Speakers' Sound Level Settings - Newbie needs answer

[Apparatus]

I noticed that my soundbar speakers can have from -6 to +6 loudness settings

What do you mean when you set to say -4 instead of the usual +4 for a louder sound? Is -4 the same as +4 in terms of loudness if you measure with a Sound Decibel Meter?

Thanks

 

[benedium]

Lemme guess... is it a setting related to matching/complementing subwoofer or surround speaker levels?

Or this...

"The loudness control is simply intended to significantly boost low and high frequencies when listening at low levels so that the ear perceives an overall flatter sound pressure level." Like EQ?

 

[Apparatus]

Lemme guess... is it a setting related to matching/complementing subwoofer or surround speaker levels?

Or this...

"The loudness control is simply intended to significantly boost low and high frequencies when listening at low levels so that the ear perceives an overall flatter sound pressure level." Like EQ?

Let's say it's for the soundbar/subwoofer/rear speakers. The default level is at 0 or after a reset of the soundbar the levels revert to factory settings of 0

Normally, if you want to hear louder sound you just adjust the volume positively upwards.

What I want to know is when you have 'minus' setting it means what? My soundbar can adjust the sound volume from minus(-) to plus(+) levels for the mentioned devices

Is setting at -4 the same loudness as +4 setting? In avsforums I can see people set to -4, -5 and -6 levels. Cannot be minus settings means lower loudness settings, right?

 

[benedium]

If u want to hear louder all round obviously increase volume. But this loudness u talking about is not volume but maybe relative level of of one component among the 3 components of soundbar, subwoofer and surround speakers.

OR it is simply some kind of EQ/dynamic range adjustment to make voices and other details louder. Imagine a 'u shaped' curve or 'n' shaped curve where 0 value means flat curve, +6 means n curve and -6 means u curve? Just guessing niah. Hope someone with actual knowledge chimes in heheh. Anyway you can try first?

 

[Apparatus]

If u want to hear louder all round obviously increase volume. But this loudness u talking about is not volume but maybe relative level of of one component among the 3 components of soundbar, subwoofer and surround speakers.

OR it is simply some kind of EQ/dynamic range adjustment to make voices and other details louder. Imagine a 'u shaped' curve or 'n' shaped curve where 0 value means flat curve, +6 means n curve and -6 means u curve? Just guessing niah. Hope someone with actual knowledge chimes in heheh. Anyway you can try first?

I have no idea on all these. In fact, I'm re-watching GRAVITY movie in Dolby Atmos now with minus sound settings as opposed to last time using plus settings. No difference to me unless someone can point out the differences

I really do hope some audio experts can help

 

[benedium]

I see they talk about some settings in the review...
https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/samsung/hw-q950a

 

[Apparatus]

I see they talk about some settings in the review...
https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/samsung/hw-q950a

Thanks

Read that but it did not mention the difference between minus and plus settings leh

 

[benedium]

I think u should leave it at zero. My guess is it is for people who listen at very low volumes cos of family but still wanna hear some bass and also the vocals.

 

[moron+genius]

I think you are referring to individual channel sound level, use a sound meter to balance these channels like I mentioned in your other thread. Reduce the level (negative) if some channels are louder than front L/R (you can’t change front L/R level as it’s the reference). Eg my surround spk r negative as it’s very near and will overpower the front stage which means it will sound unnatural. If your surround if further away then you may have to boost the loudness to match front stage. So do same for all channels for balance loudness and it will sound better. Use a multi channels pink noise for this balancing task. This task is typically perform automatically in avr but I think your new sb shld haf this auto function already.

 

[Apparatus]

I think you are referring to individual channel sound level, use a sound meter to balance these channels like I mentioned in your other thread. Reduce the level (negative) if some channels are louder than front L/R (you can’t change front L/R level as it’s the reference). Eg my surround spk r negative as it’s very near and will overpower the front stage which means it will sound unbalanced.

