Calibrating a 7.1 Home Theater questions

[theatrejunkie]

I just recently upgraded my Subwoofer to the SVS PB12/Plus2 along with the highly regarded AVIA guide to Home theater and Radio Shack analog SPL kit.
I've always preferred my own personal way of calibrating, and thats simply using my ears, and what sounds best to me.
I (when I owned an Infinity mid-hi end system) have used Infinity's R.A.B.O.S. system which was primarily for LFE only.
My question is this,
Since this DVD was made back in 1999, it doesn't show you how to calibrate a 7.1 system. Only the basic 5.1 system. So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to calibrate a 7.1 system using the AVIA disk w/the RS SPL meter? Also, any tips while performing/calibrating your system? Thank you, Theatrejunkie

[Tarheel_]

i've had a 7.1 setup for a year or so. I don't have the avia disk, just an spl meter. I use the AVR's test tones and place the spl meter at the sweet spot angled toward the crease where the front wall and ceiling meet. Set the spl at 70 and turn up the volume on the receiver and get all speakers close. Once you set your receiver to back surround speakers, the test tones will go through each one and you can adjust each individual speaker.

hope this helps...

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I just recently upgraded my Subwoofer to the SVS PB12/Plus2 along with the highly regarded AVIA guide to Home theater and Radio Shack analog SPL kit.
I've always preferred my own personal way of calibrating, and thats simply using my ears, and what sounds best to me.
I (when I owned an Infinity mid-hi end system) have used Infinity's R.A.B.O.S. system which was primarily for LFE only.
My question is this,
Since this DVD was made back in 1999, it doesn't show you how to calibrate a 7.1 system. Only the basic 5.1 system. So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to calibrate a 7.1 system using the AVIA disk w/the RS SPL meter? Also, any tips while performing/calibrating your system? Thank you, Theatrejunkie

Mr Junkie,
The easiest way to do this is not with the AVIA but with the internal test tones in your reciever. For audio sometimes these test disc use Dolby Digital dialog normalization which will actually reduce the calibration volume's accuracy.

If your reciever is a 7.1 reciever, then the test tones should circulate through all of the channels allowing you to use your RS meter to calibrate all channels. Doing this by ear is a very poor idea. Our ears can easily descern changes in frequency, but slight changes or descrepancies in amplitude between channels are more difficult if not impossible to descern.

[theatrejunkie]

I think that makes the most sense, although, everybody really raves about how good the AVIA disk and its test tones are. Furthermore, once you've calibrated your system, this disk gives you the opportunity to go in and fine tune your system to find any humps and peaks and helps compensate for any dead spots as well. This part i am interested in, as it allows you to take it one step further for optimum noise reduction, and furniture and other obsticles which effect the overall sound. Im just trying to figure out the more complex features on this disk. Thank you for your advice!