rainy scene you may only hear rain falling, with the occasional thunder- clap, from the surround speakers while the main dialogue is heard from the center speakers. At times, you may not hear any sounds at all from the surround channels.
In order to achieve these effects successfully, it is immportant to calibrate the surround channels to sound as loud as the other channels when a test tone is played. Therefore, calibrating the speaker output levels so that all speakers sound equally loud at the listening position is a critical step in the setup process.
By now you should have connected all of your speakers and sources and your video display. You should have turned on the receiver and used the Manual Setup menus to configure each of your speakers.
Sit in the listening position with the remote control, and make sure to eliminate external noises for the few minutes needed to calibrate the output levels.
You may use a handheld SPL meter (available at most electronics stores) set to the
If you are using a handheld SPL meter with source material, such as a test disc or another audio selection, play it now and adjust the AVR’s master volume control until the meter measures 75dB.
If you are using the AVR’s internal test tone, then adjust the AVR’s master volume to
Adjust the levels using either the remote control by itself, or using the
A. Using the Remote Control With the Test Tone
While sitting in the listening position, press the Test Button on the remote (see Figure 44). The test tone will start playing at the front left channel. After a few seconds, it will move to the center channel, then the front right channel, surround right, surround left and finally the subwoofer, displaying the channel name on the front of the receiver and in the
B. Using the Remote Control With Source Material
Begin playback of your external source material, such as a favorite CD track or a test disc. While sitting in the listening position, press the Channel Button on the remote (see Figure 44). The FRONT L LEVEL message will be displayed on the front panel and in the
INITIAL SETUP
Figure 44 – Test Tone and Channel Buttons
The goal is for the sound field to sound natural, with no one speaker being overly emphasized. If you are using one of the commercially available test discs, follow the instructions included with the disc to optimize performance.
When you have finished making your adjustments, either wait a few seconds for the AVR to
C. Using the Full-OSD Menu
The
Figure 45 – Channel Adjust Menu Screen
All of the speaker channels will appear at the top of the screen with their current level settings. Any channels that have not been programmed using the Speaker Size menu will display four dashes and will not be accessible.
CHANNEL RESET: If you wish to start by resetting all of the levels to their factory defaults of 0dB, navigate to this line and change the setting to ON. The levels will be reset, and this setting will then revert to OFF.
If you are using an external source to set your output levels, simply navigate to each channel and use the ⁄/¤ Buttons to adjust the level as desired. If you would like to set your levels using the AVR 146’s internal test tone, you will need to adjust the TEST TONE SEQ and TEST TONE lines as follows.
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