Yes, for individual channel level. There’s no FRONT L/R for my soundbar. And all channels can be adjusted. My soundbar has the following for adjustments

Treble
Bass
Centre
Side
Wide
Front Top

SAMSUNG soundbar's SpaceFit sound tuning will tune the TV speakers/soundbar/sub/rear speakers to my room

 

[Apparatus]

I think u should leave it at zero. My guess is it is for people who listen at very low volumes cos of family but still wanna hear some bass and also the vocals.

Someone at avsforums mentioned that if you want to hear Dolby Atmos height effects you need to increase the volume to a certain level. That makes the default settings at 0 not so good.

Actually, I did test out the default settings when I started having the soundbar. Rear speakers are a bit soft. So I increased the volume and I can hear better sound from the rear speakers.

Note that too loud a sound for any speaker will not increase the quality of the sound but just its loudness. Too loud can also distort the sound.

 

[moron+genius]

Yes, for individual channel level. There’s no FRONT L/R for my soundbar. And all channels can be adjusted. My soundbar has the following for adjustments

Treble
Bass
Centre
Side
Wide
Front Top

SAMSUNG soundbar's SpaceFit sound tuning will tune the TV/soundbar/sub/rear speakers to my room

If you already did the spacefit tuning then you can use the sound meter app to check if it did a good job. Then adjust whatever channels to taste eg center if you like voice louder or sub for bigger bass, etc

 

[Apparatus]

If you already did the spacefit tuning then you can use the sound meter app to check if it did a good job. Then adjust whatever channels to taste eg center if you like voice louder or sub for bigger bass, etc

I know that.

My question is what's the difference between minus and plus settings for each channel at the same level like -4 vs +4?

 

[moron+genius]

I know that.

My question is what's the difference between minus and plus settings for each channel at the same level like -4 vs +4?

It’s step increments, each step increase/ decrease a few DB. Just download a sound meter app in your hp to measure if you wanna know how much is the difference.

 

[Apparatus]

It’s step increments, each step increase/ decrease a few DB. Just download a sound meter app in your hp to measure if you wanna know how much is the difference.

So you are saying a -4 sound level setting is having a lower loudness than a +4 sound level setting taking 0 as its default reference? If that's the case, then setting at -6 would give the softest sound, right?

 

[moron+genius]

So you are saying a -4 sound level setting is having a lower loudness than a +4 sound level setting taking 0 as its default reference? If that's the case, then setting at -6 would give the softest sound, right?

Yup

 

[Apparatus]

Yup

Ok thanks

I'll test tomorrow since it's too late to test now

 

[Blacktoxic]

So you are saying a -4 sound level setting is having a lower loudness than a +4 sound level setting taking 0 as its default reference? If that's the case, then setting at -6 would give the softest sound, right?

That's absolutely correct.

Default: 0

Increase Loudness: +
Decrease Loudness: -

What you want is all your speakers to be at the same level at your listening position. In an ideal scenario, all speakers are equidistant meaning the same speaker type will give you the same loudness by default.

But unless you are in a studio or a perfectly designed purposed built home cinema, your speakers will not be equidistant. And as loudness decreases by the square of distance, you need to compensate up or down using the above setting accordingly.

 

[Blacktoxic]

That's absolutely correct.

Default: 0

Increase Loudness: +
Decrease Loudness: -

What you want is all your speakers to be at the same level at your listening position. In an ideal scenario, all speakers are equidistant meaning the same speaker type will give you the same loudness by default.

But unless you are in a studio or a perfectly designed purposed built home cinema, your speakers will not be equidistant. And as loudness decreases by the square of distance, you need to compensate up or down using the above setting accordingly.

To add on, very unlikely do we use the exact same speaker model for every speaker position.

Each speaker model will have different sensitivities so they will be at different loudness levels. For these two reasons, you need to balance your loudness at your listening position - to compensate for differences in sensitivity and distance.

 

[benedium]

Didn't know soundbar so flexible like avr.