Arcam AVR surround amplifier / AV processor AVR600 - Manual (Page 38)

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Before you use your AVR500, AVR600 or AV888 it is
essential that you enter some information into the Setup
menus about your speaker configuration. This allows
the unit to process any surround sound digital source
to exactly match your system and give you the ultimate
surround sound experience.
There are three pieces of vital information which are
outlined in the sections: ‘Speaker Types’, ‘Speaker
Distances’ and ‘Speaker Levels’.
The way you enter this information manually into the
unit is given later in the ‘Setup Menus’ section on page
34. The settings can also be established automatically
using the Arcam Auto Speaker Setup function. However
it is important to understand why these speaker settings
must be entered, which is why this section is presented
first.
essential
setup
Speaker types
You need to set the type of speakers that you have
connected to your AVR500/AVR600 (or connected
indirectly to your AV888):
Large capable of full frequency range reproduction
Small not capable of full frequency range
reproduction at the low frequency end
None speaker not present in your configuration
The terms ‘Large’ and ‘Small’ do not necessarily relate to
the physical size of your speakers. As a rule of thumb,
if a speaker cannot reproduce a flat frequency response
down to about 40Hz (and very few can!) it is often better
to consider them as ‘Small’ for setup purposes of home
cinema.
When a speaker is set to ‘Small’, very low frequency
sounds are redirected away from that speaker to a ‘Large’
speaker or a subwoofer, which are far better suited to
reproducing these low frequency sounds.
Note that it is not possible to set all speakers to
‘Small’ unless there is a subwoofer in your speaker
configuration. If you do not have a subwoofer, you will
be forced to set your front speakers to ‘Large’.
(Advanced users may wish to automatically override the
‘Small’ speaker setting for purely stereo music listening
when not watching movies. This can be achieved in the
‘Input Config.’ menu – see page 36.)
Single Surround Back speaker
If you have just one Surround Back speaker in your
configuration instead of two, ensure it is connected to
the SBL speaker connector and set Surr. Back L/R in
the Spkr Types menu to either ‘1 Small’ or ‘1 Large’ as
appropriate.
Crossover frequency
If you have set any speakers as being Small, then you will
be required to set a value for the crossover frequency.
This is the frequency below which signals are filtered
away from these Small speakers and redirected to Large
speakers or the subwoofer (if present). A frequency
of 80Hz is often a good starting point, however you
will probably have to experiment with different values
to find the best value for your system or consult your
speaker handbook.
MCH sub level
If a subwoofer is present, this setting allows for a 10dB
compensation on the subwoofer output when using the
MCH input as required by many DVD-A players with
audio outputs.
Use Surround Back channels
If not used in the main zone, it is possible to assign the
Surround Back channels to bi-amp the Front Left/Right
channels or to provide an amplified output to Zone 2.
Speaker distances
It is essential for the distance from each speaker to the
listening position to be accurately measured and entered
into the ‘Setup’ menu. This ensures that the sounds from
the various speakers arrive at the listening position at
the correct time to recreate a realistic surround effect.
The distance can be entered in centimetres or inches.
Speaker Levels
Finally the levels of all the speakers in the system need
to be adjusted to match each other at the listening
position, again to create a proper surround effect. To
help with this the AVR500, AVR600 or AV888 can
generate a test noise for each speaker which should be
measured with a sound pressure level (SPL) meter. The
meter should be set to ‘C’ weighting and slow response.
The level of noise measured at the listening position
from each speaker should be adjusted on the Speaker
Trims page of the Setup menu so that the meter reads
75dB SPL. It does not matter what the system volume
setting of the AVR500, AVR600 or AV888 is before
turning the test noise on as the volume setting is over-
ridden for the duration of the speaker noise test.
There are several basic SPL meters on the market at
reasonable prices aimed at home cinema enthusiasts.
Check your local technology store, search online or ask
your dealer.
If you do not have an SPL meter, you can try to adjust
the noise level of each speaker by ear. In this case it is
not possible to adjust the speakers to the absolute 75dB
SPL volume level, but you should aim for all speakers
sounding equally loud. Setting speaker test noise levels
by ear is not recommended as it is very difficult to do
accurately, but is often better than doing nothing at all!