Marantz SR6014 Audyssey XT32 low Subwoofer trim?

ziggurcat

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Hi there,

Just got a Marantz SR6014, ran Audyssey, and it set the trim of the subwoofer to -10dB vs. a range of -3 to -5dB for the remaining speakers. I had gone through the level matching step to lower the sub volume to measure at around 75dB prior to going through the calibration process. To me, having it set to -10dB reads as though the sub was still too loud even though the gain was lowered to a level the AVR was happy with.

The other thing is that I had recently bought a Denon X4300H, but had to return it because I found that the Left Surround speaker terminal on the AVR was defective. When I had ran Audyssey with that AVR (which is also XT32), it set the trim for all speakers, including the subwoofer, in the -2.5 to -3.5dB range.

Any idea what would cause the kind of disparity? Are there any settings that need to be disabled prior to running Audyssey?

Also, is there any way to run the internal pink noise test tone without it being affected by the AVR's Master Volume? The Onkyo I just came from did that, and it allowed me to adjust the trim to measure at 75dB on an SPL meter. When I scroll down to the subwoofer trim, it's not even audible, even if I crank it up to +12.
 
With Audyssey you are looking for a level of between -12dB and +12dB to be within the range that the receiver can adequately control the sub. At -10dB I would suggest turning down the gain on the back of the sub and re-running Audyssey to get nearer to -6dB, closer to 0dB is better. The sub may sound 'too loud' simply because of it's positioning and perhaps causing boundary issues and boomy bass. Make sure you just have LFE selected in the set up and not LFE+Main.
 
Hi there,

Just got a Marantz SR6014, ran Audyssey, and it set the trim of the subwoofer to -10dB vs. a range of -3 to -5dB for the remaining speakers. I had gone through the level matching step to lower the sub volume to measure at around 75dB prior to going through the calibration process. To me, having it set to -10dB reads as though the sub was still too loud even though the gain was lowered to a level the AVR was happy with.

The other thing is that I had recently bought a Denon X4300H, but had to return it because I found that the Left Surround speaker terminal on the AVR was defective. When I had ran Audyssey with that AVR (which is also XT32), it set the trim for all speakers, including the subwoofer, in the -2.5 to -3.5dB range.

Any idea what would cause the kind of disparity? Are there any settings that need to be disabled prior to running Audyssey?
I suspect, but don't know, that while Audyssey calibrates sub at 75dB, it outputs at 85dB at reference.
Hence it adds +10db to whatever it has set internally during measurement setup. I've always seen my subs at around the -10dB mark with Marantz AVRs.
Also, is there any way to run the internal pink noise test tone without it being affected by the AVR's Master Volume? The Onkyo I just came from did that, and it allowed me to adjust the trim to measure at 75dB on an SPL meter. When I scroll down to the subwoofer trim, it's not even audible, even if I crank it up to +12.
Do an Audyssey auto setup, turn up the sub gain so that Audyssey says it is too loud and gives you the interactive screen to set the sub at 75dB. Reduce the gain to get 75db shown by the Audyssey mic and then measure with an SPL meter to see what that gives you. Cancel the Audyssey setup, it won't have made any changes to the previous one.
 
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With Audyssey you are looking for a level of between -12dB and +12dB to be within the range that the receiver can adequately control the sub. At -10dB I would suggest turning down the gain on the back of the sub and re-running Audyssey to get nearer to -6dB, closer to 0dB is better. The sub may sound 'too loud' simply because of it's positioning and perhaps causing boundary issues and boomy bass. Make sure you just have LFE selected in the set up and not LFE+Main.

Not sure if it's that since Audyssey made me turn the gain down to read at 75dB, but there's a chance I may have left it a bit too high still (I seem to recal lit sitting at about 77dB before I clicked Next) - plus, I had run Audyssey on a different AVR (a Denon X4300H), and it got way different results with the speakers in the same positions.

So as not to discount anything, I will re-run Audyssey again in a few days when my wife isn't home, and see if I get any different results. When it comes the time to adjust the subwoofer gain prior to taking the measurements, I'll turn the gain down a bit more so that it hovers in the 73-75dB range.

The AVR is for sure set to LFE, not LFE + Main.
 
I suspect, but don't know, that while Audyssey calibrates sub at 75dB, it outputs at 85dB at reference.
Hence it adds +10db to whatever it has set internally during measurement setup. I've always seen my subs at around the -10dB mark with Marantz AVRs.

Huh... Well, as mentioned above, I'll re-run Audyssey again in a few days, see if I get different results.

Do an Audyssey auto setup, turn up the sub gain so that Audyssey says it is too loud and gives you the interactive screen to set the sub at 75dB. Reduce the gain to get 75db shown by the Audyssey mic and then measure with an SPL meter to see what that gives you. Cancel the Audyssey setup, it won't have made any changes to the previous one.

I can try that as well, thanks!
 
Update: re-ran Audyssey. At the moment where it gets you to adjust the sub gain to target 75dB, I adjusted until it was hovering in the 74-76dB range. Audyssey set the trim of my sub this time to -7dB, so maybe more "reasonable." I recall the measurement bouncing in the 75-77dB range when it set it to -10dB last time, but I am thinking that it's pretty much the same thing since the gain knob on the sub is lower this time, so Audyssey bumped the trim up by 3dB after calibration to equate what it was before when it set it to -10dB.

It's still curious, though, how Audyssey on the Denon gave far different results (it set the sub trim to -3.5dB iirc, at pretty much the same gain level on the sub).
 

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