speaker efficiencey?? Starting point...? 92db??

Ah, um, I think i was less confused when i initiated the thread. Maybe my question was incorrectly phrased do to my ignorance. Basically, since being on the gon I have learned that your "system" is only going to sound as good as your equiptment and "set up"(bass mgt, speaker distance, etc, etc.) is. I know my Yamaha, Adcom, Def tech system is, well, some sort of "fi", call it what you will, and i am not even sure i will get any benefit out of mapping out the frequency response from my speakers. I just figured it couldnt hurt. I guess i may be confusing the terms themselves at this point.

As per the manual on my Yamaha i set the main volume to 0db and sent test tones to each speaker. Now, the Yamaha does have this Ypao(mic that you put in your main listening position and it calibrates speaker distance, level, "small/large", eq, etc. I have done the set up numerous times and after each set up i always find that the overall sound can best be described as sort of "meak". I have to turn the volume up much further. When i manually check the speaker settings the fronts and center are set from (1db)left to 0 center and .5db right. Usually i end up setting them to 4 db, 3db and 3.5 respectively to get some more "oomph". This is why i puchased an spl to compare what the YPAO settings were to a handheld spl. NOW, i am clueless!! When i manually adjust the speaker levels am i screwing up the soundstaging, etc.?

Is there a site for maybe "midfigon for newbies".
Audiokinesis, dude what are heck are ANECHOIC CONDITIONS anyways, better yet maybe i dont want to know. I am just looking for inexpensive tweaks here and there to get the maximum out of the equiptment i have well basically because, well how my wife phrased it " this stuff needs to last you for the rest of your natural born days". I think that means she wont even let me by a dictionary to look up anechoic.

Don't worry about getting "flat" in-room response. This is what makes audiophiles wear tinfoil hats and wait for "them" to come.

The numbers in the on-screen display of your Yamaha are relative volume levels. THe numbers themselves mean nothing. Your turning them all up about equaly simply means that you don't have to turn the main volume up as high to acheive the same volume level. The ideal is to simply have all of your speakers playing at the same volume level when you run the receivers test tone. That way when you are listening to multi channel recordings you hear the whiz-bang effects at the volume level the recording engenier intended.

The SPL meter will get you close to the right relative volume levels. From there close your eyes and adjust according to what YOU hear. If your rear right speaker sounds muted turn it up. You will be listening to the sound coming from your speakrs... not your SPL meter.

Good luck!

Dziogn,

Sorry didn't realize I was making things more confusing. "Anechoic" means "without echo", and in this context refers to measuring only the direct sound coming straight from the speaker to the microphone, without any reflected sound reaching the microphone and being included in the measurement. Don't worry - it's not on the final exam, but that is the condition normally used when a loudspeaker's efficiency is measured.

I have no familiarity with the Yamaha YPAO system, so can't comment on it.

Can you turn your system up so that it no longer sounds "meek", but sounds right to you? If so, then you're in good shape. If not, is it because you're running out of volume control adjustment range, or is it because the sound starts to distort?

As far as soundstaging goes, so long as you have your speakers at the correct loudness relative to one another your soundstaging should be fine.

I suspect that the slight imbalance in perceived loudness that causes you to set the levels differently for your front 3 channels is related to room acoustics. The ears don't perceive loudness exactly the same way that an SPL meter measures SPL (let me know if you want more details on this phenomenon). Since ultimately it's your ears that you listen through, I'd say give them the final say as you fine-tune the relative channel levels. You're doing great if you can tell that one channel is .5 dB too loud or too soft!

Duke