Thought I'd create a post with how to calibrate zf9 effectivly
To do this you will need a soundmeter app on your phone or tablet and a tape measure.
1. Measure distances of soundbar, both rears and sub to where you normally sit when watching your TV.
2. Put bar on with at a volume you would normally listen at when listening to a 4k disk.
3. Whilst sitting where you normally watch TV, on SB using remote go to Home>>Setup>>Advanced Settings>>Speaker Settings>> Manual Speaker settings there 3 settings to change
4. Distance - Under this set distances for all speakers as you measured them. There are distances for front, L rear, R rear and sub in the menu.
5. Test tone - put test tone on then go to Level settings
6. Level highlight front SB and note the db level that the sound meter displays.
7. On the sound bar remote set the seperate volume control for rear and the seperate volume control for the sub to 5 (this gives you headroom to boost or lower from remote to fine tune when watching different sources)
8. Using Level menu on soundbar adjust the levels for both the rear Left speaker and rear Right speaker using the soundmeter to match db level you recorded on the soundmeter for the front speaker.
This should be done whilst the white noise is coming from the appropriate speaker, for which the soundmeter will display the decibel level.
What we are trying to acheive is to have all speakers have the same decibel level on the soundmeter.
9. After the 2 rear speakers have been set correctly, the sub speaker in level menu on soundbar should be adjusted. This can be set to either same db level showing on sound meter or lower.
I find the sub overpowering so I have mines set to -3.5 which in my room was about 15 decibels lower than the other speakers. But it depends if you have neighbours or not and your own preferences for bass.
You will never get true Atmos overhead from a soundbar, but you do get what can be described as a bubble of sound around you when listening to the soundbar when properly setup.
I also find that boosting rears improves atmos bubble effect when watching inputs that are not on a 4k disk or bluray disk. That's why calibrating them at volume of 5 lets you boost when required.
Hope this is of use
To do this you will need a soundmeter app on your phone or tablet and a tape measure.
1. Measure distances of soundbar, both rears and sub to where you normally sit when watching your TV.
2. Put bar on with at a volume you would normally listen at when listening to a 4k disk.
3. Whilst sitting where you normally watch TV, on SB using remote go to Home>>Setup>>Advanced Settings>>Speaker Settings>> Manual Speaker settings there 3 settings to change
4. Distance - Under this set distances for all speakers as you measured them. There are distances for front, L rear, R rear and sub in the menu.
5. Test tone - put test tone on then go to Level settings
6. Level highlight front SB and note the db level that the sound meter displays.
7. On the sound bar remote set the seperate volume control for rear and the seperate volume control for the sub to 5 (this gives you headroom to boost or lower from remote to fine tune when watching different sources)
8. Using Level menu on soundbar adjust the levels for both the rear Left speaker and rear Right speaker using the soundmeter to match db level you recorded on the soundmeter for the front speaker.
This should be done whilst the white noise is coming from the appropriate speaker, for which the soundmeter will display the decibel level.
What we are trying to acheive is to have all speakers have the same decibel level on the soundmeter.
9. After the 2 rear speakers have been set correctly, the sub speaker in level menu on soundbar should be adjusted. This can be set to either same db level showing on sound meter or lower.
I find the sub overpowering so I have mines set to -3.5 which in my room was about 15 decibels lower than the other speakers. But it depends if you have neighbours or not and your own preferences for bass.
You will never get true Atmos overhead from a soundbar, but you do get what can be described as a bubble of sound around you when listening to the soundbar when properly setup.
I also find that boosting rears improves atmos bubble effect when watching inputs that are not on a 4k disk or bluray disk. That's why calibrating them at volume of 5 lets you boost when required.
Hope this is of use
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