Calibrating with an SPL Meter

I’ve never seen any suggestion to use an SPL meter before. Not that I’m against such use per se, but it seems like overkill. I’d likely…shoot, I do, use Sonos TruePlay software on my iPhone to set up some rooms, and ignore it for others. Frankly, at the end of the day, I know what sounds good to my ears, which may not be the same as an engineer’s. 

Yeah, I’ve always used it when I had a AVR Receiver and separate speakers as speaker leveling was always recommended with those.

I love the no wires and clean look of these but also like to get it as close to what the sound engineers envision as well. I get it though in regards to what sounds good to the user.

It’s a neat idea, but seems like a lot of extra effort. With little reward, since every sound engineer sets up their balances differently. You’d get a nifty abstract setup which was perfect for test tones, but given the amount of adjustments I have to do from movie to movie, it seems unlikely that there is a single setting, more of a ‘well, this is good enough’, so I’m just as pleased to let the Sonos do that in some cases, and just let my own ears do the adjustment, depending on the room involved. On the other hand, I’m a bit ‘precious’ about where I place speakers for optimal sound, and I suspect a lot of the TruePlay effort is around placement that is less ideal. 
 

YMMV. I’m no more ‘right’ than anyone else is. Your ears and brain control your situation. If you’d be bothered by not doing it, then do it. If you’d can live with not, that’s the way I’ve gone ;)

And, indeed, with the advent of Atmos, Sonos has chosen to go for the experience. So instead of customers needing to hear every channel in its defined place, Sonos uses clever computing - to the chagrin of some customers that feel sound is about perfect scores when playing Dolby test sounds.

It’s a definite paradigm shift, as big, I think, as the move from stereo to multichannel itself. Although quad seems to have failed, as has Dolby Pro Logic. Or 3D Movies on 3D TVs. Shoot, I used to work for Sony (in a different division), the number of abandoned and failed formats they’ve produced is amusing. ;)

So many multichannel formats failed back when because there were so many formats. No single one could gain enough market share to become viable and the press was little help in sorting things as they usually failed in presenting decent comparisons that would let a buyer decide.

I being young, foolish and having spare money went all-in with top of the line decoders for each format. Most were unimpressive compared to a four-track quad tape, the tape was expensive, inconvenient and short lived so not the answer either. I'd say the CD-4 format was the best compromise but had the highest (non-tape) cost for both needed equipment and media.

SACD came along and I jumped on it too, still have them but finding a player is getting harder, not an option with Sonos gear anyway.

Dolby looks to be winning the latest round but the ankle-biters are still out there pushing their ideas instead of licensing Dolby tech.

I have great hope for Atmos but only if the equipment makers can deliver a decent reproduction system. I'd give Sonos a fair rating based more on music than movies (I watch too few to offer an opinion) but a lot more needs to be done today the Atmos space to the customer's equipment and placement based on forum comments. Having access to realistic test tracks that exploit the full Atmos capability would be good, remastered 5.1 or even 9.1 stuff isn't going to give the consumer usable information or make a compelling reason to buy into the Atmos system.

For me there is a big difference between a discrete Atmos system and the soundbar based systems that I’ve heard.

Not necessary anymore.  Most modern systems either have a microphone port for setting up via internal tones, or can use a portable device with a microphone.  Sonos uses Trueplay, either via an iPhone or via internal microphones.  In the case of the Beam, use an iPhone/iPad to Trueplay the system.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/tune-your-sonos-speakers-with-trueplay

So, do you guys just TruePlay and leave it, or do you tweak things after? I think I have seen consensus that Loudness should be left on which was another question I asked last week.

I also use Rtings for EQ settings because I don’t have the equipment to test myself and they recommend -3 Bass and +2 Treble for the flattest sound. I run TruePlay then change the EQ to those values. Maybe I shouldn’t?

My rears are pretty close to my ears (console table behind couch), does TruePlay account for that also?

Sorry if I’m asking too much just trying to learn this newer system and want to get the best out of it that I can.

Personally, I just run Trueplay and leave it.

​@beardontwalk123 

...and personally, I run Trueplay and whilst it gets me 95% of the way there, in the majority of my speakers I need to slightly adjust the bass and treble to my liking. And I never play my speakers loud enough to justify turning Loudness off.

And yes, when you go through the Trueplay process, it takes into account where you’re sitting between the speakers before you undertake the walk around the room. But it can never be 100% sure where you’re going to be sitting so if you need to increase or decrease the surround level for TV and also separately for music, then go right ahead. 

Rtings is a starting point. As you already appreciate, sound beauty is in the ear of the beholder. I’ve set my TV to Rtings settings before and it helped me get a close approximation but every panel is different and every room is different. 10 degrees of TV placement angle can make a difference to the colour or brightness settings needed, so the precise placement of a Sonos speaker (even after running Trueplay) can make a difference to the EQ settings needed (if any). 

A barber can give you a good haircut, but sometimes only you can determine if you need to ask for a bit more off the front.

Only if you are fortunate enough to have anything left on the front.

I run Trueplay, but only wave the phone around where my ears would be whilst listening in room, I don’t see point in doing a whole room floor to ceiling wave like the video, unless you listen whilst laying on floor, or are very tall. Just move it where your ears are in a quiet environment.

Loudness may be useful when listening at low volume, otherwise off.

Believe me, the very use of that metaphor made me weep at the memory of having hair…

It never ceases to amaze me when someone wants to use someone else's settings.

Why would you do that? Would you use someone else's dentures, glasses or hearing aids?

I can understand audiophile types that care little for the sound and just want to have the most impressive looking (not sounding) system, it is common in many areas where obsession overrides reality. Same for folks who must follow authority, no matter the result.

I'm firmly in the "sounds good to me" group and while I will spend to get quality equipment I won't spend for nonsense or actually counterproductive stuff.

Your room, and speaker placement is not similar to mine, making my settings useless to others.

My ears are not similar to yours so using my settings will likely sound bad for your ears.

Comes down to a simple choice in the end, play mind games or play music that sounds good.

Your ears and taste define good, not someone else who has minimal knowledge of your situation.