Pioneer VSX-430 sound settings issue.

[Guðmundur Jónsson]

Need audio settings help;

tl;dr - Everything's connected fine but all of the settings have some faults programmed into them, is there one master setting where everything works as it should?


I very recently purchased the Pioneer VSX-430 (Amps) and Jamo S 628 HCS (Speakers). I connected the Serato DDJ-SB (DJ Controller) to the Amps with two male L/R wires, as far as I know, everything is set up correctly. The settings available on the Amp all work as intended (I think), my problem is none of them are really quite good enough.
For example, the Auto Surround setting gives good sound and bass through the two large speakers, but the middle, left and right speaker don't give any sound. ALC/Standard Surr gives sound through all of the speakers but the two large speakers sound way worse on this setting and even the three small speakers don't sound as powerful as on other settings, little bass and such.
Basically in a lot of the settings some of the speakers don't give sound, or the sound is very unevenly distributed (one setting has the middle speaker do more work than the other four combined). The settings where all five are working, there's either a filter or all of them aren't performing as powerfully as they do in other settings (low bass, low sound).
The setting for movies (ACTION) for example delivers sound through all of them and good bass but has a filter that distracts and worsens the sound (even though the speakers work properly).



The CD and instructions are kinda everywhere and I haven't found an answer addressing this issue, hopefully there's something glaringly obvious I'm somehow missing here.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

You’re using an analog connection between the DJ thing and the amp, so you’re limited to Dolby Pro Logic instead of Dolby Digital. That’s probably why the Auto Surround defaults to two-channel stereo.

If you’re getting poor bass when using a setting where all the speakers are playing, that’s an indication that you have the polarity reversed some of them. Check the speaker wiring and make sure that (+) from the amp (red) is connected to (+) on the speaker, for each channel.

If that's fine, then check the Pioneer manual and make sure that the "Large" and "Small" speaker settings (the latter rolls out the bass and sends it to a subwoofer) is not programmable for each input or sound setting.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Guðmundur Jónsson]

Thanks for the answer, I'm not entirely sure how to check the Large and Small speaker settings but I'll look through the manual.
I'm a little confused as to why analog acts that way, especially since the DDJ-SB only output source for sound is analog, feels like a major design flaw.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the answer, I'm not entirely sure how to check the Large and Small speaker settings but I'll look through the manual.
I'm a little confused as to why analog acts that way, especially since the DDJ-SB only output source for sound is analog, feels like a major design flaw.

Do you have another source other than that DDJ-SB? That is a unit designed for DJs. It is a dual CD player mixer. I assume you are playing music on the pop end of the spectrum recorded in 2 channel.

Now pop music played connected to a surround receiver using contrived surround modes sounds awful on anything. You need to just play it 2 channel. If this is your only source I'm not sure why you bought a receiver. Do you have a sub? Are you using your system for DJ service?

I suspect that there is a profound misapplication of equipment here, but I need to know more about what equipment you have, how you want to use it and where.

Multichannel formats are designed for movies recorded in digital multi channel formats mainly, and need a digital connection, preferably HDMI. Multi channel audio formats are multi channel SACD, Some DVD audio discs and audio only BDs.

Many minimally miked classical recordings with good ambience preservation can benefit from multi channel algorithms, especially Dolby PL 2x in a 7.1 system especially. The caveat is that all speakers must be well set up, optimally positioned and all of equal excellence, or there will be no benefit, in fact the reverse.

I assume you are from Iceland by the way.

 

[Guðmundur Jónsson]

Do you have another source other than that DDJ-SB? That is a unit designed for DJs. It is a dual CD player mixer. I assume you are playing music on the pop end of the spectrum recorded in 2 channel.

Now pop music played connected to a surround receiver using contrived surround modes sounds awful on anything. You need to just play it 2 channel. If this is your only source I'm not sure why you bought a receiver. Do you have a sub? Are you using your system for DJ service?

I suspect that there is a profound misapplication of equipment here, but I need to know more about what equipment you have, how you want to use it and where.

Multichannel formats are designed for movies recorded in digital multi channel formats mainly, and need a digital connection, preferably HDMI. Multi channel audio formats are multi channel SACD, Some DVD audio discs and audio only BDs.

Many minimally miked classical recordings with good ambience preservation can benefit from multi channel algorithms, especially Dolby PL 2x in a 7.1 system especially. The caveat is that all speakers must be well set up, optimally positioned and all of equal excellence, or there will be no benefit, in fact the reverse.

I assume you are from Iceland by the way.

