Reference: How do you know at what level it is recorded?

[frijoli]

I have several discs recorded with test tones, and Tom Danleys recordings of the fireworks, trains and a Harley. (really cool by the way)

I know I can play them loud and well above reference, but how do you set the reference point on the receiver using an SPL meter?

Say I have pink noise to balance my speakers with. This is easy to do across the speakers, but what is my reference on my AVR for that noise? I haven't seen a disc that says this tone is 80Hz at 80db or anything like that.

What am I missing?

Clay

[Mike_TX]

I have several discs recorded with test tones, and Tom Danleys recordings of the fireworks, trains and a Harley. (really cool by the way)

I know I can play them loud and well above reference, but how do you set the reference point on the receiver using an SPL meter?

Say I have pink noise to balance my speakers with. This is easy to do across the speakers, but what is my reference on my AVR for that noise? I haven't seen a disc that says this tone is 80Hz at 80db or anything like that.

What am I missing?

Clay

Clay -

Most newer receivers have an automatic calibration setup of some sort (Audyssey, MACC, etc).
That often performs several functions including:
- speaker distances/delays
- speaker trim level
- "reference" = 0

I hope that helps.

Mike

[frijoli]

Clay -

Most newer receivers have an automatic calibration setup of some sort (Audyssey, MACC, etc).
That often performs several functions including:
- speaker distances/delays
- speaker trim level
- "reference" = 0

I hope that helps.

Mike

Thanks Mike, I am aware of these. My Denon 3311ci isn't here yet.
Besides I still like to do this manually anyway. I'm not concerned about balancing the speakers, I'm curious as to how you know what the disc levels are recorded at.
Also my Bluray player is calibrated differently than my HD-dvd player, because I am still using my older Pioneer AVR. My Bluray is analog audio whereas my hd-dvd uses the Receiver for the bass management.

Clay