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3.4 CHANNEL BALANCE
From the SETUP screen, select CHANNEL BALANCE with the or buttons and press select/play.
You will see:
CHANNEL BALANCE
LEFT - +
RIGHT - +
CENTER - +
REAR L - +
REAR R - +
SUB - +
UNDO CHANGES
DONE
Each piece of home theater equipment operates differently. In the same system, amplifiers may have different
gains, speakers may have different efficiencies and, as already discussed, speakers may be positioned in
different manners relative to the listener. All of these variables can interact to cause the sound from some of
the speakers to be louder than from others. The CHANNEL BALANCE menu allows the volume of each
speaker to be individually trimmed so that none of the speakers dominates in playback and detracts from the
surround illusion. In essence, the CHANNEL BALANCE screen represents today’s balance control.
The levels in the CHANNEL BALANCE menu may be set in 2 different ways.
By Ear
The first method is intuitive and surprisingly precise. Just as you would with a balance control, play a 5.1
channel movie or music disc. With the CHANNEL BALANCE menu visible, sit in the prime listening position
and use the < and > arrow to manipulate each channel level so that all speakers are heard, but no speaker
dominates. If you find that one speaker must be compensated excessively, recheck the connections to that
speaker. Also, because most subwoofers provide external level controls, it is advised that the subwoofer
volume control be manipulated first to match the subwoofer to the system. The GTP-760 CHANNEL BALANCE
menu can then be used to fine tune the subwoofer from the listening position. When satisfied with the settings,
highlight DONE and press select/play to save your chosen setting and return to the SETUP menu.
Sound Meter
The second method requires the use of a sound level meter (also called a sound pressure meter). The Radio
Shack meter, catalog #33-2050, is commonly employed for this task. Turn the meter on, select the C-weighting
scale and adjust the range to 70 or 80dB. Place the meter, with microphone pointed upward, at the prime
listening position as close as possible to ear level. Press the bal. chk button on the GTP-760 remote. The
BALANCE CHECK menu will appear on the screen and the noise sequencer activates. (This menu essentially
shows the same information as the CHANNEL BALANCE menu you just saw. Level changes made here are
reflected in both menus.) Turn up the GTP-760 master volume control while the noise sequencer circulates
around the 5 channels until the needle on the sound meter deflects and rests at a mid-scale position. As the
noise sequencer plays through each channel and highlights on the menu, use the < and > remote buttons to
adjust the level of that channel to the same needle position on the meter. With a few times through the process,
each channel should play back and set the needle to approximately the same meter reading. Press the
bal. chk button again to save the settings and defeat the noise sequencer.
There are 2 things that may be noticed during the channel balance procedure that can cause confusion. First,
the master volume knob on the front panel of the GTP-760 sometimes moves when setting an individual
channel trim. The master volume knob marks the level of the loudest channel in the system. If when adjusting
an individual channel level the knob begins to move, it simply means that the channel being adjusted is now set
the highest. THE VOLUME OF THE OTHER CHANNELS DOES NOT CHANGE WHEN THIS HAPPENS.
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