Wasn't sure whether to post this here or under Multi-Channel, as I do about 50/50 movies and music (including 5.1 music) in my system.
This would be the 3rd or 4th time I've re-tweaked using the Avia test disk. There is just SO much data on it and so many different tests (note that this time around I only did audio tweaking, no video). I used a combination of the test disk, a radio shack sound meter, and my Rane TXH-44 equalizer, as well as my Denon AVR-3300 receiver to make 'trim' adjustments. For the record, I'm a firm believer in EQing. I've got a 5.1 setup that includes B&W 805's (the bookshelf sized speaker running full range), and a Velodyne 1250 sub (crossed over at 80hz thru the receiver).
It seems every time I use this disk, either I understand it a little better or I hear things that I didn't hear before. The phasing test showed one of my surround speakers was out of phase - probably not a big deal, but I fixed it just the same by swapping the leads.
My system has always sounded a bit warm - the sub was probably cranked a little too high, and I was boosting the lowest (below 30hz) a bit with the Rane eq. I wanted to flatten the response to be more accurate.
I was surprised to find that I had a dip around 80hz. This was easily fixed with the eq. on the main speakers. I wasn't surprised that I had a huge peak around 45hz - my system/room has always had that. I adjusted the parametric eq (with the Rane again) for the sub and minimized it (it was still a few db louder than flat, but smoother than I had it adjusted previously).
I used the low frequency sweeps on the Avia disk that start at 200hz and go to a floor rumbling 20hz (my sub bottoms out around 22hz) along with the Sound Level Meter to measure the response. Still a few peaks and valleys here and there, but not too bad - much flatter than before.
Some music listening now (I'm fairly sure if I can get music to sound good, movies will sound great). I listened to some stereo cd's (David Gray 'White Ladder', Chicagos Greatest Hits, Best of Paul Carrack (which I 'remember' as sounding bright) and some 5.1 music disks (REM 'Automatic for the People', McCartney 'Venus & Mars').
I was afraid I would miss the warmth of the boosted bass, and while I could tell it was different (not as fuzzy) it still maintained the same depth. It was much cleaner. I could now pick out the bass guitar - it wasn't getting lumped into bass soup. The boost around 80hz that I gave seemed to 'round' out, or flesh out, the bass. Here's the weird thing - it seems that certain things higher in frequency 'jumped' out of the speakers now; like the overblown bass was masking them before. I can't quite explain it, but it was like a shift in frequency emphasis or something. Maybe the bass overwhelmed some of the other things I should have been hearing previously. Bongo's jumped out a little more than before (some Chicago tracks) and the percussion at the beggining of Paul Carracks 'I Need You' positively leaped from between the speakers. Very Cool!
I'm convinced that 98% of peoples 'improvements' that they hear are psychological (i.e. they want to hear it so they do). Well, while that could be the case here - I guess I need to listen some more to tell - it certainly seemed to be a real improvement, though. I'm looking forward to my next listening session too. Anway, just sharing my 'tweaking' experience with everyone. Happy listening.
