"Trouble" with my Yamaha RX-A2040 sound

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

I hooked everything up all my new gear to my RX-A2040. The "trouble" I'm having is that when I switch to any of the Dolby sound modes, it sounds muffled/muddled and terrible. When I switch to 9 channel stereo, it sounds amazing but for some reason I'm losing sound from my rear surrounds (2 of the Q-150s).

I've run the Test Tone on the AVR, and it works fine as far as sound from all the speakers and the subs.

Does anyone have any insight into why the Dolby modes sound like hot garbage, or why I can't get sound from the rear surrounds in 9 channel stereo?

Cheers,

}Fear_Inoculum {

 

[lovinthehd]

More details could be very helpful Who knows why you prefer that godawful multich stereo mode over a good surround mode? Beyond me Or is it just about spl?

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

More details could be very helpful Who knows why you prefer that godawful multich stereo mode over a good surround mode? Beyond me Or is it just about spl?

It's not about my preference at all, there is a massive difference in not only the SPL, but the sound quality when I play anything in the different modes.The 9 channel stereo just sounds noticeably clearer and better. It's not about some minor difference that only a "golden ear" could notice.

Just did some reading about it, and I'm going to try playing around with the dB levels of the individual speakers in the settings when I get home from work later. I'll see if that makes the Dolby modes sound better.

 

[Trebdp83]

What were you listening to when changing modes? If you were playing two channel music in dolby surround, it would not sound very good in a dolby surround mode without adding center spread. But, that’s another topic. What is the speaker configuration and amp assign?

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

What were you listening to when changing modes? If you were playing two channel music in dolby surround, it would not sound very good in a dolby surround mode without adding center spread. But, that’s another topic. What is the speaker configuration and amp assign?

Movies in both instances. More specifically, Guardians of The Galaxy in 4K on Disney +.

Speaker configuration is a 7.2 set up. L/C/R with 2 side and 2 rear surrounds. One subwoofer at the front of the room, the other at the rear.

I set all the distances on the speakers yesterday. I haven't messes with the amp assignment, EQ or dB levels yet. I'm going to play around with that tonight to see if it helps.

The only way for me to describe the difference in sound between 9 channel stereo and the Dolby modes is that the 9 channel is much louder, and much clearer. While all of the Dolby modes are dull, muddy/muffled and the volume is much much lower.

This wouldn't be a problem per se if my 2 rear surrounds were producing sound when I have it in 9 channel stereo. I'd ignore the Dolby modes altogether. But it seems to be one or the other: better sound/less speakers (9 channel) or terrible sound/more speakers (any of the Dolby modes).

 

[Trebdp83]

What are you using to stream the movie and are you in fact getting the Dolby Atmos track? Multichannel stereo will always sound louder simply because the receiver will down convert any track to two channel first, then spread it over all of the speakers putting you in the center of dialogue that is now coming from all around you instead of just in front of you.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

What are you using to stream the movie and are you in fact getting the Dolby Atmos track? Multichannel stereo will always sound louder simply because the receiver will down convert any track to two channel first, then spread it over all of the speakers putting you in the center of dialogue that is now coming from all around you instead of just in front of you.

Amazon Firecube 4K to stream from.

And it's not just the volume that is different. If that were the case, I'd simply turn up the volume. There is a massively noticeable difference in sound quality. You would literally have to be deaf to not notice the difference. Muddled/muddy vs crisp/clear.

I'll play around with the settings on the 2040 tonight and see if that helps.

 

[3db]

It smells like a configuration issue to me. Are you using the same source when switching between 9channel stereo and Dolby?

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

It smells like a configuration issue to me. Are you using the same source when switching between 9channel stereo and Dolby?

Yes. The only thing that changes is the sound mode. 9 channel vs Dolby. All through the Firecube 4K, the RX-A2040, and my new Espson 5050 projector (this problem was also present with my old Espson 8350 projector if anyone is thinking that might be the source).

 

[Trebdp83]

The processing is one thing, the incoming signal another. Are you in fact getting an atmos signal?

 

[Mark E. Long]

I hooked everything up all my new gear to my RX-A2040. The "trouble" I'm having is that when I switch to any of the Dolby sound modes, it sounds muffled/muddled and terrible. When I switch to 9 channel stereo, it sounds amazing but for some reason I'm losing sound from my rear surrounds (2 of the Q-150s).

I've run the Test Tone on the AVR, and it works fine as far as sound from all the speakers and the subs.

Does anyone have any insight into why the Dolby modes sound like hot garbage, or why I can't get sound from the rear surrounds in 9 channel stereo?

Cheers,

}Fear_Inoculum {

Question do you have input volume set in the submenu to match all inputs?
And do you have the decoders set up for say Auto decoding I run mine on Dolby pro logic 2 instead of Auto . There’s always a difference in the sound going from a two channel recordings to Dolby but you should get sound from the rears in Dolby pro-logic 2 . I’d definitely set the levels and delays and give it another go .
There’s not much content to downmix in some two channel recordings and some sound good it’s the luck of the draw on content sometimes. On 9 channel stereo I go into the submenu on that and raise the center image and and raise the level to + 4 then raise the height balance to +1 and move the front to rear balance to + 1 or 2 to the front .

