Rotel RSP-1066 owner manual Delay Setup Menu, Subwoofer Setup Menu, Calibration with an SPL meter

Calibration with an SPL meter:

Calibrating the system with an SPL meter, rather than by ear, provides more precise results and improves the system’s performance significantly. Inexpensive SPL meters are widely available and the procedure is quick and easy.

Both Dolby and DTS specify a standard cali- bration level for all theaters to ensure that soundtracks can be played at the volume level intended by the director of the film. This ref- erence level should result in spoken dialog played at about 80 dB (a realistic level for nor- mal speech) with the loudest peaks in any single channel at about 105 dB.

This calibration can be accurately done in a home theater using a sound pressure level (SPL) meter and the pink noise test tones described above. Set the meter to its SLOW response with C-weighting and hold it away from your body at your listening position pointing towards the speaker being adjusted. Increase the master volume control on the RSP-1066 until the meter reads 75dB when playing the test tone through one of the front speakers. Then, use the indi- vidual channel adjustments on the TEST TONE menu to adjust each of the individual speak- ers, including the subwoofer, to the same 75dB on the SPL meter. Note the setting of the mas- ter volume control. Whenever you play a Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack with that master volume setting, you will be playing it at the reference volume level.

The idea of a reference volume setting to be used in every theater has its merits. However, many home theater listeners find this setting to be excessively loud. It’s worthwhile cali- brating your system to a known standard, but let your own ears be the judge for deciding how loud to playback movie soundtracks. Re- gardless of your listening levels, using an SPL meter to calibrate equal levels for all speak- ers in the system is well worth the effort.

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DELAY SETUP Menu

DELAY SETUP

Dolby D Dolby

/DTS	Pro LogicII
CENTER: 1ms
R SURROUND: 15ms	25ms
L SURROUND: 15ms	25ms
CNTR-BACK: 15ms	25ms
ENT KEY=MAIN MENU	UP KEY=up
+/– KEY=change	DWN KEY=down

This menu, which is reached from the MAIN menu, allows you to set the delay for individual speakers. This ensures that the sound from each speaker arrives simultaneously at the listening position, even when the speakers are not all placed at equal distances from the listener.

Although personal preference is the ultimate guide, you typically increase the delay to speak- ers located closer to the seating area and de- crease the delay to speakers located farther from the seating area.

Start by measuring the distance from your seating position to each speaker. The speaker farthest away should receive no additional delay. Each of the other speakers will receive one millisecond of delay for each foot (30 cm) closer to you than the farthest speaker. For ex- ample, if the left front speaker is farthest away at 13 feet and the left rear speaker is 8 feet away, you should add 5 milliseconds of de- lay to the left rear speaker. Continue setting delays for each speaker until you have com- pensated for each speaker that is closer to you than the farthest speaker.

The delay times for the surround speakers are set longer for Dolby Pro Logic II mode than in Dolby Digital/DTS mode. When you change delay setting for Dolby Digital/DTS, the de- lay time for Dolby Pro Logic II will automati- cally be set for MUSIC or CINEMA/EMULA- TION modes.

The available settings for the CENTER chan- nel (Dolby Digital/DTS only) are 0ms, 1ms, 2ms, 3ms, 4ms, and 5ms. For SURROUND and CENTER BACK (Dolby Digital/DTS), the settings are 0ms, 5ms, 10ms, and 15ms. For SURROUND and CENTER BACK (Dolby Pro Logic II), the MUSIC mode settings are the same as the Dolby Digital/DTS settings. For SUR- ROUND and CENTER BACK (Dolby Pro Logic II), the CINEMA/EMULATION mode settings are 10ms, 15ms, 20ms, and 25ms.

English

To change a setting, place the highlight on the desired line using the UP/DOWN buttons and use the +/– buttons to increase or decrease the delay setting. To return to the MAIN menu, press the ENTER button. Press the MENU key on the remote to cancel the display and re- turn to normal operation.

SUBWOOFER SETUP Menu

SUB SETUP

CROSSOVER: 100HZ

DOLBY: +1dB

DTS: -2dB

STEREO: +5dB

MUSIC: +3dB

MULTI INPUT: MAX

ENT	KEY=MAIN MENU	UP KEY=up
+/–	KEY=change	DWN KEY=down

The SUBWOOFER SETUP menu allows selec- tion of the subwoofer crossover frequency and independent adjustment of subwoofer level for each surround mode. These settings are memo- rized and engaged automatically each time a music or theater surround mode is selected.

When going to the SUBWOOFER SETUP menu from the MAIN menu, the current surround mode is automatically highlighted. Use the +/– buttons to adjust the subwoofer level (–10dB to +10dB) for the current surround mode.

NOTE: Only the current surround mode can be adjusted on this menu. You will need to change surround modes using the front-panel or remote buttons to adjust a different mode.

We recommend starting with the level settings for all surround modes at the default 0 dB setting during the test tone calibration of the system and for a period of familiarization after that. As you listen to a variety of source material over time, you may notice that certain surround modes consistently produce too much or too little bass from the subwoofer. Use these sub- woofer level settings to adjust the relative bass output of various surround modes.

NOTE: In Dolby Digital and DTS recordings, the LFE channel is used to produce spectacu- lar low bass effects. This LFE channel can generate output 10 dB louder than the other channels, placing considerable demands on your subwoofer system. If you hear distortion or other signs of distress from your subwoofer at loud listening levels, you may consider re- ducing the subwoofer level for the Dolby Digi-