As a veteran of many an HT forum, I've been reading posts recommending SPF meters for quite a while. I realized they were probably helpful but put off buying one until yesterday.

WOW!! The difference on my 950 was as dramatic as going from mono to stereo if not more so.

I always trusted my ear and had big problems conceptually setting up matched speakers to different levels - but I tried it anyway since I already invested the $39.95 at RatShack.

The sound went from decent to incredible at a single stroke.

The reason I'm bothering to write this is that posts I've read before stress the importance of metering your speakers. But maybe they weren't emphatic enough for my thick skull.

Put simply, if you haven't metered your speakers yet no matter how good your ear - you're not hearing close to what your system's capable of. That goes for the 950, and I'm sure all other multichannel systems.

If you haven't already, just do it and expect to be impressed!

Hear hear, I definitely noticed a sound difference when I did this.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

After assuming, I needed to be in the mood, to figure it all out and putting it off for several reasons. I was gently chided to do this myself, (Thanks guys ).
I figured out the meter all by my lonesome, it was so much easier than I expected it to be.
And the difference this simple step makes is astounding. The best part is, now I know the benifits and can easily keep things in shape as often as needed in future.
Agreed: its a very high return for under 50 dollars.

So, could either of you post a short step-by-step procedure you are using to calibrate your speakers? I am still waiting for my 950 to arrive :-(. Just getting geared up for that auspicious day.

There is a procedure in the manual that is pretty much what you ask for. I think you can still take it down in the product section.

I feel your pain I am in your same position! Everyone here is very helpful. I recently purchased the Avia Home Theater DVD disc. Maybe this link will be helpful: http://www.ovationsw.com/
Good Luck and hang in there!
DMC

YOu could also sink another $5.00 into a small flashlight with a "flat" butt. I use a small hand held flashlight and put it flush on the baffle of my speakers (right above the tweeter) and then I zero them into my listening position. This realy helped when I moved my center channel underneath my tv, and needed to focus the sound to the listening position. Some people use lasers, but I fugure that the sound waves have a tendency to spread out so the "wide beam" of the flashlight probibaly works just as well. Just make certain that you have a person sitting in the target area when you tweak the surrounds and center. (I found that crossing the surrounds about a foot behind the listener gives me the best sound...but to each their own.)

Jason

I'd also recommend $20 or so for a tripod to put the SPL meter on. Gets it away from your body, which can interfere with the measurements due to bouncing waves and such.

Sorry, not very 'short' jimr but here goes.
(And if I did it wrong, they'll let us know...it was my first. )
I picked up a Radio Shack Sound Lever Meter, the cheaper one (aprox. 40). The other model was ummm Digital? The Outlaw Owner’s Manuel, (thank you Outlaw!) does walk you right through it on pg. 27.
Outlaw recommends calibrating to 75db/SPL

Turn you 950 & ? amp on with NO source playing.
Set main volume control on the 950 to 0dB

Sit in your central listening position holding the meter at ear height.
Outlaw states: point the meter at ear level towards your CEILING.
The instructions that come with my meter say point the meter AT the speaker.
I used Outlaws recommendation and pointed to the ceiling.

Set your meter to Slow response and ‘C” weighting.
Set range on your meter to 70 (and work up)
Or 80 (and work down)
(You set your meter using the big black scroll button on the meter marked: Range.)

I won’t walk the menus on the 950 (it will be in your manual)
But access Channel Calib Menu, which looks like
> Left Front: 0db
Center Front: 0db
Etc.
As you use your remote to scroll the > onto each choice press select for each speaker in turn, you will hear the fairly loud test tone through the speaker selected.
Your meter needle will jump to ‘something’.
Use the < > (after hitting select first on your 950 remote) to move your volume up or down for that particular speaker till the sound meter needle swings to 0.
If you have selected 70 range on your meter 0 = 70.
If you have selected 80 range on your meter 0 = 80.
Work up or down depending on your starting choice till the needle registers: 75dB.

I thought the trim feature on the 950 was separate from the Channel Calb, entirely, to be used to tweak something temporally whilst still keeping Calb set at its original specs. I noticed after calibrating Trim dB’s = what you set in Channel Calb.
One thing I ran into is something the guys here could prob. answer. I got a test tone for the subwoofer (so I assumed I should calibrate it also) but this caused my needle to peg right; even when I adjusted the SW volume to its lowest setting –15dB.
Puzzled I tried setting my meter to “A” weighting, then I could get the needle to swing to 0 using volume controls. This still gave me a little too much LF on some viewing, so I went back and lowered the dB on it the next day.

Is ‘A’ weighting normally used for the SW, the meter or Outlaw manuals did not explain; or did I mishandle this portion?

I was wondering about that myself. The Radio Shack guy told me to use the A and Slow settings. And of course everything sounded fine until the subwoofer which even though had the neighbors peering out windows didn't register until I switched to the C setting.

Since I spend a lot of time manually adjusting levels on the sub anyway between movies and music I didn't worry about it. And the improvements were major. But I would also like to know whether to use A or C or both for best results.