How Loud is Too Loud?

Рет қаралды 3,338

Күн бұрын

Andrew talks over his thoughts on setting Sound Pressure Levels at the seating positions, what needs to be considered and how it impacts other seats as well as speaker type considerations.

Пікірлер: 72

@TerminatorJuice Жыл бұрын

So I'm back to this video after 10 months to say that I have taken quite a few steps to reduce the noise floor in my room, and it's been quite ear-opening! I would highly recommend anyone with a dedicated home theater to do whatever you can to reduce the noise floor of your room, because it's well worth it!

@TerminatorJuice Жыл бұрын

I made a video talking about the things I did in my room to make it quieter if you're interested. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bJ5hftRj07Hdon0.html

@HomeTheatreEngineering Жыл бұрын

Sorry I meant to reply and thought I had. yes well done noise floor reduction is the missing magic so hat's off to you!

@pb24dagrk 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome video. Glad to see someone talking about noise floor, and also the difference of the speaker needing 105dB at the listening position (commonly overlooked) and how that affects people closer to the speaker.

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the kind feedback. Glad you liked it

@sunken8068 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Thank you

@welderfixer 2 жыл бұрын

Andrew, Yes sir - the lowest noise floor in the room is best. It's so annoying to hear traffic outside or other family members making noise during a listening session. You are also so right about Atmos or even surround speakers being given less priority to quality and power handling. I'm quickly finding that my speakers that do not match my good LCR are helping the overall audio production in my room. I'm installing matching side surround speakers this weekend and hopefully matching ceiling speakers before the end of this year. Maybe next year or two I can earn enough to buy a processor or a better AVR and amplifiers. Surely, dedicated amps will make a big improvement. Especially with my 4 ohm LCR speakers. Thanks for the valuable info and all the very best to you and yours!

@CarlosNunez-bm4hr 2 жыл бұрын

I said this many times, but I'll say it again: thank you Andrew for making your videos so informative and helpful. I fancied myself a home theater "connoisseur", but I just discovered I'm really not 🙂 , as I didn't even know what line source speakers were. Thanks for all the info!

@aarondelmonte5345 Жыл бұрын

Fantastic as always.

@northeastcorals 2 жыл бұрын

Love these useful videos. Thanks.

@frankvee 7 ай бұрын

Subscribed!

@HomeTheatreEngineering 6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much

@lw4830 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this. Much needed video

@TerminatorJuice 2 жыл бұрын

Again and again, you guys prove that there's a significant difference between listening to a certified A/V professional, and listening to a DIY enthusiast! Lol. There is some really useful information in this video, and it was explained in a way that made perfect sense, so bravo to you guys! Question: How do you measure the room noise to get that NC rating? I sat in my room early in the morning with absolutely nothing on in the house, and my SPL meter set to A weight showed around 29.5db, and 39-40db set to C weight. ***Edit: I just found out the my SPL meter's range is 30db-130db, so the A weight measurement is probably not accurate.***

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

As always great comments from you. I will do a follow up video explaining this. Good question. Probably the easiest way I can think of is to get audiotools for iphone and use the RTA function and in the settings turn on NC curves but its not free. I will see if REW does this too

@TerminatorJuice 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering I don't have an iPhone, so I won't be able to try that, but it was more of a curiosity than anything. Anyway, I do want to share a story that relates to this topic, if you will humor me... Last week I was running through some demo scenes and I put on Dune, and honestly it was the worst that movie has ever sounded to me... And the only thing that was different was that the AC was running for the entire time because it got hot and humid where I live, and I remember the sound of the air coming through the vent was kind of distracting, but I wasn't sure why or how that would cause the audio to sound perceivably bad to me. I don't know if that was the sole reason, or if it was just a mixture of things, but sometimes there are those days where I feel the sound quality of my room isn't as good as it usually is, and I don't know why???

