Balancing Home Cinema System
Discussion
I have a Denon X1600H AV receiver and a set of Wharfdale DX2 5.1 speakers with 2 Cambridge Audio Min 12 as Atmos speakers.
I ran the Audyssey set up using the mic when I first set everything up.
The problem I have is speech is really queit, but explosions, music, gunfire etc is really loud. I turn it up to hear, then there is some loud noise and it rattles the tiles off the roof.
My wife is out tonight so I'm watching Top Gun at almost full volume, the planes are almost like real jet fighters flying overhead, and the speech is about normal.
Any ideas, what have I done wrong?
I ran the Audyssey set up using the mic when I first set everything up.
The problem I have is speech is really queit, but explosions, music, gunfire etc is really loud. I turn it up to hear, then there is some loud noise and it rattles the tiles off the roof.
My wife is out tonight so I'm watching Top Gun at almost full volume, the planes are almost like real jet fighters flying overhead, and the speech is about normal.
Any ideas, what have I done wrong?
On my Yamaha amp I thought I should have been using the posts marked "F surround L " & "F surround R" for the front speakers in a 5.1 set up.
I should have been using the posts market just "L" & "R". When I realised my mistake I re-wired them and got the proper audio experice - before I'd been sending Atmos to my main speakers and it was big on effects but crap on dialogue.
I should have been using the posts market just "L" & "R". When I realised my mistake I re-wired them and got the proper audio experice - before I'd been sending Atmos to my main speakers and it was big on effects but crap on dialogue.
In my experience most Auto setups can be pretty poor.
Run it and then check everything manually (check ALL settings - level,distance and crossover frequency if possible).
Set up a Yamaha AV amp using auto setup a while ago and it sounded awful.
Went through settings and most were OK, but distances were way wrong (especially the subwoofer distance which all of them seem to struggle to get right - especially using a sub with DSP which affects timing).
Put them in correctly and system worked well.
Run it and then check everything manually (check ALL settings - level,distance and crossover frequency if possible).
Set up a Yamaha AV amp using auto setup a while ago and it sounded awful.
Went through settings and most were OK, but distances were way wrong (especially the subwoofer distance which all of them seem to struggle to get right - especially using a sub with DSP which affects timing).
Put them in correctly and system worked well.
Scabutz said:
My wife is out tonight so I'm watching Top Gun at almost full volume, the planes are almost like real jet fighters flying overhead, and the speech is about normal.
Sounds good to me. The whole point of a proper home cinema system is to deliver realistic dynamic range 
But if it's a bit much for you, then yeah as said just pop the level of the centre channel up a few dB.
Something to watch out for is one of the first signs of deafness can be difficulties with hearing speech.
TV can/should sound great between a decent set of front speakers with your receiver simply set to Stereo. If it doesn't then there's either a significant system problem or a significant hearing problem.
TV can/should sound great between a decent set of front speakers with your receiver simply set to Stereo. If it doesn't then there's either a significant system problem or a significant hearing problem.
I followed the Home Theatre Gurus advice on YT. I only used the main 3 seats instead of the 8 Audessey suggested. Also, get your self an SPL meter and set up the levels with that.
https://youtu.be/cT455_BSnUE
https://youtu.be/cT455_BSnUE
On my lounge set up, admittedly a mis match of Cambridge Audio Min10 L & R with Jamo C and rears, I turned off the centre channel. I just couldn't get it right across a range of movies and TV.
Seems a waste but much better now. I'd like to upgrade to better speakers, maybe a Focal Dome system, perhaps this will be more effective.
It probably doesn't help that my hearing isn't as good as it once was. Age catching up on me.
Seems a waste but much better now. I'd like to upgrade to better speakers, maybe a Focal Dome system, perhaps this will be more effective.
It probably doesn't help that my hearing isn't as good as it once was. Age catching up on me.
Music sounds a lot better with just two channels so if soundtrack is very important I’ll switch off the Center. otherwise I find it useful to turn up the dialogue and our denon has dedicated slider for Center, which gets a lot of use in our lounge.
But yes I’ve largely given up on extreme hifi after a hearing test showed my hearing is very spotty these days, and not just the highs, my hearing bottoms out at about 95hz so no sub required.
But yes I’ve largely given up on extreme hifi after a hearing test showed my hearing is very spotty these days, and not just the highs, my hearing bottoms out at about 95hz so no sub required.
Edited by lizardbrain on Friday 2nd April 08:38
Taking the "stereo" point a little further I recall the days of stereo TV sound before "5+1 surround" became flavour of the month from very low prices. Personally I've never enjoyed what I call the cheap thump and tizz systems. IMO quality is more important than the number of channels because decent stereo speakers should deliver excellent imaging, or soundstage.
I mentioned how good TV can sound through a decent 2-channel stereo. Back in the day one approach was to wire a third channel for a rear speaker by connecting it across the "+" speaker terminals of both L and R speaker outputs. The result is a rear speaker which only responds to the "difference" between the two stereo channels and provides some "fill". So if the amp is switched to mono the rear speaker will be completely silent. When running in stereo anything that's just on the left or just on the right channel will also be heard from the rear speaker. So you get stereo at the front and difference at the back.
I don't think I've yet seen a good quality surround system that's had the courage do completely dispense with the centre speaker and just go with 4-channel or 4+1. It would be ideal for one of my installations where I simply don't want a bulky centre speaker.
