WOW! This sounds sooo nice.

My friend came over today with his Radio Shack Sound Meter and I set it up on a tripod. He has the Avia Test DVD so we used that to adjust everything.

We ended up changing the speaker wiring setup to the Sub. I have the BA 9000 II sat/sub system. BA recommends using the LFE and then also connecting the RF/LF speakers to the Sub and using the dial on the front of the sub for adjustment. We tried that and we could not get the fine details set. The bass was all over the place and not remaining steady. I diconnected the speaker wires from the sub and taped them off with electrical tape.

We were then able to use the 1050's sub settings and the bass was much more stable.

I wish the 1050 offered seperate adjustments for the front L/R speakers independantly of one another like the rears are. My RF is 1-2db higher than my LF. I just want to be able to tune is perfectly.

At 62 on the volume dial this equaled 75db at where the Sound Meter was placed. Because of how my Den is situated the meter went between my two main listening areas, set at ear level.

I had watched LOTR last night before we tuned everything and I could tell the sound was all over the place, with the bass overpowering the fronts and center. Now everything is so much better. The biggest change I can hear is my rear surrounds are now better adjusted and the bass does not overpower the rest of the speakers.

My friend is almost done putting his system together, just awaiting delivery on a few more items(screen and then the projector gets hung), but he currently has an SVS Ultra and Merlin VSM fronts and a TSM Center. He is also getting another 2-4 TSMs for his surrounds as well as another Ultra! lol He was very happy with how my system sounds.

We then played LOTR where they are in the cave and cross the bridge just to hear how it sounds now. WOW! The bass is much tighter and not overpowering the rest of the speakers. We then rasied the center just a hair for a bit more voice, but other than that everything seems just about right.

Now I have to order my Sony Service Manual so we can adjust the TV settings. We did some minor adjusting using the basic controls, but I have to adjust the screen better.

Larry

I used this very helpful site when doing service mode adjustments to my 32" Sony Wega.

This is a general guide:

http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/how2adj.html#5

...and from another part of the site, here is a list of codes for the Sony XBRs, but they were pretty much all the same for my Wega.

http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/sonyadj.html

Good luck! BTW i would follow the advice on the site about writing down the initial settings before you adjust them. I found that even adjusting one at a time it's easy to lose track.

Thanks, I have already been to both of those sites. I don't have an XBR and have compared all of my settings to what is on the site. Nothing matches.

I have a KV32FS100, a newer model and not the higher end WEGA's.

I have a spreadsheet 6 pages long of every setting in the TV. Monday I am ordering the Service Manual for the TV.

Which Sony do you have?

Larry

Interesting. I found I had much better performance when using both the LFE and FL/FR setup. Of course, I've got the original 9000, not the MK II.

I had the same problem you do in regards to the fronts not balancing. I found that by adjusting the physical position of the speakers (moving them left, right, etc.) I was able to get them to come in to perfect alignment.

Hope you're having fun, and welcome to the Outlaw family!

Like I said I ran all of the wires to use both. The problem was we could not get the sub to remain at a constant db level. It kept fluctuating. I was trying to adjust the levels using the dial on the front of the sub. I began a the 11 o'clock posistion as the manual states. I then eventually got it to 9 o'clock. It went from 87db down to 64db. I kept barely moving the dial and it would jump 3-6db at a time. If left at lets say 70db and we did a sweep of the speakers, where it would do lets say LF and Sub, or RR and sub, the sub reading would bounce up and down, without me even touching anything!

Obviously performing any adjustments with the 1050 didn't do a thing to the sub.

We decided to remove the speaker wires from the sub and try again. This time using the 1050 to make the minute changes. What a world of difference. The sub remained where we set it everything worked out perfect.

We adjusted the speakers to 75db, not 85db. No way I am going to listen that loud, especially if my Mom were home. lol

I plan on trying again with the fronts by adjusting the angle of the speakers to see if I can quiet down the RF 2db as compared to the LF. Also want to raise the center just a hair.

One thing I am so happy with from these speakers is how well they are covering the entire room in sound. I have the fronts mounted because of the room layout in a very odd way. the LF is about 3.5' away from the TV, but 6'6" off the ground. The RF is 3' from the TV and the same 6'6" off the ground. Their was no way to get the speakers down at ear level without the risk of them getting hit or broken off the wall. My center is sitting right over the center of the TV The rears are 2' above ear level, facing one another on opposite walls. The Sub is in the far corner of the room, about 6-12" off each wall. Sounds pretty good.

I will try and get pics posted later in the week of everything.

