Another Beginner

[Dean from MPLS MN]

I purchased a UMIK-1 and downloaded REW. So far so good. I have an A/V system, using a Marantz AV7005 as the AVR. LAN consists of my PC connected to my router through an ethernet cable and ethernet cable from router to the AVR. The PC has music files on it that can be sent to the AVR and played through the audio system. The AVR can also pull music files from the PC. The source "Net/usb" is used for the back and forth to happen .

In one of the guides made available for us beginners, the Windows Audio Configuration showed an AVR as a Sound-Output-Device option. When I follow the steps in the guide my only option shows as the PC Headphone output. I am wondering how to get my PC to show the Marantz as an output device. This seems to be relevant because when starting Preferences in REW, UMIK-1 shows up as input and output shows 1)Default Device 2)Primary Sound Driver 3) Headphones. I need to get the Marantz to be recognized don't I? One step at a time right. Any suggestion any one?

I appreciate any help to get me started.

 

[John Mulcahy]

The typical configuration is for the audio output to come from an audio interface, either one internal to the PC or connected externally. Your system doesn't have an audio connection from the PC to the AVR. You could use the PC's headphones output and connect that to an analog input on the AVR, or generate sweep files and use file playback for measurement, though both will typically be limited to driving left and right channels. If your PC has an HDMI output supporting multichannel linear PCM another option is to make an HDMI connection from the PC to the AVR, something covered in AustinJerry's guide.

 

[Dean from MPLS MN]

Will a USB connection work between my PC and AVR? What I have read too far mentions HDMI. I am just trying to avoid more clutter in my massive audio "pile" of stuff.

 

[Nordo]

Will a USB connection work between my PC and AVR? What I have read too far mentions HDMI. I am just trying to avoid more clutter in my massive audio "pile" of stuff.

The two recommendations I know of are:-
1. Connect from the headphones outlet on your pc to a low level input socket(s) on your Marantz.
2. Connect the pc to the Marantz with a HDMI cable.

The beauty of option 2, is that you can also load ASIO4all audio drivers which allow you to test any speaker in your system at will.
Note that if your pc has Nvidia drivers, you need to use an alternative audio driver - FlexASIO.

Then read the first 2 links (at least) in the sticker at the start in this Forum. http://www.avnirvana.com/threads/some-guides-to-rew-and-acoustic-measurement.121/

 

[EarlK]

Will a USB connection work between my PC and AVR? What I have read too far mentions HDMI. I am just trying to avoid more clutter in my massive audio "pile" of stuff.

You'll need to use HDMI if you want access to more than just 2 channels ( from within REW ).

USB ?? No. your AVR's USB port is just for playback of music files from either a memory stick or a USB type hard-drive ( so says the Operators Manual ).

 

[Dean from MPLS MN]

OK, picked up the HDMI cable. Went through the PC setup and started REW a couple of times. As I enter the information for ASIO Preference screen, the 2 HDMI and 8 other choices that showed up the first time I was on the Preference screen no longer are in the drop down box the second time I opened ASIO on the screen. I went back and made sure all the sound settings matched the tutorial. Any thoughts why the drop down box only says "not connected" ?

 

[EarlK]

OK, picked up the HDMI cable. Went through the PC setup and started REW a couple of times. As I enter the information for ASIO Preference screen, the 2 HDMI and 8 other choices that showed up the first time I was on the Preference screen no longer are in the drop down box the second time I opened ASIO on the screen. I went back and made sure all the sound settings matched the tutorial. Any thoughts why the drop down box only says "not connected" ?

Post a pic / screen capture of your ASIO4ALL ( or FlexASIO ) settings.

 

[Dean from MPLS MN]

I gave my computer a 2 day time out and a stern talking to. Then I started the process again for the 3rd time. Finally got the Preference screen close to where it should be. I had to play around with the ASIO control panel and Reload to make things work. I am not entirely sure what I did to make it work. On the other hand, being brave, I started over to see if I could make the magic work again...and I did! Right now the only screen anomaly is the drop down Output box that should read 2 HDMI and 8 other options for my 7.1 system. The box does not show the 2 HDMI choices.

Another question. SPL meter is registering Generator tones around 85 db. But the tones stop because of clipping. I set the clipping at 110 db. I am confused. The actual tone is not loud nor does the SPL meter register over clipping levels set. What am I missing here?

Any help would be useful. Thanks

 

[John Mulcahy]

Make sure the UMIK input volume control setting isn't set to 1.0 since that corresponds to 24 dB of gain. Should be about 0.53, want 0 dB gain. The Windows input volume control can be set to show gain in dB by right clicking on it.

 

[wobbly]

I am running a stereo only system with BAT/Bastanis audio gear.Thus there is no HDMI input involved.
I have setup REW on my laptop with HDMI mic and the headphone output to XLR in on the pre.
Everything works perfectly , but I cannot find any reference on here detailing what is needed re calibrating the laptop output - if indeed its even an issue ?

 

[EarlK]

Everything works perfectly , but I cannot find any reference on here detailing what is needed re calibrating the laptop output - if indeed its even an issue ?

It's worth your while checking the linearity of the headphone output ( of your laptop ) just to make sure you haven't ( inadvertently > perhaps ) engaged some special processing to make the headphones sond "spacey" etc.

Simply run a mini 1/8" TRS cable ( from the output ) and plug it into the Stereo 1/8" TRS input .

Record sweeps for individual Left then Right chnls and take a look at what you get . Typically ( these days ) the outputs are very linear with 20hz to 20K being only a fraction of a db down at either end.