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Calibration with an SPL meter:
Calibrating the system with an SPL meter,
rather than by ear, provides more precise re
-
sults and improves the system’s performance.
Inexpensive SPL meters are widely available
and the procedure is quick and easy.
Both Dolby and DTS specify a standard cal
-
ibration 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 a realistic level for normal speech
with the loudest peaks in any single channel
at about 105dB. The RSP-1069’s test tones
are generated at a precise level (-30dBFs)
relative to the loudest possible digitally re
-
corded sound. At the Dolby or DTS reference
level, these test tones should produce a 75dB
reading on an SPL meter.
Set the meter to its 70dB dial setting with SLOW
response and C-weighting, held away from
your body at your listening position (mount-
ing the SPL meter on a camera tripod makes
this easier). You can point the SPL meter at
each speaker as it is being measured; how
-
ever, positioning the meter in a fixed position
pointing at the ceiling is easier and probably
produces more consistent results.
Increase the master volume control on the
RSP-1069 until the meter reads 75dB (+5dB
on the meter scale) when playing the test tone
through one of the front speakers. Then, use
the individual channel adjustments on the
TEST TONE menu to adjust each of the indi
-
vidual speakers, including the subwoofer, to
the same 75dB on the SPL meter.
NOTE: Due to meter weighting curves and room
effects, the actual level of the subwoofer may
be slightly higher than you measure. To com-
pensate, Dolby suggests setting the subwoofer
several dB lower when calibrating with an SPL
meter (i.e. set the subwoofer to read 72dB on
the meter instead of 75dB). Ultimately, the
proper subwoofer level must be determined
by personal taste and some listeners prefer
to set it above 75dB for film soundtracks. Ex
-
aggerated bass effects come at the expense
of proper blending with the main speakers
and place stress on the subwoofer and its
amplifier. If you can localize bass from the
subwoofer, the subwoofer level may be too
high. Music can be useful for fine-tuning the
subwoofer level as excessive bass is readily
apparent. The proper setting will work well
for music and movie soundtracks.
Remember the setting of the master volume
control used during this calibration. To play
a Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack at the ref
-
erence volume level, simply return to that vol
-
ume setting. Note that most home theater lis
-
teners find this setting to be excessively loud.
Let your own ears be the judge for deciding
how loud to playback movie soundtracks and
adjust the master volume control according
-
ly. Regardless of your listening levels, using
an SPL meter to calibrate equal levels for all
speakers in the system is recommended.
Delay Setup
The DELAY SETUP 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 si
-
multaneously at the listening position, even
when the speakers are not all placed at equal
distances from the listener. Increase the delay
to speakers located closer to the seating area
and decrease the delay to speakers located
farther from the seating area.
The RSP-1069 makes setting the delay time for
each speaker very easy. Simply measure the
distance (in feet or meters) from your seating
position to each speaker in your system. Set
the measured distance in the line for each
speaker. The menu provides a line for each
speaker configured in your system and pro
-
vides a range of settings up to 99 feet (30
meters) in 1 foot (0.3 m) increments with
each increment equivalent to an additional
delay of 1ms.
To change a setting, place the highlight on
the desired line using the UP/DOWN but-
tons and use the +/– buttons to increase
or decrease the delay setting. To return to
the MAIN menu, press the ENTER button.
Press the MENU/OSD button on the remote
to cancel the display and return to normal
operation.
Contour Setup
The CONTOUR SETUP menu allows digital
adjustment of the bass and treble response
of each group of speakers in the system.
For example, if your center channel speaker
sounds too bright, you could roll off the ex
-
treme high frequencies.
SPEAKER (front/center/surround/
center back/all): Select which speaker
or group of speakers to adjust. Selecting
ALL permits adjustment of the entire system
as a whole.
DEFEAT (on/off): Selecting the ON setting
defeats the contour adjustment, bypassing the
contour processing entirely for that speaker
or group of speakers.
HF CONTOUR: Adjusts the extreme high
frequency slope over a range of -6dB (MIN)
to +6dB (MAX). Negative number settings
reduce the high frequency output; positive
number settings increase it.
LF CONTOUR: Adjusts the extreme low fre
-
quency slope over a range of -6dB (MIN)
to +6dB (MAX). Negative number settings
reduce the low frequency output; positive
number settings increase it.
The contour adjustments are designed to work
at the frequency extremes and be relatively
subtle so that they do not have a negative
impact on midrange sounds. We recom-
mend acclimating to the sound of the sys
-
tem with the contour adjustments defeated
and then making adjustments, if necessary,
to address specific speaker response issues
or personal taste.
NOTE: You can also make temporary contour
adjustments using the TONE and UP/DOWN
buttons on the remote. See the Contour/Tone
Settings section of this manual for details.