OPPO 83 and AV2 LFE setup guide
Posted by: Occean on 10 June 2010
I see that quite a few people on the forum are using the OPPO 83’s with AV2’s – so I thought I would share my findings with regards to bass setup as it is not quite as straight forward as I expected – I guess these tips would also be suitable for other players as long as you understand how your player deals with the 0.1 channel. I have also assumed that AV2 users would want to use the OPPO for HD soundtracks and the AV2 for DD/DTS and are using a SUB via the 0.1 out form the AV2.
First of all you need to understand how both the AV2 and OPPO 83 deals with the 0.1 channel digitally and analogue wise.
OPPO 83
Digitally: no processing at all it assumes the processor will deal with bass management.
Analogue:
If all speakers are set to large the 0.1 channel is dropped by 10db
If ANY speaker is set to small the 0.1 channel is dropped by -15db. The xover point is 80hz but the true LFE channel is still 120hz
Also note the 83 applies this to SACD’s as well – a lot of players do not but this does make setup a lot easier as the outputs of all formats are treated the same.
AV2
Digitally: the AV2 processes depending on your setup.
Multichannel in: No processing.
So what happens when you plug in the 83 to the AV2 and just press play? You will find the bass to be very light when using the multichannel in on the AV2.
So these are the steps I took to get it all setup:
• I turned off the sub and played a test tone Bluray comparing the analogue out to the digital out – using a SPL meter (iphone app!) I found the volume setting so both were equal – it was approx 45 for digital and 53 for multi in for me.
• Then I added 10db of gain to the 83 0.1 channel.
• With the sub on I played back a few scenes from Black Hawk Down adjusting the volumes on the sub to get appropriate levels of bass. This is now setup for Bluray.
• Switching to the digital input for the DTS soundtrack and adjusting the AV2 volume (down to 45 in my case) I found I have way too much bass.
• So reducing the bass on the setup menu on the AV2 I set the bass level to an appropriate level.
• To fine tune the settings I switched between the multi in and the digital in (adjusting the main volume each time to the predefined levels) and made adjustments as appropriate to get the bass levels near as dammit the same.
Fun right?
The OPPO is not unique in the way it treats the 0.1 channel, but I do find it ever so odd it applies such a drop. There is also the theory that a 10db gain on the sub channel may induce bass clipping, I have not found this and these is the way OPPO recommend the setup (I contacted them) – otherwise you can set 0 – 10 db of gain on 0.1 channel and an equal drop for the other channels Making the 0.1 channel 10-15 db different) but with this method you get quite a big volume difference between the multi in and other channels on the AV2. Which can be quite a shock switching over to Eastenders after watching a bluray!
Hope this has helped someone at least
Cheers
First of all you need to understand how both the AV2 and OPPO 83 deals with the 0.1 channel digitally and analogue wise.
OPPO 83
Digitally: no processing at all it assumes the processor will deal with bass management.
Analogue:
If all speakers are set to large the 0.1 channel is dropped by 10db
If ANY speaker is set to small the 0.1 channel is dropped by -15db. The xover point is 80hz but the true LFE channel is still 120hz
Also note the 83 applies this to SACD’s as well – a lot of players do not but this does make setup a lot easier as the outputs of all formats are treated the same.
AV2
Digitally: the AV2 processes depending on your setup.
Multichannel in: No processing.
So what happens when you plug in the 83 to the AV2 and just press play? You will find the bass to be very light when using the multichannel in on the AV2.
So these are the steps I took to get it all setup:
• I turned off the sub and played a test tone Bluray comparing the analogue out to the digital out – using a SPL meter (iphone app!) I found the volume setting so both were equal – it was approx 45 for digital and 53 for multi in for me.
• Then I added 10db of gain to the 83 0.1 channel.
• With the sub on I played back a few scenes from Black Hawk Down adjusting the volumes on the sub to get appropriate levels of bass. This is now setup for Bluray.
• Switching to the digital input for the DTS soundtrack and adjusting the AV2 volume (down to 45 in my case) I found I have way too much bass.
• So reducing the bass on the setup menu on the AV2 I set the bass level to an appropriate level.
• To fine tune the settings I switched between the multi in and the digital in (adjusting the main volume each time to the predefined levels) and made adjustments as appropriate to get the bass levels near as dammit the same.
Fun right?
The OPPO is not unique in the way it treats the 0.1 channel, but I do find it ever so odd it applies such a drop. There is also the theory that a 10db gain on the sub channel may induce bass clipping, I have not found this and these is the way OPPO recommend the setup (I contacted them) – otherwise you can set 0 – 10 db of gain on 0.1 channel and an equal drop for the other channels Making the 0.1 channel 10-15 db different) but with this method you get quite a big volume difference between the multi in and other channels on the AV2. Which can be quite a shock switching over to Eastenders after watching a bluray!
Hope this has helped someone at least
Cheers