STR-DN1080 Calibration Matching

[outpost33]

After auto cal is performed, the receiver offers an option for calibration matching. The feature is not well described in the manual:

Yes: Expands the sweet spot for the viewing position and allows you to enjoy more natural sound by trimming the wavefront for each pair of left/right speakers.

Can anyone explain in more detail exactly what this function is intended to do? Is it some kind of single-point equivalent of multi-point calibration, where several measurments are taken to create a better result over a wider area?

The feature cannot be switched on or off after calibration is performed, so it's difficult to do a direct a/b comparison. You have to run auto cal again in order to enable/disable it, which is frankly quite an odd interface choice.

[EdwinaU]

Hi Outpost33,

We'll see what additional information we can find for you and update this thread when we can. Maybe some of our members will also be able to advise you in the meantime.

Best wishes,
Ed

[outpost33]

Hi EdwinaU,

Thanks for this, grateful for any help you can offer.

[The_Black_Rose]

Hi Outpost33,

As far as I am aware, the calibration matching function synchronizes all the speakers to ensure that they're all working fine and set up and ready to go for surround sound content.

Cheers,

The_Black_Rose

[outpost33]

Thanks The_Black_Rose, but I don't think that's quite right.

Firstly, it is an optional feature that takes place after the main auto calibration routine. Secondly, if you read through the forums and reviews, most users advise to leave it switched off.

The most likely explanation I've heard is that it widens the optimal listening area, so that the area in which the mic was placed during auto cal is no longer the single best listening spot. Usually this is achieved using multi-point calibration, but as the Sony doesn't offer this, it has been speculated that this feature is an approximation of something similar.

However, this is far from clear in the manual, so I would like to know in more detail what the Sony engineers intended.

[The_Black_Rose]

Hi Outpost33,

As far as I know this is only an optional enhancement feature and I believe that any settings adjustments mainly depends on user preference.

Thank you for sharing what you've read with us.

Cheers,

The_Black_Rose

[outpost33]

Thanks again, I'll wait for a Sony engineer to clarify what this feature is actually intended to do.

[Win_88]

Hi Outpost

It seem that calibration matching gives you a somewhat wider area (sweet spot) in which the user will enjoy the surround effect, in exchange for trimming the wave fronts for each right/left pair of speakers (since the auto calibration works on each speaker individually, the results may not be as consistent relatively to other speakers in the set up).

I know that you can find hundreds of threads full of users giving their two cents on what sounds best and which settings to use, but when it comes down to it, no two rooms have the same acoustics. So I would give it a good listen myself if I was in your place. Take your time listening to samples of audio with Calibration matching both On and Off and compare the experience you perceive and go with what you like most.

Win_88

[outpost33]

Thanks Win_88, that's kind of what I assumed, but your feedback is helpful.

I assume that each right/left pair means both the fronts and the surrounds in this context, but what exactly does "trimming the wave fronts" mean?

[grolschie]

Wouldn't it be nice if we could change this setting at any time, rather than having to go through calibration, so that we could hear the difference, good or bad. I am following this thread with interest. Hopefully someone from Sony can offer some insights...