Speaker Volume

When you select a speaker size whether large, small or none for all your speakers—left and right front speakers, the center speaker and the surround sound speakers – you need to think about a few things. It may be noted, for example, that according to a thumb rule that speakers with 6 inch or bigger woofers are considered large.

Also measure the speaker to listener distances from all the speakers to the listeners. This will ensure that the sound emanating from all the speakers would reach the listeners at the same time. Also make sure that all the speakers are equal in level. Your receiver can send the test tone to each speaker. This will enable you to adjust the relative volume of each channel. Remember that as the sound jumps from one speaker to another, the level of loudness should remain the same. You can adjust the level of each speaker by listening it with your ear.

Do not mix up the wires so that you lose sight of its origin and end. When you making the speaker level adjustments, make sure that the test tones come out of the intended speakers.

In order to receive the best sound experience, ensure that all the speakers in your home theater system present audio for the correct channels. All the THX-certified DVD movies contain a test for this purpose. Each speaker emits pink noise tone which corresponds with the highlighted speaker in a graphic representation of all the channels in your audio system. When the left hand speaker in the front highlights the graphic, it will emit a tone. The center speaker highlights the central channel and gives pink noise.

This process goes on in all the speakers and subwoofers. A correct identification and synchronization in graphics would mean that all the speakers including the subwoofers should present the tone at the same volume. If you detect any speaker sounding out of sync with the graphic, it would mean that either the speaker or the component has been wired incorrectly. Also pay attention to the pitch of the noise. If you find that one channel is noticeably lower than the rest of the channels, it would mean to be out of phase. This calls for a recheck on the polarity of your wires.

In an ideal situation, your system should be able to give an output of 75db of volume from each speaker to the SPL meter as per the benchmark of the THX home theater optimization.