Does it make more sense to calibrate your system with the avia disc because the signals are coming from your dvd player which is pretty much the main device outputting 5 or 7.1 surround?
thanks
rob

I don't know that it's any better than the internal test tones, but it's a reasonable approach that a number of people use (although HDTV means that some people also get a fair bit of 5.1 content from over-the-air, cable, or satellite HD tuners).

Ya I agree, Ive see that alot as well. Here are some interesting #'s.
All #s are based on , FRONT, CENTER, RIGHT, SUR RIGHT, SUR LEFT, SUB respectively:
Avia disc (using and oppo dvd)the calibration is 0,0,0,3,4,-2(reading from 990 menu)This was also read in the menu @0 volume, the db with the SPL meter was 85, 80, 85, 77, 77, 85. you can see that the fronts were normailized at 85db and everything else was too low illustrating that using a Avia disc may be correct when playing the Avis disc(who knows about other DVDs)but is not accurate for anything other than the dvd input into the 990.

Here are the #'s for manual 990 calibration using a SPL meter with 0 volume and calibrating to 85 db.
0, 5, 0 ,11, 12, -2.
My speakers are a set of B&W 602s3(7" woof)B7WLcr60 s3(2x 5 1/2 woof), B&W M1 for surrounds(4" woof)and B7W 650 10" sub.
It seems that the 990 Maunual caibration makes sense with boosting the center(not sure if 5 points is right)but needing more volume for the rears maks sense.
Anyways take a look and comment if you have any insight.
rob

I posted this in another thread, but feel it is pertinent here as well...

When I try auto-calibrating my new 990 for 7.1 set up, I get a msg. saying that since my rear speakers are large and fronts are small, I should switch the speakers and try again

So I tried manual calibration using my Avia disc, which gave poor results. Then I tried again using the 990 test tones which resulted in level differences of -4 to -5dB for the rears and backs.

Why are the levels so different? My guess is that when I calibrated using the Avia disc, I had the 990 in the wrong mode. What mode should the 990 be in for external source calibration?

Better yet, should I expect that the levels using the 990 internal calibration test tone will ever yield the same results as using an external (DVD produced) tones?

Different test tones (internal or DVD) will in some cases yield different results - either an across-the-board difference (such as tones intended to calibrate to 75dB versus tones intended to calibrate to 85dB), or only in certain octave bands (such as the 5dB or so of boost in the mains and center that robstahl encountered with Avia).

I've used the auto calibration feature, and manual config using the 990's internal tones and manual config using Avia. I've gone through several iterations of all three and every time, the manual method with internal 990 tones has yeilded superior results. Interesting since using the Avia disk with my older Panny DVD player yeilded better results than the internal tones alone on my 950.

Just my 2 cents...


later,
simp