#1003143 - 08/22/05 04:13 PM
5.1 Calibration
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Eric Day
Senior Member
Registered: 08/23/04
Posts: 65
Loc: Austin, TX
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I know calibrating your 5.1 system is of ultra importance, so I'm asking what direction or method to use. I just bought a Radio Shack analog SPL meter. I've been doing some internet research on 5.1 calibration, and I'm finding different approaches each place I visit, like what level to use, how to position the SPL meter for each channel (in relationship to your ears), etc. Can anyone recommend a good method? I've been reading "instant Surround Sound", a book that just came out. This book recommends playing an 80Hz sine wave test tone for the main channel/sub setup (sub phase alignment), and pink noise for the rest of the channels. It says to use band limited pink noise (500Hz-2 kHz) for the 5 main channels to reduce the effect of room acoustics on the calibration procedure, and full range pink noise for the LFE (20Hz-120Hz). Bare with me as I'm new to all this - if I'm reading correctly, you play the pink noise out one of the speakers to set a reference level to begin with. I'll use the left channel for this first example. Then it says to raise the volume of the speaker to 85dB for music mixing, then do the other channels the same way. Seems pretty easy. I just need to get the tones somewhere.
My last question is, do the methods for Home Theater speaker calibration relate in any way to calibrating a small room's monitors for 5.1 mixing?
Any advice is appreciated. It's challenging doing this all on your own, even with the books.
Thank You,
Eric Day
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#1003144 - 08/22/05 06:00 PM
Re: 5.1 Calibration
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doug osborne
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 08/15/00
Posts: 2638
Loc: Culver City, CA, US
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I use 500-2k Hz for the main channels and 40-80 Hz for the subwoofer (you don't calibrate the LFE), and full-bandwidth pink noise for phase. A sine wave at 1k Hz can be useful for gain-staging. Pay careful attention to subwoofer placement before calibrating the system.
Test tones and clear instructions can be found at:
BLUE SKY CALIBRATION TEST FILES .
There really isn't a significant difference between home and studio calibration, although most home theater systems are calibrated with a 79 dB SPL reference level instead of 85.
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#1003145 - 08/24/05 03:43 PM
Re: 5.1 Calibration
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ljudatervinning
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Registered: 07/19/04
Posts: 4
Loc: Sweden
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If you have a DTS-decoder you can use this:
Pro-tein Homepage
Instructions ar enclosed in the zip-file.
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