Pseudo speaker sensitivity guide

[corElement]

When I was auditioning for speakers I was instructed to to have matching impedance on all speakers on an avr but I was never told regarding matching sensitivities. I'm relatively new to the hifi world and this is something that I feel should be useful for newbies like me.

My fronts were 93db
My rears were 85db
My center was 87db


When I connected all of them and adjusted db levels according to distance, I noticed my rears were considerably weak. I thought maybe my fronts are overpowering them. Obviously this was true so I raised my rear channel db levels by 5 my avr lets it go 8+ But I didnt understand WHY I was having to do this. then it occured to me, my towers were 93db, the db suddenly made sense, so instead of further raising the rears, I deduct my fronts by 3, increased the center by 3 and tada, now everything seemed just right.

So when you get an avr and have varied components, make sure you balance the sensitivity to get them to the right db level unless you prefer one having more than the other.

 

[sbg]

Audyssey's MultEQ? if avlb, will this be not an alternative?

 

[corElement]

Audyssey's MultEQ? if avlb, will this be not an alternative?

Thats just a branding to an automated process, all avr's dont have them, and even if mine had it, I wouldnt use it. Automated processes often have drawbacks. Take the pioneer budget avrs like the latest 8xx, if you have large speakers that go down to 20hz without a sub the avr wont let the fronts go lower than 40hz, the remaining 20hz goes to a phantom sub which isnt there because of the automated config. To me thats just plain giving up control of what ones brain has a capability to hear and limit oneself to preset.

But that's a different subject all together. The post was aimed towards people who are new to hifi to understand the practical application of the term sensitivity.

 

[hemantwaghe]

To me thats just plain giving up control of what ones brain has a capability to hear and limit oneself to preset.

Like that.
Myself too shared same opinion.

 

[sbg]

Thats just a branding to an automated process, all avr's dont have them, and even if mine had it, I wouldnt use it. Automated processes often have drawbacks. Take the pioneer budget avrs like the latest 8xx, if you have large speakers that go down to 20hz without a sub the avr wont let the fronts go lower than 40hz, the remaining 20hz goes to a phantom sub which isnt there because of the automated config. To me thats just plain giving up control of what ones brain has a capability to hear and limit oneself to preset.

But that's a different subject all together. The post was aimed towards people who are new to hifi to understand the practical application of the term sensitivity.

I appreciate your enthusiasm and absoultely concur with what you have said.

but I guess, I did say "if avlb" and also "alternative" .

Personally, I did setup the Audyssey's MultEQ ( doing all R&D after purchase) - it took about 30-40 min to setup (6 rounds).
here are the levels it had done
Fronts : -6db
Center : -4.5db
SW : -11db ( one level down and it mutes)
S Rear : -3db
S Rear Back: (did not check this)
Room size (18x14 feet)

There was no Bass at all - to my taste. High frequency were also subdued.
Alos I learnt there was another equilization that said something like "reset to factory setting" - i liked it.:indifferent14:
And since then I am on the same boat as yourself. - Manual.

 

[sydneyvj]

Thats just a branding to an automated process, all avr's dont have them, and even if mine had it, I wouldnt use it. Automated processes often have drawbacks. Take the pioneer budget avrs like the latest 8xx, if you have large speakers that go down to 20hz without a sub the avr wont let the fronts go lower than 40hz, the remaining 20hz goes to a phantom sub which isnt there because of the automated config. To me thats just plain giving up control of what ones brain has a capability to hear and limit oneself to preset.

All AVR's have some sort of roome eq. Some people like it and some don't. The implementation of the room eq depends on the manufacturer.All pioneer AVR allow you to set the speakers to large if you don't have a sub. This way your large speakers will get all the low frequency it can handle. The automated process is just a starting point. Eventually you want to tweak the automated system to your liking.

I have different sensitivity speakers. the front at 91db and rears are 88db. But the line levels are set such that they output 75db SPL at reference level. IMO having different speaker sensitivity is not major issue as long as one sets up the lines levels correctly either manually or through the AVR room eq setup.

 

[corElement]

All AVR's have some sort of roome eq. Some people like it and some don't. The implementation of the room eq depends on the manufacturer.All pioneer AVR allow you to set the speakers to large if you don't have a sub. This way your large speakers will get all the low frequency it can handle. The automated process is just a starting point. Eventually you want to tweak the automated system to your liking.

I have different sensitivity speakers. the front at 91db and rears are 88db. But the line levels are set such that they output 75db SPL at reference level. IMO having different speaker sensitivity is not major issue as long as one sets up the lines levels correctly either manually or through the AVR room eq setup.

Yes it is no major issue. One just has to strike that right balance in a certain mode ( dolby / dts ) and their sub modes and adjust the db accordingly.

Btw I earlier mentioned pioneer because I remember looking at their 8xx model which was the only one near my budget but it appeared that because its a low end model, there was no manual way to allow the fronts have full range at all in multichannel mode, it would cut it off at 40-50 no matter what, eventually I went with a jamo avr which had no autos all manual. Older model with limited video but very nice sq and audio options.