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“Large”. Selecting the size accordingly will ensure bass goes to most
appropriate speakers, and use the subwoofer correctly too. Also, is your
subwoofer turned “ON”? We don’t mean “is your subwoofer
amplifier
on?” (that’ll be important later too!) but rather,
is your receiver send-
ing a bass signal to your sub amp
? This can only happen if you say
“Yes” (or “ON”) to the “Subwoofer” setting of any typical Dolby Digi-
tal/DTS capable receiver.
•
Is your receiver connected to the sub amp? Use a well-shielded RCA
cable (sometimes called a “patch cord”) to hook to the subwoofer out-
put of your DD/DTS receiver to either input jack of your subwoofer
amplifier. As mentioned earlier, you’ll need to “split” the subwoofer
signal with a “Y Cable” if you bought a pair of subs.
•
Is your Radio Shack ® sound pressure level (SPL) meter ready? This
tool is absolutely critical to proper home theater
audio calibration. It’s akin to a tire pressure gauge
for your car. Set the meter to “Slow” and “C-
weighting” (and turn the dial to 70dB). The manual
which comes with the SPL meter is excellent, and
we recommend you read it entirely. Haven’t got
the meter yet? Well, head on down to your
neighborhood Radio Shack ® and snag one. We
prefer the analog instead of the digital display
model. Ask for part number 33-2050. At about $35 it’s a bargain.
Getting ready to start now: Just a few more checks. Make sure your re-
ceiver/processor master volume is set at “00 dB” or some other easy to re-
member reference level. Finally, ensure your subwoofer’s volume control is
set at least 3/4ths up, to start. It’s also critical to check the subwoofer level
control of your surround receiver before you begin the test tones. Set it to
no higher than “-5 dB” initially (that’s one quarter way up, given a typical
receiver’s channel limits of –10 dB to +10 dB) . Your LFE “trim”, if you
have one, should be set to 0dB to start (that’s full up) but this can be dialed
down later to tame peaks if needed.
Now play your receiver's internal test tones so you have something to meas-
ure with your SPL meter. Or better yet, buy a calibration disk, like the Video
Essentials DVD (go to Chapter 3-1). A test disk’s tones ensure your entire
signal path, from the DVD player to your speakers, is set correctly. What-
ever you use, when the tones start alternating from speaker to speaker
(watch your sound meter now), set each full range speaker’s volume to
about 75 dB (except for the subwoofer — read on!) by using the receiver’s
dedicated channel level controls (leaving master volume the same). We
recommend you turn down the receiver’s subwoofer output level, before you