Are you not supposed to use Audyssey with 5.1 music? I'm listening to 5.1 music now and it sounds fantastic. Wow I'm blown away and intrigued here.
Absolutely, I definitely prefer to use it with 5.1(SACD) and 7.1(for example, Blue Ray Live concerts) music.
I guess the moral of the story is you can mess up Audyssey easy if you're not careful and it will make your system sound like poop.
Oh yes, you can really mess things up if not done right. There is a pretty good detailed guide here, but it doesn't look like you want to spend much time studying and following it to the letter.
https://www.willowville.net/ht/Audyssey Setup Guide.pdf
So if you just want to do a quick one, you can simply follow the onscreen instructions but pay attention to the following:
1. Disable any EQ on your subwoofer, if you can't disable it, set to low pass filter to maximum, phase to 0.
2. Set the subwoofer volume to 9:00 am position to start, if Audyssey auto setup ask you to turn it up, try 10:00 am or higher until the onscreen meter turns green.
I think the onscreen instructions do cover the above, but I included it just in case.
2. Normally one should use all 8 positions for the best results, but if your setup, I think you should do just 5 positions because you don't have enough space between the couch and the back wall. Below are some tips for better results:
- Be sure the mic is at ear height, but for high back couch, set it at least 2 inches above the highest point of the couch back.
- Turn the HVAC system off, the room needs to be reasonably quiet. Stop for planes and other traffic noises.
- MLP (main listening position, presumably the center of the middle seat of your couch.
- 12 inches from the MLP to the left and to the right. (That's positions 1 through 3)
- 10-12 inches to the front of the left seat.
- 10-12 inches to the front of the right seat.
So again, a total of 5 positions.
3. When you are done, do the following first, you can always experiment with other settings later.
a) Disable dynamic volume.
b) Enable dynamic EQ (Set the offset to 0 for movies, 10 for everything else (to start with and play later..)
c) Regardless of what Audyssey set the crossover points to, change them all to 80 Hz.
d) Increase the subwoofer level by 3 dB (try 5 if 3 isn't enough for you).
e) Select Audyssey reference, only try flat if your room is small. Reference should sound "warmer".
Step 3) above is very important, based on your apparent complain about the "Denon neutral"/unexciting sound!!
There is an Editor App that you can purchase at the Google store (Android),or Apple store (IOS)
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audyssey-multeq-editor-app/id1210584625
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dmholdings.AudysseyMultEq&hl=en_CA
For $20, it is highly recommended, as it gives you more controls, such as:
- Modify the target curve to you liking.
- Disable the Mid range dip that many people hate.
- Limit EQ to your room transition frequency, typically between 200-300 Hz depending on room dimensions.
- Store multiple target curves so you can try different ones, without re-running Audyssey setup.
All of the above are intended to help in case you need to do it again. Since you said it sounded good to you now, it is best to leave it alone, but please do pay attention to step 3 (highlighted red) and try those settings.
By the way,
@AcuDefTechGuy has experience with a few Denon AVR, even their flagship AVP. He now would typically recommend Yamaha's, but mainly because of their better reliability record. Like me, he will also tell you it is DSP (Digital signal processing) and REQ (Room EQ, that is, Audyssey vs YPAO) that make them sound different. In direct/pure direct modes, one won't sound warmer or colder than the other.
If you do end up replacing your X3400H with a Yamaha, I would recommend nothing below the RX-A1080.