@TerminatorJuice 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering Also, I finally feel confident enough to show you guys my DIY low/mid budget theater room that I've been working on the past two years, doing everything myself. FYI, I've had the room assigned as a dedicated home Cinema since 2006, but it wasn't until 2020 that I made a serious effort to achieve my dream room. And I think that it's finally near that level... With improvements and upgrades still to come in the next year or so, of course! Lol But anyway, here is a look at my "Cinema 1". kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brVpnNKe19_LZoE.html

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

@@TerminatorJuice good story and yes probably altered your experience. Im looking for non iphone options.. (don’t spose you have an ipad???)

@TerminatorJuice 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering Nope

@victorpulos823 2 жыл бұрын

This is good information

@extramail850 2 жыл бұрын

Great tips 👌

@esjovold6572 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. One on how to control noise floor in an existing room would be great.

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Good suggestion thanks!

@asiflatif7767 2 жыл бұрын

this is great!

@dreamav8161 2 жыл бұрын

Once again, a great video guys 👏 Too many Home Cinemas are sold on specifications...but worse with so little understanding of how to read and implement these specifications (many of which are more "marketing" figures than real life). Not just in audio but visual as well. The simple call of "louder" or "brighter" is better is a clear mis understanding warning sign. What is even more shocking is that Private Home Cinemas in way too many cases, are suffering the same. Globally, quite a few of these are also award winning which really begs to question...how does a client know they are getting the right info and design? It shouldn't matter whether a client is spending $25k, $200k or $1 mill...for every client budget they should be getting a correctly designed cinema. Sorry guys...rant over. I just get so frustrated at seeing people spend good money on poorly designed systems and I feel for them. Keep flying the flag...😁

@matta9316 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the content! Can you post some more walk through from your recent projects?

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

We will try. Its a little difficult for a couple of reasons, client privacy is sometimes an issue and also it takes a lot of time extra time on site but will see what we can do.

@andreww1013 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering when are we getting your own home theater tour? :D

@harshjain3801 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for a very informative video..as usual... I would appreciate if you did a similar, in-depth video on subwoofer SPL calibration.....the LFE channel is said to be recorded 10 dB higher.....so does one calibrate the subwoofer to 75 dB (and 10 dB is added by the AVR when program material is played.....?). Also, with multi-subs - is each subwoofer calibrated to 75 dB.......or the total subwoofer output is set to 75 dB.... Thank you for your hard work in putting this information out.... best wishes, Harsh

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Wow lots of good questions. Yes we are working on this but in short, these days most AVR and processors allow for the 10db difference so as a rule you don’t need to worry about it. Multi subs are a bit more of an issue. Will try to get that video out. Have you subscribed or joined our patreon :-) ?

@harshjain3801 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering Subscribed a while ago - I regularly follow your content and have learnt a lot from it. Thank you...

@Edward135i Жыл бұрын

85db for 8 hour's according to OSHA, but that has to do with mid and high pitch frequencies.

@HomeTheatreEngineering Жыл бұрын

Hi yes I agree but remember that is a maximum recommended exposure . Though I am not sure exactly what your point is ??

@tariksaadaoui1967 10 ай бұрын

Hi from Germany, what is the size of this room please??

@HomeTheatreEngineering 10 ай бұрын

5.5 x 7.5m

@tariksaadaoui1967 10 ай бұрын

Thank you

@thereaperscoming 2 жыл бұрын

I'm a bit confused, I've always read or heard to set the levels to 75 db at 0 for reference. You mentioned adjusting to 75dbSPL at -30dbFs, how is this different? How is it similar? It's the first time I've heard of this and would appreciate to learn it correctly. Thank you Andrew and the community in advance, I appreciate the knowledge and advice.

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Its pretty simple. The test tone that is being generated when you set to 75db is actually bring generated at -30dbfs. So when you actually play a signal what you get at reference is 105db! In other words, keep doing what you are doing!

@thereaperscoming 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering thank you so much for clearing that up. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I highly appreciate the knowledge. Be safe and take care. Love the content, I've learned a lot.