Larry

Larry
Curious to the output level. You say that on the 1050's volume dial of 62, the meter reads 75 db at the listening position. Am I understanding this correctly? If that is true your speakers must have a verily low effiency rating (83db or less?) My speakers rated at 90db effiency to achieve the 75db level in DVD mode (all channels)at listening position needs the volume dial set to 52.
But I suppose it also depends on the room volume. I have a small listening room, about 13X16 X8'ceilings.
I've really enjoyed my 1050. I've just got started in the SACD realm. That's another great listening experience.

I am running BA 9000 MkII sats and sub. They have an 89db sensitivity rating.

Sensitivity (1 watt (2.83v) at 1m) = 89db

What speakers are you running? Where are they situated in relation to where your sitting area is located? Because mine are high up on the wall could be the reason why I need to turn the volume higher to achieve the 75db readings. But I am just guessing.

My room is 18' wide, 12' long and 8' ceilings.

My TV is about 4 feet off the right wall, I sit about 9 feet from the screen +/-.

___________________18'-0"___________
S----------------LF-----[=CC=]----RF

12'-0"

LR__________________X__________X__RR

S = Sub
LF = Left Front Micro 90xII
RF = Right Front Micro 90xII
CC = Center Micro 90cII and TV 32" Sony
LR = Left Rear Micro 80xII
RR = Right Rear Micro 80xII
X = The main two listening areas. A table is between the two X's.

The LF/RF are approximately 6'6" to the bottom of each speaker. They are mounted on the wall with the MBR brackets, angled downwards and in slightly towards the X's.

The RF/RR are on the 12' walls facing into the room, with a slight downward angle and also slightly angled into the room, very slight.

The CC is directly over the TV.

I will get pics posted over the holiday as soon as I get a chance. I have some pics, just have not taken pics of speaker locations.

Does the above "diagram" make sense?

Larry

Larry, curious about your results. I have the BA 9000II setup as well, and I haven't noticed the sub wandering when the LFE of the sub is connected and the L/R binding posts on the sub are connected to the LF and RF, speakers, respectively.

Could it be something on your test DVD? Did you get the same results using the 1050 test mode? How about when you play DVD's, would you notice a "wandering"?

I haven't fiddled with it much since initial setup , been too busy enjoying the DVDs. Still, there's always room for improvement.... might want to play around a bit to see if I could recreate your problem.

Cheers, UW

I honestly don't know what the problem was. It sounded ok before we configured everything, but it was obvious the speakers needed to be adjusted and "tuned". It was very bass heavy. One thing I did notice though, when I was watching LOTR Friday the loud passages were all over the map. If I had the 1050 set to 45 and then had to lower it to lets say 35 for one scene I had to lower it to 25 for another and sometimes I had to raise the volume above 50 to get the same bass. Yes I know different scenes offer different bass, but you can tell.

I didn't have the speaker wire running from the sub to each speaker. I ran it to the 1050 and twisted the LF Sat with the LF Sub and then connected it to the 1050. I did the same for the RF. BA said this is perfectly fine.

If you read page 10 of the BA 9000II manual it says I can use just the LFE cable so long as I make the fronts Small. I like this better anyway, I can control the sub using the 1050, where before I would have to walk over to the sub and fiddle with the innacurate dial. At least innacurate on mine.

Where do you have your 1050 set to for 75db? Where are your 90cII's mounted? Wall or stands at ear level?

I could experiment by taking them off the wall and seeing what the readings would be if placed at ear level on either side of the TV . . .

Larry

I believe that the sub's speaker-level outputs have a high-pass filter on them. By connecting the speakers and sub to the 1050's binding posts, all of the low frequency material in the left and right channels was being reproduced twice (or at least as much of it as the speakers could handle what was within the range that the sub was handling). That would certainly give you some "bloated" bass -- and there's lots of bass to hear in the original release of Fellowship of the Ring. I don't know that I entirely agree with BA on that wiring configuration being very good, for the very reasons that you've already discovered.

Had the speakers been connected to the speaker outputs of the subwoofer, the sub's crossovers would have allowed the sub to handle the low frequency material and also weed that material out of the signals going to the satellites so that they didn't try to reproduce it as well. Owl's_Warder apparently has had good luck with wiring the sub via LFE and passing the speaker signals for the mains through the sub and on to the speaker. On the other hand, the approach you are currently using -- speakers as "small" and sub connected via LFE output only -- is very valid. Heck, it's the normal approach for people without sat/sub setups.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited December 23, 2002).]