Questions about surround sound speaker calibration?

[SantiagoManager]

1) After calibration, are all speakers -- including the mains, satellites AND the subwoofer(s) -- supposed to register equal dB measurements at the listen position when the receiver generates a test tone for the channel? 

2) Can you recommend a cost-effective SPL meter for checking sub-100hz test tones? I suspect that the one that came with my receiver may have issues with the subwoofer calibration (it sounded too quiet to several people, and measured a low dB on my phone)

Additional Details

Chris: were you thinking of channel settings on the receiver/amp? Because that's not what I asked. I was asking whether all channels should have the same dB, ie. volume, and you said "adjustment required...so that the sound is an equal level at the measuring point" which sounds like what I am asking.

[SantiagoManager · Accepted solution]

Answers 

1) No. The levels will all be different. This is how it should be. 

The figures reflect the amount of volume adjustment required at each speaker so that the sound is an equal level at the measuring point. IOW, if one speaker is close, then its level will be lower than a speaker further away. 

2) sub volume is notoriously difficult to measure with any degree of accuracy. The best advice is to adjust by ear. Bear in mind that "most people" expect the bass level to be set far too high. If it is then the bass will be boomy and will dominate the sound balance. The ideal is that the bass notes start and stop cleanly with the on-screen action. 

You can make adjustments to the sound after the speaker calibration wizard has been run. I often find that lifting the centre channel by 1.5dB helps make dialogue easier to follow. You can adjust sub-bass up too.

[JSantiago · Accepted solution]

all channels should be the same level except for the sub channel...you will be hard pressed to find a sound meter at reasonable cost that will measure a sub woofer correctly....I got my sound meter at radio shack for about $40 bucks and its useless below about 100hz...also if your going to use one meter for the sub and another for the satellites that is not going to work for you either. Some people have said that the way to do it is raise the volume of the sub during calibration and then after calibration reset the sub to a lower level... What I would recommend and the way I did it was run your calibration system; then set up your sub by ear to match the speakers then rerun the calibration system and see if the changes will take hold; also you may want to readjust again and maybe again....I know that when I first set up my speakers and sub it took me about 3 months to get satisfaction with new ideas and adjustments every few days or at least once a week....to get it right...I had to readjust everything several times before I was able to get smooth sound from music and movies..my problem was music; Movies seems to fall in line right away but the adjustments that the Calibration was doing to the speakers made my music sound harsh and flat as if I was listening to an FM radio instead of high quality CD's and the sub was actually too loud for most music...so I tried a lot of different ideas before getting it to sound smooth on both movies and music...In fact it really didn't turn out right till I heard a friends home theater system that had been adjusted to perfection and I was able to come back to my house and hear the deficiencies in mine more easily.....so what you might want to do is go down to a local dealer with some of your CD's or Blu rays and listen to how they have it set up....today I can adjust the system after calibration in about 5 minutes because I know what to do....and I don't need a meter either as most of the settings come out the way I want just using calibration.....