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Audio calibration turns ugly ducklings into audio swans, it can make an inexpensive system sound very good, and a good system sound great. If you haven’t carefully calibrated your system, you are not getting the best sound and you are missing out on details and nuance you never knew existed.

Audio calibration allows you to adjust for the differences in your room size, layout, furniture, floor, and even the decorations that hang on your walls. Every room is different and the factory levels are dead flat. Many new receivers have auto calibration features that detect and adjust delays and levels for you. In my experience, many of these do a good job but need a little tweaking after giving the starting point.

The starting point of audio calibration is measuring the distances and setting the speakers as close to the recommended distances as possible from the seating area. The front three speakers are of the most concern as they do the majority of the work. The center channel in particular is important in that it provides a solid foundation for dialog, the important part of most movies. Distances are important and it is often necessary to play around with exact positioning and angle to achieve the best sound.

Finding the best position requires a calibration disc and sound level meter. I have found all of the calibration discs available today do a great job of walking you though the setup of both audio and video calibration. I recommend using an inexpensive analog sound level meter, the digital models have received some criticism over the years so I have never tried one.

Now that the front speakers are in place, at least for the moment, let’s focus on the surround and rears if you have them. Most homes allow for easy placement of the front speakers but the rears are likely to be more difficult. I prefer the rear channels to be set up high on the side and back walls. Homes however have a way of making placement difficult, especially in living rooms where side and rear walls many not exist. Do the best you can and don’t mount anything to a wall yet, you will almost certainly have to move it.

This is where having a friend around can be handy. Have them hold the rear speakers up in the position you feel will work best, one at a time of course and make sure they are not standing with their body between you and the speakers. Start the calibration disc and set your analog sound level meter to “C weight,” “slow,” and “70.”

Let the calibration disc run through all of the speakers to find the loudest one and adjust the volume until the sound meter needle is dead center. This is your reference for the rest of the calibration as well as the reference volume point you will use for movies if you want to exactly replicate the volume level of a movie theater.

Run the calibration and adjust all of the speakers with the receiver controls until they are all showing dead center on the sound meter. It is now time to mount the rear speakers and put in a DVD you are familiar with. Action movies are best for this, as you want action in the rear speakers. Adjust speaker angles and placement to make sure you are getting the best imaging and recheck all of the sound levels again.

Finally, it is time to adjust the subwoofer. This is done exactly the way the rest of the speakers were calibrated except the sound level meter should be set to “80.” Placing the subwoofer a few feet out from a corner is usually best, but not always possible. One old trick is to place the subwoofer in one of the chairs and walk around the room to identify the position that has the best volume. If you are limited to one place for the subwoofer, adjust it the best you are able.

You have now calibrated the audio levels for your receiver. If you are not using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs you are finished and can enjoy the newfound life in your movies. If you are using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs, we get to do it all again. These analog inputs bypass any settings on the receiver so the process must be repeated by calibrating the sound on the DVD/Blu-Ray player.

Some receivers require calibration of each input individually. Use the original settings and make adjustments from there, it should be a minimal and quick process for each input.

After calibration is done, you will need to go through this process whenever you add or remove equipment in your system, move, add, or remove furniture and once a year just for good measure. Speakers and amps can change over the year without you realizing it and besides, it gives you a chance to keep familiar with your system and identify problem areas that appear out of nowhere.