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Audyssey Calibration Workshop for 2016 - (CLOSED)


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Following the overwhelming response I have received for the Audyssey Calibration Workshop (sharing session only) last month. I've decided to conduct a few more rounds till end of this year. The dates have yet to be finalized but I endeavour to host at least 1 session per month till end of the year. Watch out for this thread for more details...

 

Why the session?

 

It appears to me that there is a lot of members, regardless whether you're a noobie or even "old bird" having problems with their Audyssey calibration. Despite putting up a thread sharing the tips in getting the Audyssey calibration done right the first time...it is not able to help the members with their calibration woes. I am going to conduct a half day workshop at one of the member's place to show you how it should be carried out - the proper way. I will share with you the tips and the underlying fundamentals to get it right the first time so that you can get consistently good results always.

 

 

Who should attend?

 

This session targets at members who have the following issues:

 

1) Poor surround effects...

2) Poor bass performance...

3) Poor dialogue channel...

4) My HT multi-channel experience sucks BIG TIME! and I'm at my wits end!!!

 

Pre-requisites

 

1) Need to have a AVR or Pre/Pro with Audyssey MultEQ XT32 (rather obvious since this is going to be Audyssey calibration session. Brands like Denon & Marantz)

2) Be willing to provide a brief description of your issues - e.g. Poor bass performance

3) Be willing to open your home for other members to join in the session so that everyone can learn...

4) Be willing and prepare to make some "changes" like subwoofer placement and even speaker displacement

 

 

Read up this thread for more background info and knowledge: http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=152738.0

 

Note: This is NOT a "practical session". I have already decided to CANCEL all practical sessions. I will only focus on sharing sessions. In order for your to benefit and learn, you will need to do your homework, otherwise it will be a wasted trip. Make full use of this opportunity to learn and ask.

 

Session Dates

10 Sep 2016 - Completed (session conducted at member's place)

21 Oct 2016 - Completed (session conducted at my place)

28 Oct 2016 - Session cancelled

11 Nov 2016 - Completed (session conducted at my place)

18 Nov 2016 - Session cancelled

16 Dec 2016 - Completed (session conducted at my place)

24 Dec 2016 - Completed (session conducted at my place)

31 Dec, Sat from 1pm - 3pm (session conducted at my place)

 

Thank you all for attending. Hope the session prove to be useful in your Audyssey calibration. Have fun.

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Guys, I have received a pm from our member,  riderr2000. He's fine with an open house this Sat for myself and perhaps a few other members to join in the Audyssey calibration workshop. I m still contemplating at the moment as not sure whether other members want to join in as well?

 

My initial plan was actually to hold the workshop at various member's place but due to many poor response by members to do an open house session, the idea was abolished even before it takes shape. Now that riderr2000 is willing to do an open house sharing session. I m tempted to give it a try.

 

So anyone interested? Pls pm state your nick in this thread and I'll gauge the response to see if worth it.

 

Sent using Samsung Galaxy Note 7

 

 

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I will be heading down to riderr2000's place around 1pm (unless there is changes) tmr. For those who have expressed their interest to join in, pls check your pm inbox later for the address. It is perfectly fine if you can't make it as attendance is not compulsory :P No need to reply to the pm. Just drop by if you can make it, otherwise simply ignore it :)

 

Update: I have already sent out the address to the members. Pls check your pm inbox.

 

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Just returned from riderr2000's place. One of the better living room setup I have to say. For those interested to hear a properly calibrated Audyssey system, you may wish to pm him to see whether he can provide a time slot for you to listen.

 

Thanks to those members who had attended and shared your HT journey and experience with everyone. Hope you learn something useful today.

 

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bro I write a report of my own calibration in here

 

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=152738.msg1167900#msg1167900

 

Brilliant! Thumbs up for the effort to report and share with us on your calibration. :)

 

Hope to see more from others as well. Sharing is key to ensure the survival and to stay relevant for XP forum.

 

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bro I write a report of my own calibration in here

 

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=152738.msg1167900#msg1167900

 

Wah.. you are using two split AC huh? surely frozen easily...  ;D

Anyway, your HT room looks elegant and clean bro.. nice design! is it one of your room or you converted your living room?

