setting up new home theatre

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sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#97043 9-Feb-2012 21:00

Hi Guys
i bought my first home theatre (amplifier type) and hoping someone expert in this area can help me. I bought this yamaha model ( http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/yamaha-5.1-channel-receiver-and-speaker-pack.html )
which i calibrated using built in YPAO.

all seem be fine except dialogues. its difficult understand dialogues between low-medium sound levels. if i increase sound loud enough all good but its not practical all the time . just wondering if there is a way to improve dialogues ?

Yes i tried all different sound programs (drama,action etc.,) and some are better than others but not as good as am expecting. my previous all in one box style home theatre sounded much better than what i've now ! thats what bothering me :(

Any advise greatly appreciated

BTW amplifier connected to panasonic freeview recorder & blu ray player.

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#579463 9-Feb-2012 21:17

We tweak up our centre channel so we can keep the overall volume a bit lower with kids.

If needs be you could investigate turning on a 'midnight' mode on your player, or a low dynamic range setting, so there is less of a difference between high and low volume sections of your movie.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#579466 9-Feb-2012 21:26

Jaxson: We tweak up our centre channel so we can keep the overall volume a bit lower with kids.

If needs be you could investigate turning on a 'midnight' mode on your player, or a low dynamic range setting, so there is less of a difference between high and low volume sections of your movie.

Jaxon , i assume you are referring to adaptive DRC ( thats what manual refers to re night mode), i tried that and dialogues is slightly better but all other sounds (BASS) become so dull!

I like the BASS with current setup but dialogues are not very clear. I'll try your suggestion with center speaker.

Dunnersfella

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#579505 9-Feb-2012 23:00

What position do you have your centre speaker in?
I have heard quite a few systems that suffer from poor dialogue due to poor centre speaker placement.
Is it below the TV? If so, try mounting it so that it sits above the TV.
Can you boost the centre channel volume in the menu system? Or maybe increase the distance setting to make the amp think the centre speaker sits further away from your seat.
This isn't ideal, as it may well bring in timing issues... but hey, everything's worth a shot.

Remember, YPAO mics are a good starting point, but they're certainly not the be-all-end-all in getting decent audio playback.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#579532 10-Feb-2012 07:20

Dunnersfella: What position do you have your centre speaker in?
I have heard quite a few systems that suffer from poor dialogue due to poor centre speaker placement.
Is it below the TV? If so, try mounting it so that it sits above the TV.
Can you boost the centre channel volume in the menu system? Or maybe increase the distance setting to make the amp think the centre speaker sits further away from your seat.
This isn't ideal, as it may well bring in timing issues... but hey, everything's worth a shot.

Remember, YPAO mics are a good starting point, but they're certainly not the be-all-end-all in getting decent audio playback.

center speaker located below the TV. unfortunately i cant wall mount as TV is in the corner of the room. BTW all other speakers are wall mounted.

yes there are menu settings to changed distance & level, will try that. do i need to change both distance & level ? so far am changing only level . Thanks

Dunnersfella

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Uber Geek

#579948 10-Feb-2012 20:24

What 'size' has the microphone tuning set your front speakers to?
Small or large?

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#580060 11-Feb-2012 07:37

Dunnersfella: What 'size' has the microphone tuning set your front speakers to?
Small or large?

its set to small.

they are satellite speakers and wall mounted. please see my link in the first thread to see pics.thanks

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#580068 11-Feb-2012 08:22

last night i re-done YPAO again ,slightly placing mic far away than i usally sit and so far i lik'ed dialogues clarity.

BUT ive not yet got wow factor i was looking for. Its only so far sounding similar to my previous cheap ALLINONEBOX and want to improve it for more fuller sound.

whats crossover setting ? with my first YPAO i got 200hz now from last night setup its now 160hz ! what is it and what should be the value?

Sharesies

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Dunnersfella

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Uber Geek

#580323 11-Feb-2012 23:22

What content are you playing that is lacking to provide the 'wow factor'?
Are you talking about the bass crossover at 200 or 160hz?

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#580350 12-Feb-2012 07:51

Dunnersfella: What content are you playing that is lacking to provide the 'wow factor'?
Are you talking about the bass crossover at 200 or 160hz?

Yes , i am. There is a setting under setup menu >> crossover.

redoing YPAO got different results corssover. just wondering what setting should be . i read some online documentation and not sure if i've followed fully. it says, it depends on front speakers frequency so not sure what to do here.

as per manual ive following under specs
Speaker System Frequency Response: 30 Hz-25 kHz

BTW i so far watching freeview HD recordings (transformers,die hard 4)

Jaxson

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#580358 12-Feb-2012 08:21

sqlpro:

they are satellite speakers

If you mean tiny ones by this, then set your subwoofer high. The cutoff frequency setting determines where the sound stops going to your small speakers and instead gets routed to your subwoofer. The higher the number, the more sound is sent to the subwoofer.

Basically your tiny wall speakers can't make much bass, so you'll want to start sending that to your subwoofer as soon the the main speakers can't reproduce it. Try it in different settings and see which one works best for you. You can do lots with sound meters and test tones, but at the end of the day what sounds good to you is what is important and others can only point you in that direction.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#580522 12-Feb-2012 16:01

Jaxson:
sqlpro:

they are satellite speakers

If you mean tiny ones by this, then set your subwoofer high. The cutoff frequency setting determines where the sound stops going to your small speakers and instead gets routed to your subwoofer. The higher the number, the more sound is sent to the subwoofer.

Basically your tiny wall speakers can't make much bass, so you'll want to start sending that to your subwoofer as soon the the main speakers can't reproduce it. Try it in different settings and see which one works best for you. You can do lots with sound meters and test tones, but at the end of the day what sounds good to you is what is important and others can only point you in that direction.

Thanks Jaxson. it has setting upto 200 but currently i set it to 120 and am liking it. dialogues are clear now and not bad bass. with 200 setting great bass but horrible vocals unless i increase volume high enough difficult understand.

Jaxson

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#580526 12-Feb-2012 16:15

sqlpro: with 200 setting great bass but horrible vocals unless i increase volume high enough difficult understand.

That's your problem then. With it set that high, vocals could be split between the front speaker and the subwoofer. Mens lower voices would be half out the front, half out the sub and that's never a good look.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#581181 14-Feb-2012 07:23

looks like it Jaxson. what i found was , with current settings, out of all sound level modes (drama,action etc.,) DRAMA sounds very good even music playback!

bazzer

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#581192 14-Feb-2012 08:12

It could be my setup, but I've not found the DD on Freeview to be that great. You might find DVD/Blu-ray audio more pleasing.

sqlpro

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Ultimate Geek

#581230 14-Feb-2012 10:17

bazzer: It could be my setup, but I've not found the DD on Freeview to be that great. You might find DVD/Blu-ray audio more pleasing.

may be its personal taste but i like it especially C4 music ( i set my sound level -30db). corssover setting really made a difference for me though.

re blu ray discs , i read somewhere that its better to put on "straight" mode. cant tell you out exact performance as i've only 1 blu ray disc (Earth) which sounded great on both straight and drama mode.

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