I've been impressed when looking at the Totem Tribe Tower solution for surround but they're costly and haven't cracked the centre speaker problem. If they made a compact centre speaker I could get tempted. Their wall mounted speakers are rather bulky.
https://www.audiodestination.co.uk/totem-acoustic-...
I mentioned how good TV can sound through a decent 2-channel stereo. Back in the day one approach was to wire a third channel for a rear speaker by connecting it across the "+" speaker terminals of both L and R speaker outputs. The result is a rear speaker which only responds to the "difference" between the two stereo channels and provides some "fill". So if the amp is switched to mono the rear speaker will be completely silent. When running in stereo anything that's just on the left or just on the right channel will also be heard from the rear speaker. So you get stereo at the front and difference at the back.
I don't think I've yet seen a good quality surround system that's had the courage do completely dispense with the centre speaker and just go with 4-channel or 4+1. It would be ideal for one of my installations where I simply don't want a bulky centre speaker.
I've been impressed when looking at the Totem Tribe Tower solution for surround but they're costly and haven't cracked the centre speaker problem. If they made a compact centre speaker I could get tempted. Their wall mounted speakers are rather bulky.
https://www.audiodestination.co.uk/totem-acoustic-...
I had a similar issue op - there’s a thread somewhere a few weeks back.
Anyway - I followed the advice on this forum and looked at various things, especially the centre channel placement. I had the centre placed on the bottom shelf of our tv stand - not ideal, but the only place it’d fit!
Fast forward and I went a little mad on upgrades.... however I started with manually boosting the centre balance, the l&r were set to -3 db respectively and I set the centre to +6db, it sound a little odd.... in the end, I changed the centre from a wharfedale diamond 8.1 (iirc) to 2 active tannoy 402’s. I placed these on a higher shelf (at either end of the screen) and on isolation platforms. The result is dramatic, speech is miles better.
I will say that I echo the comments about getting the stereo channels sorted too. I changed the whaefedale diamonds to a set of (much larger than expected
) mackie 8 inch monitors and it has transformed the whole sound stage, night and day different.
Anyway - I followed the advice on this forum and looked at various things, especially the centre channel placement. I had the centre placed on the bottom shelf of our tv stand - not ideal, but the only place it’d fit!
Fast forward and I went a little mad on upgrades.... however I started with manually boosting the centre balance, the l&r were set to -3 db respectively and I set the centre to +6db, it sound a little odd.... in the end, I changed the centre from a wharfedale diamond 8.1 (iirc) to 2 active tannoy 402’s. I placed these on a higher shelf (at either end of the screen) and on isolation platforms. The result is dramatic, speech is miles better.
I will say that I echo the comments about getting the stereo channels sorted too. I changed the whaefedale diamonds to a set of (much larger than expected
) mackie 8 inch monitors and it has transformed the whole sound stage, night and day different. toohuge said:
I had a similar issue op - there’s a thread somewhere a few weeks back.
Anyway - I followed the advice on this forum and looked at various things, especially the centre channel placement. I had the centre placed on the bottom shelf of our tv stand - not ideal, but the only place it’d fit!
Fast forward and I went a little mad on upgrades.... however I started with manually boosting the centre balance, the l&r were set to -3 db respectively and I set the centre to +6db, it sound a little odd.... in the end, I changed the centre from a wharfedale diamond 8.1 (iirc) to 2 active tannoy 402’s. I placed these on a higher shelf (at either end of the screen) and on isolation platforms. The result is dramatic, speech is miles better.
I will say that I echo the comments about getting the stereo channels sorted too. I changed the whaefedale diamonds to a set of (much larger than expected) mackie 8 inch monitors and it has transformed the whole sound stage, night and day different.
Thanks. I think the placement of the middle speaker might be my issue. I've upped the level and it's improved it a bit but still not perfect.Anyway - I followed the advice on this forum and looked at various things, especially the centre channel placement. I had the centre placed on the bottom shelf of our tv stand - not ideal, but the only place it’d fit!
Fast forward and I went a little mad on upgrades.... however I started with manually boosting the centre balance, the l&r were set to -3 db respectively and I set the centre to +6db, it sound a little odd.... in the end, I changed the centre from a wharfedale diamond 8.1 (iirc) to 2 active tannoy 402’s. I placed these on a higher shelf (at either end of the screen) and on isolation platforms. The result is dramatic, speech is miles better.
I will say that I echo the comments about getting the stereo channels sorted too. I changed the whaefedale diamonds to a set of (much larger than expected
) mackie 8 inch monitors and it has transformed the whole sound stage, night and day different. 
Not sure what options I have. There is a post behind the top of the TV, it might be possible to mount it up there but think it will be unstable. Also not sure if they are magnetically shielded so being that close might not work.
Put a slight angle on the centre speaker so that it is pointing upwards a couple of degrees. Some rubber feet on the front edge of the speaker or something similar.
With your test tones, they should all be set by the management to the same level (rears perhaps slightly lower). Typically, it is set the same at 75db, but you can check this with your smartphone and a sound level app so that you can see that they are at the same level, whether at 75db or at the sound level setting you normally listen at. If they are the same at your main listening position, boost the centre speaker by 3db. That should do it. If not, make them level, then from there boost the centre by 3db.
With your test tones, they should all be set by the management to the same level (rears perhaps slightly lower). Typically, it is set the same at 75db, but you can check this with your smartphone and a sound level app so that you can see that they are at the same level, whether at 75db or at the sound level setting you normally listen at. If they are the same at your main listening position, boost the centre speaker by 3db. That should do it. If not, make them level, then from there boost the centre by 3db.
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