@avsolutions212 Жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering is it right proceedure to do? Even i got confuse everyone says reference volume 0 or 80db and level matching to 75db.

@andrewpoole4878 Жыл бұрын

@@avsolutions212 Its confusing because you have to follow the correct procedure for your AVR or processor and each does its own thing. But the technical facts are simple. reference is 105db if you want to generate a test signal without deafening yourself then set the level to -30dbfs and you then adjust to 75dbSPL (30 + 75 = 105!) I think you are getting a few other things mixed up here. The dial on the AVR/Processor should in theory read 0db at reference but this is not always the case (but should be) and it also depends on what scale you avr/processor is set to.

@avsolutions212 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewpoole4878 thank you so much for explanation, i read dolby specs too in dolby specs they says reference volume -20 db too, actually iam using absolute scale volume so in this case whats my reference volume at -30db

@marcbirth3987 2 жыл бұрын

Is there a difference between line source and line array speakers?

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

As far as I can determine line source is one “speaker” in a line made of multiple drivers. Line array is much like you see at a concert with multiple speakers fixed in a line or linear “array”.

@Stevo19801 Жыл бұрын

In a 5x3 metre room would you ever consider having the screen on the longer Wall instead of the shorter wall as is standard for room layout?

@HomeTheatreEngineering Жыл бұрын

We have done this many times if the client requests this specifically or the room somehow cannot work in the other orientation but it definitely dramatically reduces the audio performance and challenges video parameters

@Stevo19801 Жыл бұрын

So even in a room 5x3 you would still put the screen wall across the 3m wall? I would have thought at these dimensions having the side walls 5m apart would have helped with the surrounds being further from the listeners and the LCRs having more distance from side wall reflections meaning there are not as strong bluring the sound

@HomeTheatreEngineering Жыл бұрын

@@Stevo19801 well it depends entirely on the design specifications and the clients requirements but have a think about it. How many seats can you get across a 3m width? Probably 2 max. Have a think about screen sizes and throw ratios and then on distances to surrounds and required spl. Think about atmos location and separation from the rear surround and having to sit too close to the rear wall increasing boundary gain etc etc

@avsolutions212 Жыл бұрын

iam using denon avr X1400H and now tell me after audyssey calibration, how to match the 75db SPL at what reference level?

@sirMAXX77 2 жыл бұрын

I set normal dialog to about 70-75 db and should set the rest of the movie to near reference level.

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

This is about establishing the correct speaker spl refernce levels which is independent of the level you play back at it is not at what level you listen to for a movie these are different issues unless I have completely misunderstood you message.

@49ers50 2 жыл бұрын

75db or 80db for each speaker with Spl meter when calibrating

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Im not sure what you are saying here. Yes most systems calibrate to 75db but as mentioned in the video, the test tone is actually at -30dbfs so while you set it to 75dbSPL you are actually setting that speakers reference to 105dbSPL due to the -30dbfs offset.

@alvinchen3034 2 жыл бұрын

Is this video for me??

@HomeTheatreEngineering 2 жыл бұрын

Not specifically :-)

@josealfredfernandes 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering meanwhile: I get satisfied with 75-81dB @1m..

@josealfredfernandes 2 жыл бұрын

@@HomeTheatreEngineering 😂beyond 85dB, I'm the most loved neighbour.. 😂Only my neighbours loud bikes and their construction tools have the right to hit 120-140+dB SPL..

@tuemose22 7 ай бұрын

no hate to you.. good video.. but if you have to ask, you should get a brain... its so ez, when you dont enjoy the sound. then its to loud!

@HomeTheatreEngineering 6 ай бұрын

Sorry I just have to disagree, there is so very much more to it than ïf you are not enjoying it then it's too loud"! This is where we see so many mistakes made on the assumption that "this is easy". This becomes a far greater factor when there is more than 1 seat. SPL levels, delay, propogation have such an impact on sound quality...