All the chest beating isn't really necessary. I think everyone here knows there is a real difference but they are just trying to quickly deploy a system.

I am too tired to reply to this but I have taken HAA Level 1 and know what it is like to actually calibrate a system.

If you drop the word calibrate and use setup it may change the discussion a bit.

I have my installers run the AVR's setup for basic purposes.

I don't know how many charge and actually really calibrate a system.

Try educating folks instead of shunning them for their perceived short comings. It really is better for everyone.

Been trying for a couple years. More knowledge is always better, even if I only get a little out of it it's worth it.
Having said that, I'll look into those other ones but the one I really wanted to get into was HAA.....their website is ridiculously out of date and i've left 2 messages at the phone number that were never returned.

What mid price (<$450) receivers let you control multi band EQ? Most receivers I'm working with these days only do reasonable EQ through audessy or mic setup, all you get control of manually is level and delay (distance).

What makes you think your ears can hear more accurately than Audyssey? Can you adjust the low end in 100 increments, by ear? No, you can't. The chance of getting the same results are infinitesimally small. Do you wear hearing protection when you work with power tools? Do you crank your stereo when you drive? Do your ears ring? If you answer with no, yes and yes, you CAN'T hear accurately enough to do this as well as Audyssey.

The opinion will vary, but I think of myself as doing pretty low end systems. And receivers in the $250-$500 MSRP range are very low end. I would consider 'mid price' to be in the $600-$1000 MSRP range and where you start to get an actual OK receiver. Many of those give you a lot of adjustment.

Whom are you replying to? Surely not me, as I have not shunned anyone that I am aware of. Simply trying to educate as you say.

If you took my comment about the cable extension as an offense, it surely was not either. I was giving you information to let you know, that the changes a long extension cable makes to a high impedance signal (high frequency roll off due to capacitance, etc...), will certainly alter the readings. And that without test instrumentation, you have no way of knowing how much it has been altered.

My biggest concern is those installers that do simply just run the self-calibrate feature and leave. In the past (many years ago), these self systems could actually make the system sound much worse - it was better not to touch the EQ at all, than to use it without checking.
Now days they are much better. But none are perfect. I would still recommend not using it at all, if you don't have the gear to check it. There are times that it could be way off and you would never know - because very few people have golden ears (not even me). And even self proclaimed golden ears have been proven wrong at times. Hearing is VERY subjective and influenced by before & after noises, and conditions. Much more so than video.

I agree with you on all fronts to be quit honest. The systems are light years ahead of where they were even five years ago. To be honest I dont know exactly what the added legnth of wire does to the accuracy of the microphone but I have done it three times in the recent months and it made the rooms sound much better subjectively.

They sounded so good in fact that even I (who does know audio and can hear most things gone right and wrong) was happy with the initial results.

I am not a level 2 guru yet but have that on my 2015 goals. I plan to buy some test gear. I would like to know your feedback on the Studio Six Digital App with the mic that HAA is using.

They have almost eliminated the Sencore gear all together. I haven't talk to Gerry in months but I think he said that's what they are steering folks towards.

such devices as... Audyssey or whatever your flavor of audio calibration tools is; AudioTools, Sencore, an RTA, ETA, etc.

I can get it better than that $2 mic.

What makes you thinks these things are $2. I doubt they are more than .50 cents in cost.

Sencore, a long time ago used to make very good test equipment. Somewhere in the 90's I think (not sure), something changed and they became more of a marketing company. Indeed, in the mid to late 90's I got over $10K worth of Sencore gear myself. Huge mistake.
I still have a Sencore RF signal meter (analog/digital) but I need to really replace that - it is a PIA to use.
All the video calibration stuff I got rid of a long time ago (junk), except the VP401 media generator I kept (which was upgraded from a POS VP300).

The Audio analyzer I had (SP295), I sold to EJ for a really good price. So even though it was kind of a POS, he got a good deal on it - certainly worth the money.

I have looked at the Studio Six Digital stuff and it looks nice.
But I really want to get the Gold-Line TEF25 with all the extras - but that's almost $6K (I already have Gold-Line impedance meters, polarity checkers, etc..).
Studio Six Digital sure is a lot cheaper and prettier :)

I was being generous.

Brad,
I have the Studio Six app but I know the mic and multiplexer are where the true professional level gear benefits are. I might make the jump as it is less than the Audyssey piece (which is still super easy to deploy for my team).

I might contact Audio Control today to discuss the pricing.

How much time do you spend working with the speaker distance settings? If you don't, you won't be accurate.

Proud member of the "use supplied mic for distance and change center channel and subwoofer levels afterward" crew.