Parasound Halo C1 Controller - Manual (Page 28)

Level Setup
For proper surround, the sounds reaching you from the different speakers should have the same
relative levels as the sounds reaching the audio engineer who mixed the soundtrack. Because
home systems vary, the simplest way to do that is to send a standard test signal through each of
the speakers in turn, measure each one’s sound levels at the main listening position, and then
adjust each channel’s signal level so that all the sound levels are equal. The C 1 can do this auto-
matically (see “Level autocalibrate,” on page 30) or manually. The “Level setup” menu can be
used for manual calibration or simply to check on the levels set by the autocalibration system.
To make manual adjustments, you will need an SPL
(sound-pressure-level) meter; it should be held, micro-
phone end upright, near where your head would be when
you sit at your main listening position. Set the meter to its
80-dB scale and to “C” weighting.
Once the meter is set up and the “Level setup” screen is
displayed, press the “Test” key on Page 1 of the Master
remote’s C1/C2 screen. This will start a test noise that
cycles through your speakers. As each speaker plays, the
“dB” on its line of this menu will be replaced by a musical
G-clef symbol ( ), giving you a quick way to make sure each speaker is connected to the proper
channel. Speakers entered as “No” in “Size setup” will be shown as “None” on this menu, and
no signal will be sent to them.
For actual level setting, rock the Master remote’s thumbpad up and down to select the speaker
you wish to adjust, then rock the thumbpad to the left or right until your sound-level meter
reads 75 dB (–5 on the 80-dB scale). Then proceed to the next speaker. The noise will automati-
cally go to the speaker you’re adjusting. If you pause for more than a few seconds, the test
noise will resume cycling through your speakers.
Distance Setup
Proper surround also requires that the sounds reaching you from the different speakers in your
system should have the same relative timing as they did in the studio mixing room. If the speak-
ers in the studio were equidistant from the engineer, but your main speakers are three feet further
from you than your surrounds are, the sound from the main speakers would reach you about 3
milliseconds (0.003 sec.) late, and you might hear, say, a gunshot’s echo before the shot itself. To
compensate, your system would have to delay the sound from the surround speakers by three
milliseconds, enabling the sound from the main speakers to catch up. The C 1 does this automati-
cally (see “Dist. autocalibrate,” below), but you can also set delays by measuring the distance from
each speaker to your head and entering it in the screen below. The C 1 then translates distance
into delay, as sound moves at approximately 1 ms (millisecond) per foot or per 0.3 meters.
For each speaker, the distance can be set in 1-foot incre-
ments from 0 to 71 feet (0 to 21.4 meters, if you have set
“Distance units” on the “Display setup” screen to
“Meters”). If the distance between you and the left and
right main speakers differs by more than 2 feet, the display
will warn:
Left and right ch delay
difference exceeds 2ms
If your on-screen display is set to a color mode (see “Display setup”), any speaker distances
that seem unrealistically high—more than about 22 feet (5.9 m)—will appear in a different color.
Distance setup
᭤ Left 7ft
Center 6ft
Right 7ft
Right surround 5ft
Right back None
Left back None
Left surround 5ft
Subwoofer 10ft
Exit
Level setup
᭤ Left 0.5dB
Center 0.0dB
Right 0.0dB
Right surround 0.0dB
Right back None
Left back None
Left surround 0.0dB
Subwoofer 0.0dB
Exit
ADJUSTMENTS, MENUS, AND SETUP continued 28