T Cobe wrote: Imahawki,

We may have similar issues. My Audessey wants to set my LFE at -15 as well. Humor me and set yours up the same as mine. Put away the meter and turn the gain up on the T1s to the 13:00 position and your LFE to around -11 and see how it sounds to your ears. Trust your instincts. Use the force, Luke.

Cheers,

T Cobe

I'm willing to try this but as with the response by moderator, it doesn't explain what is happening at all. The speaker level inputs are feeding a full range speaker, the LFE input is feeding the bass section only. There is NO REASON why the AVR doesn't see them as stand alone speaker and subwoofer. Someone surely has to understand the design details. And I'm still curious if someone with a non-Onkyo AVR has the same problem.

Moderator wrote: Yes, you are the only person. And yes, the meter, by your measurements, is down 7.5 dB just like we said. You are probably better off with local support or support from the receiver manufacturer.

I intend to call the dealer tomorrow to discuss. I hope you'll excuse my "tone" as a matter of frustration. I've been in this hobby for nearly 20 years now and I've never had subwoofer that measured one way and was 10dB too quite with actual movie content. In addition, while the Radio Shack meter has a documented lesser sensitivity at ultra low frequencies, as you can see from the chart I posted it is basically flat above 30hz. AVRs send out pink noise for calibration and the meter is going to pick up 30-80hz just fine.

I'm not trying to be argumentative and I certainly do not want to be removed from the forum. However, I don't find "set it by ear" to be a satisfactory answer.

Finally, if I truly am the only one with this problem is it possible I there is an issue with one or both of my speakers? If so I would certainly like to vet that out and resolve the problem rather than being removed from the forum for trying to figure it out.

Imahawki,

It's nearly impossible to quantify every possible equipment interaction. It could be room modes, your cables, receiver, sound meter, Audessey mic, etc., etc. Is Audessey and all EQ settings off when you're doing your manual settings or are you leaving Audessey on and adjusting the results? I have all the additional settings off. No EQ, no double bass, no dynamic volume, etc. There are a lot of settings to drill down through.

I can say one thing, I am eager to be rid of my Integra. I have had a host of issues with this brand in the past two years and I feel it is the weak link in my system. Do you have another receiver that your can try? If not, a call in to Onkyo may be beneficial. Also, I'm sure your GET dealer would be more than happy to come out and help you with your setup. You've invested a lot of money for them to give you the cold shoulder.

Cheers,

T Cobe

imahawki, everyone here wants you to have good results, including me. There are thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of systems hooked up just like yours that work great. And I have been setting sub levels by ear forever, including at all the GoldenEar trade shows' systems that everyone raves about. There's nothing wrong with your speakers, this is a setup/settings/receiver issue. Starting from scratch, setting large fronts, sub to yes, all other speakers to small (80Hz starting point on small channel crossovers) and 120 Hz or bypass on the LFE crossover. Set levels with your SPL meter, set LFE by ear watching movies with a good .1 track. Set the gain on the speakers' bass section listening to 2.0 music and adjust to taste and room. If this doesn't yield good results, seek the help of someone local.

I've got it sounding quite good by re-running Audyssey and bumping up the LFE. Right now I don't know exactly how big the bump is because it maxes out at -15dB on the trim. Maybe it would go to -20 or -25 if it could. I went up to -8dB for now, which is in theory a 7dB bump but like I said in reality it could be hotter than that. In fact, if anything I would say it might be a little hot. I might go back to -10dB.

I will let you all know what if any changes I hear when I insert the attenuators into the the LFE line. Maybe there's something going on with the AVR software when you max out the trim and that will fix everything.

On a final note to T Cobe, I have a friend who is a bit older. He has spent decades working in the consumer electronics industry including designing integrated circuits, etc. including working for Dolby. He swears off Onkyo and has a real disdain for both their software implementation and he doesn't really like the amp section of their AVRs. I also intend to change out AVRs and will look at something from Denon or Marantz most likely.

Final final note, I'll reiterate my apologies to the Moderator for letting my frustration slip into my tone. I'm very scientifically and it truly bugs me to have measurements and reality not match. I don't care what the answer is, I want to find it out. If it turns out my AVR is the problem, I'm actually OK with that. I just want to know.

imahawki wrote: Final final note, I'll reiterate my apologies to the Moderator for letting my frustration slip into my tone. I'm very scientifically and it truly bugs me to have measurements and reality not match. I don't care what the answer is, I want to find it out. If it turns out my AVR is the problem, I'm actually OK with that. I just want to know.

No worries, thanks. We keep things fun, informative and helpful here, it's one of the attractions to this forum. And everyone is looking to get the most from their GoldenEar systems, for themselves and for each other. Refreshing, really. Enjoy the journey, the end will yield something very special.