Cannot hear good surround

[saurabh]

Now I have placed the surrounds 6 ft from floor and when I try to use the tone function of the HTS, i just simply cant make all speakers sound at the same level. I am worried about the direct radiating surrounds since they reproduce a hollowness in their sound. I can manage the strength through the HTS setup between -6db to + 6db. Therefore for the surrounds I increased the signal to the surround to +2db (keeping at 0 db for the center and fronts) and since I was finding the LFE too much so I also reduced the SUB to -1 db.

I have tried +6db setting for my surrounds but they still give a hollow sound. Is it because of my room height (11.25ft, see my earlier posts for details) or the surrounds are simply meant to be like that, soft and suttle.

[Nick M]

You should be using an SPL meter to calibrate all the channels to the same SPL.

I prefer stand mounted surrounds at ear level. Try lowering the surrounds and see if that helps.

[saurabh]

can you suggest a good movie (and what part of it) to check my surrounds, since its a pain to move the wall mounts. And also listening would be believing, I guess.

[Chris D]

Hey, saurabh, you need two things:

1. Pink noise generator for each channel
2. SPL meter.

For the first one, your processor/receiver may be able to generate pink noise that cycles through each channel so you can calibrate each channel to be equal. If not, then buy a setup disc like Avia or Video Essentials that has this function.

For the 2nd, just stop by Radio Shack and pick up their analog SPL meter. (not digital) Then you'll use the two to calibrate each channel to put out the same volume with the same signal. Let us know when you get them if you need more details.

For calibration, you want to use boring tones made for that purpose. Then once you've got it set, THEN you can use movies and music to demonstrate the power of your system.

[saurabh]

Thanks Chris

[Shane Martin]

While Chris is correct it's possible that your amp may not be supplying enough juice or your speakers are big enough to produce surround sound at the levels you desire.