Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on October 30, 2004 at 16:45:39

In Reply to: DTS calibration test tones posted by Ramesh Sanjay Jamal on October 30, 2004 at 08:37:19:

There are setup tones (actually, pink noise) on this disc. If you look hard enough, it can be found on the 'net for about $12 + shipping. The DTS test signals can be used for a 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 setup (the actual encoding is supposed to be DTS ES 6.1 Discrete).

One thing that you'll find with this disc is that you will (probably) end up actually turning the volume of your sub down. The test signal for the sub is actually 40Hz - 80Hz pink noise, rather than with the majority of the pink noise centered around 80Hz like most calibration discs tend to do. Since there's more low frequency for your SPL meter to see (you are using an SPL meter, right?), the level it displays will be higher than you would normally see with other discs. Therefore, the way to get the sub's pink noise reading on the SPL meter in line with the rest of the channels is to lower the sub's volume -- if you want it to be "accurate".

The sub's volume is where I break from "accuracy". My recommendation on sub levels has always been to set it where you want it/like it while calibrating all of the other channels to the same level (75dB or 85dB, whichever you prefer).