit of reading regarding sub calibration so far, however i find it difficult to get to grips with the task properly (bear in mind that my initial knowledge on subs and electonis was/is minimal). Would it be possible please for those here who have experience to guide me on tis task as to what i should do? I would be really grateful. Dont get me wrong i am not being lazy, i just dont seem to be very clever/practical when it comes to this procedure Maybe this could serve as a guide for all those begginers who find themselves in the same position as me.

To give you a complete idea here is what i have done so far:

I have done my first setup using the provided Audyssey that came with my A/V receiver (Onkyo 605). The results were as follows:

SP Level:

Left: +1 dB
Cntr: +1 dB
Right: +1 dB
Surr R: -3 dB
Surr L: -3 dB
Sub: +1dB

Distance (I presume this is linked to the delay)

Front L+R: 2.7m
Cntr: 2.4m
Surr L+R: 0.6m
Sub: 2.1m

Crossover (I changed all the ones below to 80Hz)

Front: Full Band
Cntr: 40Hz
Surr: 100Hz
LPF of LFE: 100Hz

The sub (XLS200 DF) has been connected via both the mono cable and the Neutrik Speakon cable. The setting s at the back at the time of running Audissey were:

High level gain set in the middle
Low level gain set in the middle
Filter: Out LFE
Frequency: 80Hz
Phase is on 0 (i have tried the 180 position as well but so far i cant really tell much difference between the two)

Any advice so far? Do i need to make any adjustments?

Merry Christmas.

[Otto]

Hi eliot, and Merry Christmas!

I think you're OK for now, given the tools that you have. At this point, I think you have to wait for your test disc, and get REW going. REW will tell you where/if you need help! Since you already have the SPL meter, I'd probably get REW working. You don't need the BFD or the test disc for REW to work, so start there.

Good luck!

[P-P-S-S]

Otto wrote:

Hi eliot, and Merry Christmas!

I think you're OK for now, given the tools that you have. At this point, I think you have to wait for your test disc, and get REW going. REW will tell you where/if you need help! Since you already have the SPL meter, I'd probably get REW working. You don't need the BFD or the test disc for REW to work, so start there.

Good luck!

Otto, thank you for replying. You'll have to excuse my ignorancce but what do i do with the SPL and REW? That's where my problem stands, I dont know what to do. If possile (and if it is not too much to ask) could you give me a sort of step by step guide? Hope i am not being too much of a pain.

[Otto]

Hi eliot.

Basically, you connect the SPL meter to the "line-in" of your PC's sound card, then the sound card's "line-out" to your receiver's analog input. REW will generate a sweep of tones to the receiver that can then be measured by the microphone (the SPL meter) that's connected to your PC.

You'll have to connect the sound card out to the receiver with a stereo cable. Similarly, you'll have to have a stereo cable going into the "line-in" port of the sound card. You will only connect to one side of that cable with the SPL meter as it's a mono output. REW defaults to the left, so it's probably just easiest to go in on that side.

As you may know, the top of every HTS page is a link to the REW manual. There's so much good information there! If you haven't had a chance to check it out, have a read and see what you think. It looks like this, and you can click here as well:

rewlogo.png

[P-P-S-S]

Thank you for all that info mate. Since i have only a laptop it seems like i need to buy an external sound card. Is the Creative Soundblaster Live 24bit external soundcard the reccomended one? Or is there any that are better?

[Otto]

Hey there! I'm not sure if there's an officially recommended soundcard, but I would guess that the SB Live external will be OK. I've used various SB cards (usually PCI cards in a desktop machine) and other variants, and they've all been fine. SB has good support and adoption all around, so you should be OK.