 

[snakeeyes]

The only Atmos streaming title that really has some good moments that I’ve heard has been The Tomorrow War on Prime.

@AcuDefTechGuy calls most of these streamed titles “FAKEMOS”.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

The processing is one thing, the incoming signal another. Are you in fact getting an atmos signal?

I'm not running Atmos speakers (Front/rear presence as Yamaha calls them), just 2 side and 2 rear surrounds.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

Question do you have input volume set in the submenu to match all inputs?
And do you have the decoders set up for say Auto decoding I run mine on Dolby pro logic 2 instead of Auto . There’s always a difference in the sound going from a two channel recordings to Dolby but you should get sound from the rears in Dolby pro-logic 2 . I’d definitely set the levels and delays and give it another go .
There’s not much content to downmix in some two channel recordings and some sound good it’s the luck of the draw on content sometimes. On 9 channel stereo I go into the submenu on that and raise the center image and and raise the level to + 4 then raise the height balance to +1 and move the front to rear balance to + 1 or 2 to the front .

I haven't messed around too much with anything yet since I got my new speakers. And I never really did anything with the old ones.

I get full surround sound when I switch to any of the Dolby modes, it just sounds terrible. I'll play around with the settings tonight and see what I can do.

 

[Trebdp83]

It could be any Dolby signal, but if the incoming signal is not flagging dolby, then something is wrong at the source. Atmos streams will have metadata ignored in your particular setup but you will still have a discreet dolby digital+ 7.1 track in play. Yamaha had their presence speakers and placement setups before atmos and they are not exactly the same thing.

 

[lovinthehd]

It's not about my preference at all, there is a massive difference in not only the SPL, but the sound quality when I play anything in the different modes.The 9 channel stereo just sounds noticeably clearer and better. It's not about some minor difference that only a "golden ear" could notice.

Just did some reading about it, and I'm going to try playing around with the dB levels of the individual speakers in the settings when I get home from work later. I'll see if that makes the Dolby modes sound better.

Well, 9ch stereo mode is not surround sound, it's just L/R stereo out of each pair simultaneously and summed in the center....and is generally just louder and won't have any of the intended soundstage of the movie. Not sure what you mean by clearer/better other than louder, which some do equate. If you only set distances and not levels, that's possibly one part of it. I'm not familiar with all of Yamaha's terminology but what particular sound settings are you using? Did you have a surround setup before?

 

[snakeeyes]

I'm not running Atmos speakers (Front/rear presence as Yamaha calls them), just 2 side and 2 rear surrounds.

Ok ya Atmos means having at least 2 speakers for presence (heights) and object decode enabled.

I’m unsure if 2040 model has Dolby DSU or DTS NeuralX upmixers.

I do see it got a firmware update for Atmos (maybe means Dolby DSU was part of that update? Maybe not?)

 

[Mark E. Long]

I haven't messed around too much with anything yet since I got my new speakers. And I never really did anything with the old ones.

I get full surround sound when I switch to any of the Dolby modes, it just sounds terrible. I'll play around with the settings tonight and see what I can do.

Weren’t you missing a mic for ypao auto setup if so you can do most of it manually setting levels last but measure the distance buy hand to your listening spot I’ve found in my room ypao gets this spot on so doing it by hand will be very very close after your delays are set if you got a spl meter start with the left and go from there . For auto eq man that’s a shot in the dark without a mic .

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

Well, 9ch stereo mode is not surround sound, it's just L/R stereo out of each pair simultaneously and summed in the center....and is generally just louder and won't have any of the intended soundstage of the movie. Not sure what you mean by clearer/better other than louder, which some do equate. If you only set distances and not levels, that's possibly one part of it. I'm not familiar with all of Yamaha's terminology but what particular sound settings are you using? Did you have a surround setup before?

Basically, if you were talking to another person and they were to then put a pillow in front of their mouth while talking to you. That's about the only way I can think to equate the difference in the sound between 9 channel (no pillow) and Dolby modes (pillow). Dolby sounds like I'm listening to it through a barrier. As if all the sound isn't quite making it through. Almost as if I'm listening with ear plugs shoved way into my ear canals.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

Weren’t you missing a mic for ypao auto setup if so you can do most of it manually setting levels last but measure the distance buy hand to your listening spot I’ve found in my room ypao gets this spot on so doing it by hand will be very very close after your delays are set if you got a spl meter start with the left and go from there . For auto eq man that’s a shot in the dark without a mic .

Yes. I just ordered a new YPAO microphone off of Amazon on Friday. It should be here end of this week or early next week.

I set the distances for each speaker last night. I'll mess around with the dB levels, the amp assignment, and the EQ tonight and see what that does.