An overview of multichannel level alignment

As multichannel sound systems become more and more widespread, the issues to how to obtain optimal sound reproduction become more apparent. Although the matter of level calibration is rather trivial for stereo sound systems, it has been found that it does critically affect perceived sound quality. The more complex and often sub-optimal multichannel set-up introduces a whole new range of problems in this respect. This article aims to provide the reader with some background into the questions surrounding multichannel level alignment and discusses some of the topical issues and research presently in progress.