What does LFE "pink noise" sound like?

OK, I'm not being a smart bottom. I just really don't know. I'm trying to dial in my sub. The pink noise for the other channels is just the normal static...but the LFE coming out of my sub is more like a rumble. This makes sense. It is not nearly as loud or obvious (to my ears) as the pink noise from the main channels. This is with both the 990 generated sound and the DVE calibration disk sound. I don't have a SPL yet...will soon...so I'm using the auto calibration and my non-calibrated ears at this point. I guess I just expected the same static sound but not as "pink" and I'm not getting it.

Sub calibration often ends up being a little bit science, a little bit art, and a little bit guesswork. An SPL meter will be a big help for calibration, although the sub's still a bit tricky because of the typical SPL meter's difficulty measuring such low frequencies. In addition to the test tones, you might want to try some bass-heavy source material that you're familiar with and adjust a bit to produce the sound that you like (which may be a few dB "hotter" or "cooler" than a truly flat response). You might also play around with my Devious Tiny Disc (there's a CD version if you don't have access to a DVD burner) or other sweep test tones to hear a frequency sweep from 20Hz up (the DTD goes up to about 6000Hz). The "pink noise" test tones will be better for dialing the sub in, but the sweep may be helpful for getting a feel for volume levels and sub/speaker integration.

Part of the equation needs to include how loud you listen to the output. The C weighting filter is based on the 100 phon curve. That means when you hear a tone, you would say it is equally as loud as 100 dB at 1000 HZ, If you listen at lower levels (most of us do) you probably want to run you sub "hotter" since our ears are less and less sensitive to low frequency as the phon level decreases. The A weighting network, for example, is very typical of what we actually hear and is based on the 40 phon curve.

Stated another way...if you adjusted for a truly flat output, the LF would get worse as listening levels decrease. Remember the old "loudness" button? It just pumped up the LF at lower SPLs.

I agree with Gonk. Start with SLM and adjust it to where you like it.

Gonk
I will try to play with your DTD this weekend. I've run the frequency sweeps on the DVE disk but it was hard figuring out where the sound was coming from (my sub speaker boxes are at the rear of the room). I need to employ the wife to help. I did notice that the NHT L5s really dropped off up high...I can't remember exactly but once they hit about 15K I wasn't hearing anything anymore...probably more my ears than the speakers. I'm also assuming there isn't any real content up that high.