LFE levels with internal test tones on 1098

[Andrew Pratt]

Can someone please try calibrating with a calibration DVD like Avia and then see how those levels compare to the 1098's internal test tones? I thought the 1055 and 1066 I had were pretty close to the avia test tones incl the subwoofer channel but when I tried it with my new 1098 I found the bass to be very low (felt like -10dB to me). Well tonight I got my Avia DVD back from a friend and lo and behond I was right. The rest of the channels are all pretty close (I had it set to 85dB with avia and these came out to about 78dB) but the LFE channel was about 10dB low compared to avia which a lot of people feel is a little low compared to Video Essentials. Can someone else try this on their 1098 and see how there's compares. I'd like to bring this up with Rotel if its not just me.

[skipm]

Andrew-

Will do. I have both Avia and VE although I used the 1098 internal test tones to calibrate my speakers. I thought the same as you but I was going to use it as an excuse to buy a new sub. Actually, we rented "DareDevil" this weekend and I remember reading on the boards about how much of a workout your sub gets with this movie. I was sitting there thinking while the movie was playing where is this big sub workout.

I should be able to do it tomorrow nite while the S.O. is walking the dog. It's better if I wait until both are out of the house.

-Skip

[Andrew Pratt]

Funny you should mention DD as that's one movie that got me thinking...then I popped in Star Wars EPII when the plane first flies over head and the bass was no where near what I'm used to with the dual tempests.

[Azeke]

Andrew,

I will check this out, when everyone is out of the house :LOL: .

Regards,

Azeke

[skipm]

Andrew-

I have some preliminary numbers and a question. My baseline settings were: all speakers set to small, sub=yes, crossover=100hZ, and volume level at 75dB with the internal test tones = 79.

Calibration with the internal test tones yielded the following speaker calibration:

Left = 0dB
Center = 0dB
Right = 0dB
RSurr = -3dB
L Surr = -3dB
Sub. = +2

When playing the Avia test tones everything was pretty much spot on except for the sub. The sub was approximately -6dB lower than the reading I got using the internal test tones. I just ran them really quick which brings up my question. I'm new to Rotel and I'm not sure how to change the individual speaker levels while playing external test tones on this guy. I know that some of them (center, sub, surr. right and surr left) can be set temporarily from the remote and front panel but what's the procedure that everyone uses to set the individual speaker levels permanently while using external test tones?

-Skip

[Azeke]

Skip,

You would have to use the Test Tone menu to make any settings permanent.

BTW,

Andrew I still haven't done the test comparison, but I went to the test tones menu and moved the Sub +1, from the initial internal Test Tone calibration setting. Sounds better, but I still will do the comparison test to determine any deviation in the sub setting.

Regards,

Azeke

[Andrew Pratt]

I alwas end up flipping back and forth between Avia and the test tones which is a pain.

[skipm]

Andrew-

Yeah, that's what I figured. I went back and did a search after I posted and saw a couple of posts where that method is mentioned. I'm off from work Friday so I'll do a full blown calibration Friday morning. I also want to play around with the large/small speaker setting and the sub max and crossover settings to see what impact they have as well.

-Skip

[Andrew Pratt]

remember that if you're using Avia you can't do LFE levels with the speakers set to large since all the LFE is mixed into the main channels as they expect you to have them set to small

[Scarp]

Uhm, speakers that are set large and a subwoofer which is set to "enabled" shouldn't get any LFE.

[Andrew Pratt]

Scarp that's true but if you're trying to set the LFE level its difficult with all your speakers set to large with Avia since you won't hear anything on the subwoofer level test tone

[Scarp]

Ow.... but then its not an LFE test, since a true LFE test signaal goes through the .1 signal and is not send through the original 5 other channels. But who am I to question AVIA

I do have the video essentials dvd, but never really used it to setup the levels. Only used it to check phase and stuff.

[skipm]

My sub is subbing again. This morning I recalibrated my speakers using the 1098's internal test tones to establish a baseline to use to compare against Avia. I set all speakers to small and the crossover to 100Hz. Once I had everything calibrated I loaded Avia and did a comparison. Everything pretty much matched up except for the sub. With all speakers reading 75dB, the sub was reading 68dB (-2dB). I switched over to Chapter 7 of Avia which is for sub calibration and in order to achive 75dB at the sub, I had to up the sub level +6dB. So, it seems like the 1098's sub test tone is off by -8dB to -10dB.

I checked the new sub level out by playing the first cut off of Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" DVD. I saw "The Dance" live 3 times (yeah, I still have a thing for Stevie Nicks ) and I'm very familiar with how Mick's kick drum sounds and feels on "The Chain". The new sub level made a huge difference and I could "feel" the kick drum again. I still had "DareDevil" lying around so I played the first 20 or so minutes of it, both DD 5.1 and DTS and it sounded like a totally different movie. (It didn't make it any better, but it did sound a lot better )

So all you 1098 owners out there be aware that the test tone for the sub appears to be 8 to 10 dB on the low side. Also, I discovered a little trick to use when trying to calibrate the 1098 using external test tones. You can can make temporary level adjustments to the center, surrounds, and sub from the remote or front panel. So you can make you changes from here while you are calibrating and then when you're happy with the changes, go back in the test tone menu to make them permanent.

Andrew- looks like another item for the wish list, a true internal sub test tone.

-Skip