Home Theater Hacks

Hack #64. Set the Receiver's Reference Level

Setting a receiver's volume to the reference level is not the mystical task it often appears to be; in fact, a receiver's reference level is whatever your theater needs it to be.

Dolby specifies an ideal playback level for its theatrical soundtracks and for the mixing environments in which those soundtracks are created. So, unlike music, movies are created with a standard playback level in mind. Based upon this intended level, dialog and effects are mixed at very specific levels to offer similar sound levels across various Dolby soundtracks and across different playback environments. In technical terms, this playback level is defined as 105dB peak level from each main speaker in the Dolby playback system. Test tones on calibration DVDs [Hack #62] are specifically defined to give you this playback level.

Before starting audio tests [Hack #63] , calibration discs often instruct you to set your receiver's volume to the reference level. This is often a confusing instruction, leaving many home theater enthusiasts scratching their heads and wondering if they have done something incorrectly. All of this confusion is based on the incorrect assumption that there is a universal setting known as reference level.

Reference level is simply the volume at which your particular system is calibrated to play all speakers at correct volumes (75dB on some tests, 85dB on others). Because each speaker has its own level controls, this reference level can ...