Beolab 19 Calibration

I just got the lovely Beolab 19 to add to my Avant, 8000s and 6000s. Does anyone have any tips on setting it up to get the most out of it?

What is the most user friendly, easy way to dial up and down the bass in a noticeable way? Use the db speaker level settings on the TV? I initially set all the speaker levels, getting them all to the same volume level but the sub test signal doesn't sound like the other speakers, more like a very distant rumble of thunder, very quiet, so I'm not sure if it's supposed to give the same volume as the other speakers. Any help would be appreciated.

I've got a BL19 in my lounge, and the test signal is a more distant sounding rumble.

Whereas my 3's and 18's give the more normal white noise test noise.

I use the db speaker level settings on the TV - also isn't there a switch on the BL19 to indicate room placement?

The settings / speaker groups will need some playing with - not that familiar with the other speakers you have, but with my 18s and 3s, the 19 can occasionally over power the sound mix on some types of content.

With regular broadcast TV, and most streaming stuff i don't have any issues.

With quite a few BluRays, i often find the vocals to be swamped by the bass. That's probably to do with the native sound mix on the source BluRay, but it happens quite often, so i have a dedicated setting / group profile for Blu-rays.

With music i actually don't use the 19 - i've struggled to integrate it properly to my satisfaction. Perhaps my ears are very attuned to basic 2.0 stereo for music, and my 18's provide plenty of bass.

 

Thanks Sandyb. So what is your usual db level of your front speakers and the 19?

Not sure how relevant these will to your room eat.

For my TV speaker group (broadcast and streaming)

- front BL18 (left and right) are set to 4m distance (dB levels set to 5)

- BL19 is set to 1.5m (dB levels set to 1)

So the sub is dialed back a bit as you can see, even though it's actual real life distance is pretty much the same as the fronts (3.5/4 meters is the actual distance)

For my movie / Blu-ray speaker group, as mentioned in my earlier post, I have dialled back the sub a bit further, with a dB levels of 0, and pushed the center dB up to 6.0.

I don't use the sub for music.

That’s cool thanks. It’s interesting to hear others calibration settings.