Reference Level

For years I have wanted to put all my front speakers behind the screen – just to be like the cinema. To make it work, though, you need to have at least 45 degrees of separation between the L/R speakers or else the soundstage will collapse. That dictates a picture about 50 degrees wide, which makes even 1080p look like standard definition.

Recently, I decided to try all the speakers behind the screen anyway, regardless of what might happen to the picture. The L/R speakers were 45 degrees apart, and the screen extended just past them. It wasn’t quite 50 degrees, but it was close. As expected, the video looked atrocious, but the audio surprised me.

First, the speakers completely disappeared into the soundfield. There was absolutely no sense that I was even listening to speakers. They were just gone.

Second, I couldn’t turn the volume up loud enough. My previous setup featured a 46” LCD flat panel, and I was happy – happy, mind you – listening about -18dB to -15dB from reference level. No more. When I finally got the volume up where it didn’t seem completely swamped by that massive picture, the volume control was guess where? Reference level! Not only did the sound match the scope of the picture, but the dynamics of the on-screen action became palpable in a way I had not previously thought possible. In short, it rocked!

I have always liked to listen loud, but never that loud. I was one of those people who believe reference level is absurd for small rooms. Well, it appears I might have been mistaken. Volume may not be a function of room size after all. It may be a function of picture size. I think Ioan Allen of Dolby wrote a paper on this very subject a while back, so I’ll read up on the subject and report back. Meanwhile, you might want to look into it yourself.

Chase Walton

Technical Editor

Comments

[Richard Guzinya]

Hi Chase,

Could you see the L & R speakers in the case where they were outside the picture, or were they masked from view by fabric? An interesting experiment would be to have a fabric wall and a drop-down screen with no frame to mess with L&R performance. Then play with speaker angle, say 30 deg. out to 60 deg., and then find the sweet spot for your preference. During each variation document where you set the levels. I wonder if it would change. Time to build your fabric wall! Also, have you had your hearing tested lately? Could be you like it louder if you have had some hearing loss. As a parallel to this, I have found that I instinctively turn it down when I sit closer and I don't mean this in terms of 1 over square of dist. fall-off ... I mean tolerance for loudness diminishes as I sit closer to speaker. I don't like reference when I sit close as compared to reference (recalibrated of course) when I sit far away. Good post. RG

[DP]

Hey, Anything coming in from 09?
Thanks