Audyssey or manual setup?

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Hi folks,

Well I've decided to try and dip my toes into the world of audio a little further, as I know very little.

Someone is selling a Denon AVR-1911 AV receiver locally for £100, and I'm tempted. If I pick it up I'll then start the search for some reasonably decent 5.1 speakers (this is all for my living room).

However the seller has said he doesn't have the setup mic that came with the receiver. From my searching online it seems I can use a digital sound level meter to setup my speakers manually, although not sure I want to do this.

Searching for "denon audyssey" on the old auction site gets me a setup mic for £14. It's either that or I spent the same amount on the sound level meter for a manual setup.

Thoughts? Anyone used the Audyssey feature?

Appreciate your time.

Cheers!
 
Audyssey is brilliant, not sure you would be able to replicate it very well with a sound meter as im not sure you can adjust as many frequencies manually. On a side note beware that not all the mikes are interchangeable across the denon range. My current amp uses a completely different model number of mike to my old 1610. Also how does somebody lose the setup mike?
 
I've heard mixed reports of all systems out there. Clearly they work brilliantly for some rooms, less so in others.
Can you get a mic that can be used with both the amp and say REW running on a laptop? That would give you the option of measuring your room and then comparing the output both with and without the automated room correction.
 
theone8181 said:
Audyssey is brilliant, not sure you would be able to replicate it very well with a sound meter as im not sure you can adjust as many frequencies manually. On a side note beware that not all the mikes are interchangeable across the denon range. My current amp uses a completely different model number of mike to my old 1610. Also how does somebody lose the setup mike?
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Ah, hadn't considered that the microphones would change from model to model. Hmm. May give this particular receiver a miss then - and yes, no idea how they lost it!
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
I've heard mixed reports of all systems out there. Clearly they work brilliantly for some rooms, less so in others.
Can you get a mic that can be used with both the amp and say REW running on a laptop? That would give you the option of measuring your room and then comparing the output both with and without the automated room correction.
Click to expand...

Yeah it seems to be a bit of a love/hate thing from what I can gather online. Haven't heard of REW, shall check it out - thanks!
 
I'm in the works well camp too.

Even if it's not to your liking it will have it close so you just need to tweak a speaker or 2.

The setup/walk through is idiot proof tbh. Think it may surprise you.

The only thing I wish it would do is instead of dropping the rears say 5db it would drop them 2.5db and raise the others 2.5, is that me just been picky?
 
pete910 said:
I'm in the works well camp too.

Even if it's not to your liking it will have it close so you just need to tweak a speaker or 2.

The setup/walk through is idiot proof tbh. Think it may surprise you.

The only thing I wish it would do is instead of dropping the rears say 5db it would drop them 2.5db and raise the others 2.5, is that me just been picky?
Click to expand...

Change them yourself.

Audyssey - It's OK, but dirac is better overall.
 
I find Audessy just makes everything sound really flat and lifeless.

If you've got a fairly standard room ie flat ceiling, 4 solid walls and a good amount of soft furnishings, Audessy probably isn't required. Room correction comes into it's own with open plan living, folk with glass walls, vaulted ceilings etc
 
Works great for me on my Onkyo. Couldn't replicate it via adjusting manually. Only had to adjust the volume of the rear and centre speakers slightly, but that's personal preference I guess.
 
I have tried the Audyssey setup a few times on my Dennon amp and just not keen on it. It boosts the rear speakers way to much.

I bought a sound metre and tape measure and did it the good old fashioned way. :D
 
I recently got a new Denon 2200 and I have the same observations as above when doing the Audyssey setup. The rear speakers seemed to end up much louder than the rest of the system.
 
swear by it on my old onkyo 805, very very good indeed. although it leaves everything sounding very lean, its nothing a little tweak on the levels doesnt solve.
 
Have the 4200, Only issue regards rear's been to loud is if am sat right next to one. If sat where the centre is when the setup was done, it's fine.

I would suspect that having a smaller room would pronounce it.
 
pete910 said:
Have the 4200, Only issue regards rear's been to loud is if am sat right next to one. If sat where the centre is when the setup was done, it's fine.

I would suspect that having a smaller room would pronounce it.
Click to expand...

Ive increased the level of my centre to compensate, however when you have a mix of games, blu-rays and sky progams (all sky channels seem to have different volume levels) its quite a chore to set stuff up right. As an example, my wife was watching bones last night and the program is quite quiet so she turns it up, come advert time it almost blows her eardrums. Its ridiculous.
 
Dirac Live is awesome but you would need to download the trial for 14 days at is 650 euros and you need a professional microphone really with their budget recommendation coming in at 130 euro so not really something I would advice at this time.

I would suggest before we get too far is to demo some different amps and brands locally first with some speakers that are in your approximate budget because they all sound very different, for instance the Denon will sound warmer and more rounded compared to a Pioneer amp.

Onkyo seem to be different depending on the year and Yamaha are warmer than Pioneer but not as much as Denon generally.

Check out AVForums if you haven't already for further information or ask here if you need it. I don't know what your experience is with the audio world so don't want to teach you to suck eggs and it depends on how committed/interested you are in learning about it all.

To give you an idea I have a Pioneer Amp with Monitor Audio speakers, this would normally be found to be very bright and almost harsh as they are both missing warmth but actually the when Monitor Audio released their Silver speakers they were the first set that were a lot warmer tonally and so could be paired much better with the Pioneer than all previous models.

You do really want to consider the speakers and the amp at the same time. Sorry for long post but just some quick thoughts for you.
 
If you don't have an AVR then £100 for a Denon 1911 is a steal imho.

The Audyssey is magic but always needs a slight adjustment here and there to bring it to it's full potential I reckon.

If you're going to set it up manually just give the centre a boost until you decide where you want it all.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. Been a chaotic couple weeks, haven't had time to look at anything. Alas the receiver has been sold, the hunt continues. Will make sure the next one has the setup mic though, sounds like it does a good job overall, plus a couple tweaks to taste.

Curlyriff - I'm at the sucking eggs level :D Will have a poke around on AVForums as well. Just realised they have a for sale section too :)
 
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