agrif78 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Was hoping to get some guidance here please. I would like to know if I need both Umik1 for speaker level / single sub calibration or both Umik1 andminiDSP 2x4 HD ? I have a 7.1.4 HT setup. (Not used for music). I am looking to measure speaker levels and single subwoofer (SVS PB13 Ultra). I was looking to buy the Umik1. I will look to connect it to Ipad pro with usb c to usb adapter. Or should I stick with a laptop? Do I need any other calibration equipment besides Umik1, like miniDSP 2x4 HD ? , or is that unnecessary for my purpose / single subwoofer setup ? Thanks in advance. Edited October 25, 2020 by agrif78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frednork Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Depends, what are you planning to do the dsp correction with, is it something you already have , or need to get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 If all you are doing is to measure relative speaker levels, then use your iPad and an App. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 Yeah , that's all I am doing. Is an ipad app as accurate as Umik 1 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frednork Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 3 minutes ago, agrif78 said: Yeah , that's all I am doing. Is an ipad app as accurate as Umik 1 ? For relative levels should be fine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, agrif78 said: Yeah , that's all I am doing. Is an ipad app as accurate as Umik 1 ? The Apple microphones are decent, better than Android phones. But as Frednork said, all you are doing is measuring the relative loudness and the Apple App is more than enough. Edited October 25, 2020 by Snoopy8 Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 Any recommendations for a good spl meter ipad app ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super kermit Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/lane-cove/home-theatre-systems/new-umik-1-home-theatre-calibration-omni-directional-usb-microphone/1249882644 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 11 minutes ago, agrif78 said: Any recommendations for a good spl meter ipad app ? I use Decibel X on Android and there is an Apple equivalent. But given you are using for a one off measurement, just about any App will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 Okay thanks , will give it it a shot. What dB should my speakers ideally be set to from the main listening position? Appreciate the assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 15 minutes ago, agrif78 said: What dB should my speakers ideally be set to from the main listening position?. Reasonably loud enough for your app to measure. Please remember that you are measuring loudness relative to one another. I assume you are using test tones from your AVR and getting it to play one speaker at a time and then setting the loudness. Also, you are putting in the right speaker distances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 Thanks but what I meant was ... what loudness db level should I be aiming for in the spl app? to set all speakers too ? Is it 75dB ? What about the sub, is it possible to measure that with spl meter app? Yes, that right. Will be using test tones. I let my Pio lx901 Macca auto calibration set the speaker distances. Is that okay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 12 hours ago, agrif78 said: Thanks but what I meant was ... what loudness db level should I be aiming for in the spl app? to set all speakers too ? Is it 75dB ? What about the sub, is it possible to measure that with spl meter app? Yes, that right. Will be using test tones. I let my Pio lx901 Macca auto calibration set the speaker distances. Is that okay? 75 dB is ok, and measure sub as well. But I am not sure why you are trusting MCACC to measure speaker distances but not the loudness? It is supposed to do both automatically. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 I was planning on running the auto calibration first to set the distance and channel levels and then double checking the channel levels with a SPL meter. Does sub also need to be set at 75 dB ? Are you suggesting that I should depart from using the auto calibration process completely and plug in distance and speaker levels manually ? What do you recommend is the best approach ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Suggest running auto calibration which will set everything up. Then run test signal and measure about 75dB (it is not necessary to be exact because you are measuring loudness relative to one another). The sub should be producing the same loudness. This should give you the assurance that the set values are correct. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 Thanks snoopy, your assistance has been invaluable. I have downloaded Decibel X (free version) on iPad and will look forward to doing some fine tuning in next few days. Will report back with my results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 @Snoopy8 I tried some channel level manual tuning last night with Decibel X ipad app using C weighting and slow response. The original channel levels and distances were set with Pio mcacc auto calibration. In order to achieve 75dB on all speakers and subwoofer, I needed to raise the volume on my Pio receiver to 0.0 dB to send the static noise sounds. Overall, in order to hit 75dB, I needed to increase the channel level of all speakers quite substantially, some to the maximum of +12.0 dB. In relation to the subwoofer, in order to hit 75dB, I needed to increase the Gain on the sub from -14.0dB to -5.0dB and from +5.0dB to about +9.0dB in the AVR. I found it surprising that I needed to increase all of the levels as much as set out above. Does this sound normal in order to achieve 75dB ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 As I mentioned earlier, you are measuring the relative loudness of the speakers. It does not have to be 75dB as long as it is louder than the background noise for your measurements. Get it to 65 or 70 dB if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrif78 Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 Ok, looks like I need to remeasure ! Thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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