How do you make sure the channels are hooked up correctly?
This seems like a trivial question, but please, bear with me.
Reading through the many discussion in the polls section I encountered many instances where placement of the instruments on various albums was discussed. Sometimes there were inconsistencies between the different posters, sometimes the posted placement was different from what I was hearing. The main issue seem to be the rear channels.
At first I assumed my rig is hooked up improperly, but I triple checked everything and found everything to be where it should be. In the process one encounters a natural question - how do you make sure the correct channel information is sent to the correct speaker? For instance, what if a tech working on one's vintage quad receiver swaps channels somewhere inside - how would one recognize this?
There are three ways I use with my setup:
1) enter the "speaker distance" menu on the SACD player, then it plays white noise as a test tone for each speaker, so it is easy to identify channels
2) play files with test tones for QS and SQ, that allow to identify each channel - I have these from a trusted source
3) finally, I check the placement of the instrument on the Dutton Vocalion "Boules conducts Bartok" SACD - the information about the placement of all the instrument is shown on the front cover and listed in the booklet.
When all channels are hooked up correctly all three agree and I am confident all channels are connected correctly, but still sometimes the things I am hearing are very different from what some are reporting...
Is there a good explanation?
This seems like a trivial question, but please, bear with me.
Reading through the many discussion in the polls section I encountered many instances where placement of the instruments on various albums was discussed. Sometimes there were inconsistencies between the different posters, sometimes the posted placement was different from what I was hearing. The main issue seem to be the rear channels.
At first I assumed my rig is hooked up improperly, but I triple checked everything and found everything to be where it should be. In the process one encounters a natural question - how do you make sure the correct channel information is sent to the correct speaker? For instance, what if a tech working on one's vintage quad receiver swaps channels somewhere inside - how would one recognize this?
There are three ways I use with my setup:
1) enter the "speaker distance" menu on the SACD player, then it plays white noise as a test tone for each speaker, so it is easy to identify channels
2) play files with test tones for QS and SQ, that allow to identify each channel - I have these from a trusted source
3) finally, I check the placement of the instrument on the Dutton Vocalion "Boules conducts Bartok" SACD - the information about the placement of all the instrument is shown on the front cover and listed in the booklet.
When all channels are hooked up correctly all three agree and I am confident all channels are connected correctly, but still sometimes the things I am hearing are very different from what some are reporting...
Is there a good explanation?
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