Thanks for the answer.
I'll connect the reciever to my playstation and tv and see how it sounds, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't run into problems there. And you assume and likely suspect correctly, I bought the Speakers and Reciever with the intention of using them to play loud music through my DDJ-SB. If that was a beginners mistake I just hope there's some way to compromise.
The two large speakers give sound in Stereo, I've been using that mode when playing music and they sound good, is there a way to hook up or change the settings so the other two L/R speakers are treated like the two large ones in stereo mode?
And yes I am from Iceland

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the answer.
I'll connect the reciever to my playstation and tv and see how it sounds, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't run into problems there. And you assume and likely suspect correctly, I bought the Speakers and Reciever with the intention of using them to play loud music through my DDJ-SB. If that was a beginners mistake I just hope there's some way to compromise.
The two large speakers give sound in Stereo, I've been using that mode when playing music and they sound good, is there a way to hook up or change the settings so the other two L/R speakers are treated like the two large ones in stereo mode?
And yes I am from Iceland

You have two good large speakers. For playing CDs that is all you need. If you add speakers it will sound worse. There is no point in adding complexity and equipment to get a worse result. A worse result is ALL you will get from your current endeavors.

 

[Guðmundur Jónsson]

You have two good large speakers. For playing CDs that is all you need. If you add speakers it will sound worse. There is no point in adding complexity and equipment to get a worse result. A worse result is ALL you will get from your current endeavors.

Interesting, I believe you but I'm curious as to why it worsens it.
I guess my thought process is pretty simple and narrow minded on this subject (understandably), looking for more power seems reasonable.
Do you think I should speak to the store about this? I told them my needs and I was told this should all work, but now I feel like 3/5th of the product isn't working. Should I be happy with the two large speakers I have (I might be better off with those two large ones than some other likely smaller ones), or try and return and get something more suited for my needs. Like you said, "profound misapplication of equipment".
Maybe they have speakers more suited for my needs, if so, do you have any experience with speakers designed for music play?

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[TLS Guy]

Interesting, I believe you but I'm curious as to why it worsens it.
I guess my thought process is pretty simple and narrow minded on this subject (understandably), looking for more power seems reasonable.
Do you think I should speak to the store about this? I told them my needs and I was told this should all work, but now I feel like 3/5th of the product isn't working. Should I be happy with the two large speakers I have (I might be better off with those two large ones than some other likely smaller ones), or try and return and get something more suited for my needs. Like you said, "profound misapplication of equipment".
Maybe they have speakers more suited for my needs, if so, do you have any experience with speakers designed for music play?

Thanks for all the replies.

It makes the sound worse because the speakers interfere with each other. Some frequencies from each speaker will reinforce as they collide and others cancel. This is called comb filtering.

Yes, I have over 60 years experience.

Be careful how loud you play your system. Noise induced hearing damage will occur and is not fixable.

To play louder this means speakers that will handle more power, and or, are more sensitive/efficient.

You must also provide enough clean power to drive them.

Good, accurate and loud comes with a high price tag.

It seems to me you like what you are hearing from your larger two channel speaker system. I'm having a very hard time trying to clearly understand your objectives. What are your speakers?

 

[Guðmundur Jónsson]

The speakers are the Jamo S 628 HCS series. I hope the hyperlink works (it links to a PDF description and picture).

My objective is to simply understand the product, make sure I'm not restricted because of lack of knowledge. I understand your point about Good, accurate and loud coming with a high price tag, so likely I'll have to take that off the tables.

If the two large speakers are what I have to work with I won't be mad, but if there was a way to have all five work well together and I didn't try, that would've been mistake.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think perhaps you expected too much from the surround sound setup and/or the matrixing of 2ch music to 5ch.....playback of your 2ch music may simply sound best as 2ch playback. The avr has limited power if you're really turning this up to very loud levels, too. No subwoofer? Otherwise like the others have said so far....

 

[TLS Guy]

The speakers are the Jamo S 628 HCS series. I hope the hyperlink works (it links to a PDF description and picture).

My objective is to simply understand the product, make sure I'm not restricted because of lack of knowledge. I understand your point about Good, accurate and loud coming with a high price tag, so likely I'll have to take that off the tables.

If the two large speakers are what I have to work with I won't be mad, but if there was a way to have all five work well together and I didn't try, that would've been mistake.

Your main speakers are fine for 2 channel music. To use the other speakers you need to play sources that are 5.1 channel. With an HDMI connection the correct sounds will be directed to the correct speakers. I would recommend the addition of a good sub.