Maximizing Post-Audyssey Adjustments: Unlocking the Full Potential of Denon and Marantz AVRs

If you are into high-end home theater, check out our Display and Audio Calibration Guides to maximize your experience.

While Audyssey Room Correction provides a powerful way to address room acoustics in home theater systems, it’s not a one-step, end-all solution. After running Audyssey on a Denon AVR or Marantz AVR, further post-calibration adjustments can significantly enhance your listening experience.

Far too many users rely solely on Audyssey’s automated corrections, but audio perfection requires a few manual tweaks. Let’s explore why taking the extra step to fine-tune speaker levels, crossovers, and distance settings is crucial and how it can maximize your AV system’s performance. Post-Audyssey adjustments are where the real precision kicks in, and today we’ll delve into the technical benefits of making these tweaks, comparing what Audyssey offers against competing systems like Dirac Live and exploring why post-calibration adjustments result in improved sound fidelity.

For advanced users, we also recommend Secrets of Audyssey Pro Guide to master every aspect of your audio system’s setup.

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Why Post-Audyssey Adjustments Matter

Audyssey Room Correction automatically adjusts to room imperfections by leveling frequency response and managing speaker delays. However, it can’t fully account for system-specific factors like mismatched amplifiers, controlling subwoofer volume, or ensuring every crossover is tuned for optimal frequency response. These imperfections still need manual attention.

Room correction systems like Dirac Live do a similar job but involve steeper learning curves, more manual setups, and less user-friendly experiences—making them less practical for those seeking out-of-the-box solutions. Audyssey simplifies high-level room correction for Denon AVR and Marantz AVR users but requires proper manual follow-up to extract full advantage of its capabilities.

Step 1: Verifying and Adjusting Speaker Levels

After running Audyssey, always check if any of your speakers were adjusted to extreme levels, like +/-12 dB, which signals an underlying issue. These large adjustments suggest a mismatch in sensitivity, typically due to equipment issues like inappropriate amp/speaker matching or system settings that require modification.

What to do:

• If external amplification is being used for certain speakers, adjust the external amp settings until Audyssey no longer maxes out the corrections.
• If corrections are applied to non-amplified speakers, this points to mismatched power delivery between your receiver and your amps, meaning system recalibration may be needed.
• Subwoofers calibrated to a cut-off of -12 dB may also need their native volume lowered manually, followed by another Audyssey run for optimal results.

Arguing for Manual Adjustments Over Full Automation:

Many users wrongly assume that once Audyssey runs its course, the job is done. However, when Audyssey pushes speaker volumes to extreme levels, you’re not using the system at its best capacity. Without address, localized volume dips and exaggerated frequency adjustments will result in muddy, unbalanced sound, especially at moderate listening levels, leading to an unsatisfactory experience compared to other room correction systems that rely more on manual tuning, such as Dirac Live.

By manually checking these speaker levels, you ensure that Audyssey’s adjustments won’t overcompensate, improving midrange clarity, tighter bass, and better dialogue accuracy.

Want more advanced tips on leveling speaker output? Visit the Secrets of Audyssey Pro Guide for expert solutions.

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Step 2: Fine-Tuning Crossover Settings

Audyssey typically recommends setting crossovers at 80Hz, which works for most systems, but not for all. If your speaker configuration and room accommodations allow it, lowering crossover points to 60Hz or even 40Hz for certain speakers can enhance bass response and allow your system’s full potential to shine.

Lower crossovers are particularly useful for center channels, allowing male voices to come through fuller and more impactful, taking advantage of low-frequency resonance.

Importance of Proper Crossover Configuration:

Some might be tempted to lower high crossovers (e.g., from 100Hz to 80Hz) set by Audyssey—but here’s why you shouldn’t: If Audyssey renders this decision, it is protecting from room acoustics that can’t handle the lower tones properly, particularly in bass-heavy movie soundtracks.

Pro-tip: Go for higher crossovers where Audyssey suggests if you’re facing room interaction issues. If a speaker can’t handle lower frequencies, you risk losing entire portions of the audio spectrum.

Much more user-friendly than Dirac Live’s intricate manual tuning, Audyssey helps streamline these adjustments but somewhat limits automatic adaptations, where follow-up manual intervention will heavily reward the listener with more impactful midrange dynamics and more accurate low-end reproduction.

For more advanced crossover setting instructions, check out the in-depth section in the Secrets of Audyssey Pro Guide.

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Step 3: Handling Distance and Delay for Perfect Synchronization

Once Audyssey finishes, it calculates distance values for all speakers, including delays for subwoofers. However, the manner in which Audyssey calculates subwoofer distance includes more than just physical space—it also accounts for room interactions and digital delays within the subwoofer’s internal processing.

• Avoid manually adjusting subwoofer distance unless absolutely necessary.
• Audyssey already factors in delay and phase adjustments to keep sub-bass in line with your other speakers.

That said, Denon AVRs and Marantz AVRs built before 2023 have a known issue using 300 meters per second as the speed of sound rather than the correct 343 meters per second. This discrepancy can lead to misalignment within your speaker system, but it is only prominent when you have large distance differences between speakers.

Fixing the Speed of Sound Discrepancy:

For any user with AVRs affected by this issue, manual adjustments are required. Use a multiplying factor of 0.8746 to manually adjust speaker distances in meters. Modern AVRs and users with MultEQ-X software won’t face this complication, as the issue has been remedied.

Following these suggestions repairs a time-alignment issue often present in older AVR models, further improving audio coherence, particularly noticeable in layered low-frequency soundscapes like movie soundtracks.

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Step 4: Choosing the Right Equalization Curve

The final step in post-Audyssey adjustments is selecting the appropriate equalization curve, depending on your listening habits and preferences. Audyssey Reference is designed to tackle the brightness of movie soundtracks, avoiding a fatiguing high-end response. On the other hand, Audyssey Flat is ideal for customers who listen to a lot of music or watch TV shows, as it doesn’t introduce unnecessary high-frequency roll-offs.

Room correction systems like Dirac Live offer more flexibility in manual EQ curves, but Audyssey’s tailored curves ensure a balanced tonality across most home setups.

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Conclusion: Drive Your Room to Perfection with Proper Post-Audyssey Tweaks

While Audyssey takes care of most of the heavy lifting, post-calibration tweaks are indispensable to truly optimizing your home audio system. Ensuring proper speaker level alignment, engaging carefully calibrated crossovers, and manually correcting delay discrepancies (where necessary) are the key steps to unlocking your Denon or Marantz AVR’s full potential.

If you’re serious about high-end audio, it’s more than worth exploring post-Audyssey adjustments for clarity, depth, and dynamic performance that exceed standard room correction automation.

Ready to take your room correction even further? Explore the Secrets of Audyssey Pro Guide for expert-level tips on mastering your home theater setup!