I finally got around to adding rear surround speakers to bring the system up to 7.1 and I have a few questions:
How has everyone gone about setting the speaker levels for proper playback levels. I remember hearing somewhere that adding the rear speakers doubles the volume output in reference to the front, and therefore it would be incorrect to set all 7 speakers to the same level (using test tones). Is the correct way to set all the speakers to the same level using test tones and SPL meter, then reduce the side surrounds and rear surrounds by 3db each? Or maybe just reduce the rear surrounds?
Does this problem exist only when engaging the rear surrounds on material that have not been specifically encoded for 6.1? For something that was properly mixed for 6.1, like Gladiator or Haunting, does the sound engineer properly account for this and mix the levels accordingly? If this were the case, I would assume that all the speakers should then be set for the same level.
Complicating the issue is the difference between 6 and 7 speaker set-ups. It would seem to me that whatever the correct setting is for a 6 speaker set-up, a 7 speaker setup would require each rear surround speaker to be set at a lower level since you now have two speakers reproducing the same signal.
Please share your own experiences and settings with me. Thanks!
How has everyone gone about setting the speaker levels for proper playback levels. I remember hearing somewhere that adding the rear speakers doubles the volume output in reference to the front, and therefore it would be incorrect to set all 7 speakers to the same level (using test tones). Is the correct way to set all the speakers to the same level using test tones and SPL meter, then reduce the side surrounds and rear surrounds by 3db each? Or maybe just reduce the rear surrounds?
Does this problem exist only when engaging the rear surrounds on material that have not been specifically encoded for 6.1? For something that was properly mixed for 6.1, like Gladiator or Haunting, does the sound engineer properly account for this and mix the levels accordingly? If this were the case, I would assume that all the speakers should then be set for the same level.
Complicating the issue is the difference between 6 and 7 speaker set-ups. It would seem to me that whatever the correct setting is for a 6 speaker set-up, a 7 speaker setup would require each rear surround speaker to be set at a lower level since you now have two speakers reproducing the same signal.
Please share your own experiences and settings with me. Thanks!
Comment