sound modes on Marantz sr6011

[E.T.]

If I use the auto button, it seems to pick weird modes. For example, my cable is usually Dobly Digital 5.1. If I click auto on the remote, the AVR chooses "Dolby Digital + Dolby Surround". I'm confused on how it can be using 2 modes at once. I'm only running a 3.1 system. If I manually choose Dolby Digital as the sound mode, things sound different, so I'm not sure which way is best or correct.

If the source is DD, why wouldn't the AVR automatically choose DD? There does seem to be a difference in sound, too. "DD + surround" seems to weight the center channel more and I hear less of the fronts. The attached photo shows how it behaves with a bluray. Again, if the source is DTS-HD, why is it also choosing neural X?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Maybe because your 3.1 setup doesn't exactly match the source amount of speakers and AVR tried to fix that by using sound modes to properly re-mix the signal to 4 speakers instead of source's 8

 

[lovinthehd]

The center speaker in much content in tv/movies does carry the bulk of the content, so don't think there's anything wrong in that respect. I don't get some of my sound modes if I don't have all the speakers necessary, others can be available depending on settings/content. Just select a mode that you find pleasing and don't worry about it so much.

What audio settings you are using in your source components is one part of it as well as well as your types of connections to an extent....what are those?

 

[E.T.]

The center speaker in much content in tv/movies does carry the bulk of the content, so don't think there's anything wrong in that respect. I don't get some of my sound modes if I don't have all the speakers necessary, others can be available depending on settings/content. Just select a mode that you find pleasing and don't worry about it so much.

What audio settings you are using in your source components is one part of it as well as well as your types of connections to an extent....what are those?

Thanks. Auto seems the easiest way to go. I guess I will just hope the AVR is smart enough to pick the right mode.

The thing that confuses me about Dolby Surround and Neural X is, I thought those were upmixers. If the source is 5.1, but I only have 3.1, there should be nothing to upmix. And I thought Neural X was for height speakers, which I don't have. Pretty much everything is hooked up via HDMI.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thanks. Auto seems the easiest way to go. I guess I will just hope the AVR is smart enough to pick the right mode.

The thing that confuses me about Dolby Surround and Neural X is, I thought those were upmixers. If the source is 5.1, but I only have 3.1, there should be nothing to upmix. And I thought Neural X was for height speakers, which I don't have. Pretty much everything is hooked up via HDMI.

yeah, but you need to downmix or you will lose some of content

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

If I use the auto button, it seems to pick weird modes. For example, my cable is usually Dobly Digital 5.1. If I click auto on the remote, the AVR chooses "Dolby Digital + Dolby Surround". I'm confused on how it can be using 2 modes at once. I'm only running a 3.1 system. If I manually choose Dolby Digital as the sound mode, things sound different, so I'm not sure which way is best or correct.

If the source is DD, why wouldn't the AVR automatically choose DD? There does seem to be a difference in sound, too. "DD + surround" seems to weight the center channel more and I hear less of the fronts. The attached photo shows how it behaves with a bluray. Again, if the source is DTS-HD, why is it also choosing neural X?

Dolby surround is what used to be Pro LogicII(x/z), that would expand 2ch sources to surround , and 5.1 sources to 7.1(rear surround or front high). Now they've moved on to atmos, and the new "upsampler" is Dolby Surround. So DD + Dolby surround is trying to up sample. What I don't know is if you have a legacy 7.1 like yours, what the upsampler is actually doing. When you run audyssey it should know your speaker layout and know not to send any sounds overhead(since their aren't any speakers there). If you select normal DD for a particular incoming soundtrack, the avr should default to the sound mode you used last, the next time. Maybe...(all of mine do)
I would choose DD for those tracks.
Edit: nueralX is DTS's version of Dolby surround.

 

[E.T.]

Dolby surround is what used to be Pro LogicII(x/z), that would expand 2ch sources to surround , and 5.1 sources to 7.1(rear surround or front high). Now they've moved on to atmos, and the new "upsampler" is Dolby Surround. So DD + Dolby surround is trying to up sample. What I don't know is if you have a legacy 7.1 like yours, what the upsampler is actually doing. When you run audyssey it should know your speaker layout and know not to send any sounds overhead(since their aren't any speakers there). If you select normal DD for a particular incoming soundtrack, the avr should default to the sound mode you used last, the next time. Maybe...(all of mine do)
I would choose DD for those tracks.
Edit: nueralX is DTS's version of Dolby surround.

Thanks. I tried the auto mode for a little while tonight, and it picked the usual "DD+Dolby Surround" for a cable TV show I was watching. It sounds like it's doing something screwy because the center speaker seems much too loud, while the fronts are very quiet. It just sounds off to me. I manually selected regular DD, and that sounds more natural. Guess I'll just do it that way. Maybe it's due to having only 3 speakers with an AVR designed for 9.1 sound? Weird. Under the Audyssey setup, I have "none" selected for surround speakers. This behavior is kind odd, but at least it's an easy fix.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

That is weird. Just realized I looked at the pic wrong too. I saw the input signal and took it for the active speaker set. Oops. In any case, I'd think after running audyssey it would go to the right sound mode, which to me is not DD+Dolby surround lol. Easy fix. Time for surround speakers!!! Lol

 

[E.T.]

Yeah, I've been scratching my head about this since I got the AVR a few weeks ago. Even emailed Marantz, but they weren't much help. I may look into some surrounds in the future =)