 

What is that?

I saw black big box behind and also square grey in between two split AC?

???

and... how far the distance between your Sr speaker and  Sr B speaker?

Seems they are placed in different height huh? How high (in cm) from floor?

Wont mind to share bro.. ? Thx

 

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The purpose of have 2 fancoil is to enable run in Low speed to reduce noise , this is a living room.

 

 

As for the gray box, chick on the photo

 

The side surround are about 1.4 meter above the ground, there are anothe pair of back surround in the black Color wall cabinet , that cabinet front cover with acoustic transparent fabric.

 

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Sorry I have been meaning to write a summary but due to family and work commitments, I have been putting it off till now.

 

Some caveats, I am fairly new to this, and my hearing is certainly not refined, so I may not be describing the situation correctly, and may use the wrong terminology. Please feel free to correct or clarify as needed.

 

I think it was a fortunate day where we had a number of knowledgeable members who were attending who also shared their experiences. Prior to the session, I ran the Audyssey set up, but I made a number of mistakes, and it wasn't set up correctly.

 

Some background to provide the context:

- I do not have a dedicated HT room, and this is my main Audio and HT system, set up in the living room

- No room treatment was done, although some thought has been put in to optimize the speaker layout, without sacrificing the aesthetics

- One side of the wall is mainly glass windows (but with the curtains drawn, the reflection was manageable - not great, but noticeably better)

- Other side is the kitchen, and corridor to the bedrooms, so its not a symmetrical layout at all

- Room is bright sounding - not enough absorption, and somewhat echo-ey, but much better after the curtains are drawn

- Essentially the room and set up is not the most ideal for critical HT / audio listening

 

The main tips provided by Desray and the others, and main learning points for me were:

- As much as possible, ensure symmetrical placement of speakers is

- When setting up the microphone, ensuring that the super long microphone cable is NOT tangled will have an impact - i.e. try to straighten out the cable rather than leave it in a clump

- Audyssey uses the data points from the measurements to calibrate the best sound in the area it is measuring. This means:

    i. use all 8 measurements (i.e. dont skip!) so that audyssey has more data points to do its calculations

    ii. if you have one sitting position that is pretty far out from the main cluster of sitting positions, its probably best to leave that out of the measurements, as Audyssey will take the average, which is not ideal for the main cluster of sitting positions

- If the sofa has a high back, its probably better to raise the mic to above ear level, and above the sofa, so as to NOT have any blockage, between the mic and all the speakers. I.e. you want the mic to have a very clear line of sight to all the speakers

- When I did the first Audyssey calibration on my own, Audyssey detected that my LR speakers are not in phase. I checked my connections and they are all correct, so I ignored Audyssey's recommendation. During the session, Desray shared that in his experience, Audyssey is seldom wrong, and Joamonte shared the interconnects could also have been improperly connected. Desperado shared that he has come across a similar situation also, where Audyssey detected wrong phase, but connections were correct - after a short while it turns out the speakers had problems. We ran Audyssey again, and this time reversed the phase, and the sound was clearly better - i.e. listen to Audyssey!

- Remember to set the speakers to small, after Audyssey is completed

- When setting crossovers, set the crossovers to between 60-80Hz. For more capable speakers, can set to 60Hz; smaller speakers better set to 80Hz

 

After the Audyssey calibration was completed, we listened to the sound with and without the Audyssey settings.

- Firstly the sound was clearly much better than when I originally set it up.

- Secondly, I personally preferred the sound with Audyssey settings vs without Audyssey. To me the sound was more dynamic, especially the bass, which I thought significantly improved on the mood of the movie - e.g. the suspense that the movie was trying to create, or the impact of the action during the action scenes.

 

In summary, I thought that despite the non-ideal room setting, Audyssey was able to generate pretty good results, i.e. sound level +/- 5dB for  most of the speakers. For a layman, as long as you follow the steps, Audyssey calibration should be able to provide an improvement to the sound. Anyone keen to come for a listen, please feel free to drop me a PM.

