Originally posted by gonk:
The channel levels and distance settings are applied. I zero'ed out those settings on my DVD-A/SACD player.
While not used for SACD's, I ran into an issue with the 7.1's connected to a Toshiba hddvd player. Initially had the levels zeroed out on my hd-a1, but once I bought a SPL meter, noticed that at a reference volume of 0db the spl levels between the 7.1 inputs with the hd-a1 using DVE and the 990 internal test tones on an unused input were quite different. After testing, realized there was no way I was going to get them both at 75db per channel at a 0db reference volume, measured in my primary listening position....using the levels required to get the 990 test tones at 75db, the hd-a1 with DVE could not get down to 75db on some channels, even with the channel at maximum attenuation of -12db in the hd-a1's audio settings. What I decided to do was try and get them both at 75db/channel, but at
different reference volumes. Calibrated the 990 test tones on an unused input using -5db as reference volume, and the 7.1 inputs using the hd-a1 and dve at 0db reference volume...with small attenuated values between -2 and -3 db per channel in the hd-a1's audio section the hd-a1 was able to get 75db levels without changing the 990's channel levels. So in effect my reference level for the tosilink in from the DireTV HD tivo (what I hope is closest to the 990 internal test tones) is -5db, and for hddvd's on the toshiba using 7.1 is at 0db. Any comments on calibrating things like this?