Arcam AVR400 manual Essential Setup, Speaker types, Speaker Distances, Speaker Levels

essential

setup

Before you use your AVR400 it is essential that you enter some information into the Setup menus about your speaker configuration. This allows the AVR400 to process any surround sound digital source to exactly match your system and give you the ultimate surround sound experience.

There are three pieces of vital information which are outlined in the sections: ‘Speaker Types’, ‘Speaker Distances’ and ‘Speaker Levels’.

The way you enter this information manually into the AVR400 is given later in the ‘Setup Menus’ section on page E-34. The settings can also be established automatically using the Arcam Auto Speaker Setup function. However it is important to understand why these speaker settings must be entered, which is why this section is presented first.

Speaker types

You need to set the type of speakers that you have connected to your AVR400:

Large	capable of full frequency range reproduction
Small	not capable of full frequency range
	reproduction at the low frequency end
None	speaker not present in your configuration

The terms ‘Large’ and ‘Small’ do not necessarily relate to the physical size of your speakers. As a rule of thumb, if a speaker cannot reproduce a flat frequency response down to about 40Hz (and very few can!) it is often better to consider them as ‘Small’ for setup purposes of home cinema.

When a speaker is set to ‘Small’, very low frequency sounds are redirected away from that speaker to a ‘Large’ speaker or a subwoofer, which are far better suited to reproducing these low frequency sounds.

Note that it is not possible to set all speakers to ‘Small’ unless there is a subwoofer in your speaker configuration. If you do not have a subwoofer, you will be forced to set your front speakers to ‘Large’.

(Advanced users may wish to automatically override the ‘Small’ speaker setting for purely stereo music listening when not watching movies. This can be achieved in the ‘Input Config.’ menu – see page E-35.)

Crossover frequency

If you have set any speakers as being Small, then you will be required to set a value for the crossover frequency. This is the frequency below which signals are filtered away from these Small speakers and redirected to Large speakers or the subwoofer (if present). A frequency

of 80Hz is often a good starting point, however you will probably have to experiment with different values to find the best value for your system or consult your speaker handbook.

MCH sub level

If a subwoofer is present, this setting allows for a 10dB compensation on the subwoofer output when using the MCH input as required by many DVD-A players with audio outputs.

Use Channels 6+7 for

If not used in the main zone, it is possible to assign the Surround Back channels to bi-amp the Front Left/Right channels or to provide an amplified output to Zone 2.

Speaker Distances

It is essential for the distance from each speaker to the listening position to be accurately measured and entered into the ‘Setup’ menu. This ensures that the sounds from the various speakers arrive at the listening position at the correct time to recreate a realistic surround effect. The distance can be entered in centimetres or inches.

Speaker Levels

Finally the levels of all the speakers in the system need to be adjusted to match each other at the listening position, again to create a proper surround effect. To help with this the AVR400 can generate a test noise for each speaker which should be measured with a sound pressure level (SPL) meter. The meter should be set to ‘C’ weighting and slow response. The level of noise measured at the listening position from each speaker should be adjusted on the Speaker Trims page of the Setup menu so that the meter reads 75dB SPL. It does not matter what the system volume setting of the AVR400 is before turning the test noise on as the volume setting is over-ridden for the duration of the speaker noise test.

There are several basic SPL meters on the market at reasonable prices aimed at home cinema enthusiasts. Check your local technology store, search online or ask your dealer.

If you do not have an SPL meter, you can try to adjust the noise level of each speaker by ear. In this case it is not possible to adjust the speakers to the absolute 75dB SPL volume level, but you should aim for all speakers sounding equally loud. Setting speaker test noise levels by ear is not recommended as it is very difficult to do accurately, but is often better than doing nothing at all!

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