 

I promised Desray that I will try out the sound with MP3 files - haven't done that yet, but once I get around doing that, probably over the weekend, I'll post my views. Again, please do correct any factual errors I have posted, or add on if I have missed anything crucial.

 

Finally, a big thanks to Desray and all the others who came down on their personal time over the weekend to share their knowledge!

 

(Sorry Desray, I didnt fully understand the subwoofer phase settings, so am going to leave that part out  :P )

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Sorry I have been meaning to write a summary but due to family and work commitments, I have been putting it off till now.

 

Some caveats, I am fairly new to this, and my hearing is certainly not refined, so I may not be describing the situation correctly, and may use the wrong terminology. Please feel free to correct or clarify as needed.

 

I think it was a fortunate day where we had a number of knowledgeable members who were attending who also shared their experiences. Prior to the session, I ran the Audyssey set up, but I made a number of mistakes, and it wasn't set up correctly.

 

Some background to provide the context:

- I do not have a dedicated HT room, and this is my main Audio and HT system, set up in the living room

- No room treatment was done, although some thought has been put in to optimize the speaker layout, without sacrificing the aesthetics

- One side of the wall is mainly glass windows (but with the curtains drawn, the reflection was manageable - not great, but noticeably better)

- Other side is the kitchen, and corridor to the bedrooms, so its not a symmetrical layout at all

- Room is bright sounding - not enough absorption, and somewhat echo-ey, but much better after the curtains are drawn

- Essentially the room and set up is not the most ideal for critical HT / audio listening

 

The main tips provided by Desray and the others, and main learning points for me were:

- As much as possible, ensure symmetrical placement of speakers is

- When setting up the microphone, ensuring that the super long microphone cable is NOT tangled will have an impact - i.e. try to straighten out the cable rather than leave it in a clump

- Audyssey uses the data points from the measurements to calibrate the best sound in the area it is measuring. This means:

    i. use all 8 measurements (i.e. dont skip!) so that audyssey has more data points to do its calculations

    ii. if you have one sitting position that is pretty far out from the main cluster of sitting positions, its probably best to leave that out of the measurements, as Audyssey will take the average, which is not ideal for the main cluster of sitting positions

- If the sofa has a high back, its probably better to raise the mic to above ear level, and above the sofa, so as to NOT have any blockage, between the mic and all the speakers. I.e. you want the mic to have a very clear line of sight to all the speakers

- When I did the first Audyssey calibration on my own, Audyssey detected that my LR speakers are not in phase. I checked my connections and they are all correct, so I ignored Audyssey's recommendation. During the session, Desray shared that in his experience, Audyssey is seldom wrong, and Joamonte shared the interconnects could also have been improperly connected. Desperado shared that he has come across a similar situation also, where Audyssey detected wrong phase, but connections were correct - after a short while it turns out the speakers had problems. We ran Audyssey again, and this time reversed the phase, and the sound was clearly better - i.e. listen to Audyssey!

- Remember to set the speakers to small, after Audyssey is completed

- When setting crossovers, set the crossovers to between 60-80Hz. For more capable speakers, can set to 60Hz; smaller speakers better set to 80Hz

 

After the Audyssey calibration was completed, we listened to the sound with and without the Audyssey settings.

- Firstly the sound was clearly much better than when I originally set it up.

- Secondly, I personally preferred the sound with Audyssey settings vs without Audyssey. To me the sound was more dynamic, especially the bass, which I thought significantly improved on the mood of the movie - e.g. the suspense that the movie was trying to create, or the impact of the action during the action scenes.

 

In summary, I thought that despite the non-ideal room setting, Audyssey was able to generate pretty good results, i.e. sound level +/- 5dB for  most of the speakers. For a layman, as long as you follow the steps, Audyssey calibration should be able to provide an improvement to the sound. Anyone keen to come for a listen, please feel free to drop me a PM.

 

I promised Desray that I will try out the sound with MP3 files - haven't done that yet, but once I get around doing that, probably over the weekend, I'll post my views. Again, please do correct any factual errors I have posted, or add on if I have missed anything crucial.

 

Finally, a big thanks to Desray and all the others who came down on their personal time over the weekend to share their knowledge!

