IMHO: Well, I ain't no pro, but... You're pleased that it's calibrated correctly. Me, too! It's a great feeling when I finally got mine all put together. Then, I use that as the baseline and start playing.

To paraphrase Larry's comment, any deviation from that calibrated baseline will not be as technically accurate. But just as I didn't calibrate at 85db because I don't listen at 85db, I may decide to play with the tone controls, too. So if I decide to turn on the loudness contour, or compress the signal, or boost the midrange with Cinema EQ, whoopee! Whatever sounds good. And, of course, I can always return to my baseline whenever I like.

So don't throw away the Avia. Use it to calibrate your system (with Cinema EQ off, naturally :) just so you get the good feeling from the knowledge that it is technically accurate. After that, put the Avia away, stick in a movie, and have fun tweaking.

BTW, Now that it's calibrated, do you want to start ripping things apart and rewiring them again (grin)? Here's how I finally ended up configuring my system, which is similar to yours (better woofers in the mains than the subwoofer has). I have no dedicated subwoofer anymore. I'm now using the subwoofer as part of a satellite-subwoofer rig with my L&R Surround speakers, with the sub poitioned behind the listener. So, "Subwoofer Off," "Mains Large," "Center Normal," "Surrounds Large"(sat-sub), "Rear Surrounds Normal." The mains are reproducing all the front bass, any bass on the surround channels is coming from the rear of the room, and I cannot tell by listening where the LFE is (but the room is shaking, wow!)

-Bruce ;-)

This message was edited by Bruce Burson on 12/19/01 10:34.22.