 

(Sorry Desray, I didnt fully understand the subwoofer phase settings, so am going to leave that part out  :P )

 

Well summarised bro...I am surprised that you are able to pick up almost everything I have said sans the subwoofer optimization portion. Well done!

 

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The main tips provided by Desray and the others, and main learning points for me were:

- When setting up the microphone, ensuring that the super long microphone cable is NOT tangled will have an impact - i.e. try to straighten out the cable rather than leave it in a clump

 

Didn't know  a tangled cable will have effect. What I know is for optical cable, wherein the super thin glass inside is prone to break when bent. Thanks for sharing.

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Didn't know  a tangled cable will have effect. What I know is for optical cable, wherein the super thin glass inside is prone to break when bent. Thanks for sharing.

Haha... U will be surprised by the results.

 

Sent using Huawei Mate 8

 

 

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Hi riderr2000/Desray,

 

Great stuff and practical sharing, must now pay attention on not tangling my Audyssey cable... I actually kept the excess cable still in the roll when calibrating.

 

Was wondering can anyone do a similar simple layman things-to-lookout for the subwoofer bit... I'm also very confused when going through the Audyssey manual for subwoofer phase, etc.

 

Thanks...

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Hi riderr2000/Desray,

 

Great stuff and practical sharing, must now pay attention on not tangling my Audyssey cable... I actually kept the excess cable still in the roll when calibrating.

 

Was wondering can anyone do a similar simple layman things-to-lookout for the subwoofer bit... I'm also very confused when going through the Audyssey manual for subwoofer phase, etc.

 

Thanks...

 

Yeah... I also just know... I did it same as you.. roll it for excess cable when calibrating... hmmm should I redo again, wake up 2am ?

After use it, I will always place it inside ESD bag and keep inside my dry cabinet at 40%RH

 

Not sure whether attach with ferrite core (at plug side.. turn it twice before clip it) will be a good idea?

 

I also don't know how to use REW (fine tune) for my subwoofers... I think bro Jag and Sevenz are expert... hoping I can be their student one day...  ;D

(Hoping...) Is there a possibility to have workshop for REW ?

I just relied on Audy to control my subwoofers... knowledge learned from bro Des and Joagib (my guru)

 

 

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REW workshop

Many people have asked, but there are many good walk through documentation on the web. teaching REW is very intensive and a proper course will take about 2 days. That includes how to operate REW, interpreting REW into improvement actions and using EQs to maximize performance.

 

Ferrite Core on Audyssey mic

Don't do it.  A ferrite core is really a low pass filter. Putting it in the mics cable is altering the response of the mic.

 

No need to put the mic in ESD bag la. It's not an active mic and is not esd sensitive. But if you have, no harm.

 

 

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......

Ferrite Core on Audyssey mic

Don't do it.  A ferrite core is really a low pass filter. Putting it in the mics cable is altering the response of the mic.

 

No need to put the mic in ESD bag la. It's not an active mic and is not esd sensitive. But if you have, no harm.

 

I believe Audyssey microphone is using electret microphone which is multidirectional microphone.

 

It works by letting the incoming sound waves from a source of sound from any direction flow through sound port in the front cavity of mic.

The diaphragm is placed on top and in between the conducting/charge plate. Charge plate is covered with a layer of teflon which already charged.

Very small space created there !

 

Diaphragm receives the sound waves and it will vibrate causes the different spacing towards charge plate, it will change in capacitance.

This change in capacitance produces variance in voltage on the back plate and this, in turn, sends very small electrical signals before amplifier out to devices.

 

We need to take care compliance of diaphragm and charge plate ... otherwise it will affect the sensitivity and noise of microphone therefore

always concern about ESD, heat, dust and humidity.

Recommend to place your Audussey mic inside ESD bag. Best if it can be stored inside dry cabinet too

 

;D

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No harm putting the mic in an esd bag, but just that no need to be paranoid if don't have an esd bag.

 

Not many folks here have access to ESD bags.

 

Hi Bro,

I do have 25 small ESD bags with zipper so it is just nice to store your Audy mic inside.

Just PM me if you want it.

It is FREE   :)

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