Audyssey setup for dummies

[pseals68]

That’s what I don’t understand yet, how to determine anything. I love reading posts to become more educated, but it’s still all (place any language) somewhat confusing to me. I just love to listen to musiic and watch a few movies. Is there something you suggest to study and become a little more educated.

 

[pseals68]

I still think you don't know how to use the "quote" button?

Ha, I think that’s true!

 

[lovinthehd]

Ha, I think that’s true!

Depends on the interface somewhat, tapatalk is kinda weird. Straight pc use is best.

 

[j_garcia]

Doesn't matter what you set the small/xover to before running Audyssey as it will simply override those settings (and the avr will override the general Audyssey suggestion of small/80hz xover). Definitely agree on optimizing speaker position first, tho.

I found I got different results, even though it overrides those settings. That may just be that it would have returned different results either way.

 

[Hobbit]

Finally got new system set up 3.1 with Denon AVR X 4700h, Polk R500 and SVS SB Pro 1000 have run Audyssey app multiple times and just doesn’t sound clear kind of muddled sounding. What am missing or doing wrong?

What sound mode are you in? There are two categories, music and movie. Try music -> stereo. If that doesn't help, go pure direct which bypasses Audyssey. This will let you know if it has anything to do with Aud.

I never had a muddled sound with or without A on. Some of the sound modes do sound different and can be perceived as muddy.

There's other fine tuning you can do in the AVR's menus, but those won't make the sound muddy.

 

[j_garcia]

What sound mode are you in? There are two categories, music and movie. Try music -> stereo. If that doesn't help, go pure direct which bypasses Audyssey. This will let you know if it has anything to do with Aud.

I never had a muddled sound with or without A on. Some of the sound modes do sound different and can be perceived as muddy.

There's other fine tuning you can do in the AVR's menus, but those won't make the sound muddy.

I agree here, if you simply turn off Audessey and it no longer sounds muddy, then I would run it again. As noted, I ran it a couple of times and got slightly different results.

 

[lovinthehd]

I found I got different results, even though it overrides those settings. That may just be that it would have returned different results either way.

Yes, results can vary, probably as its near impossible to duplicate each run just with mic positions.

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, results can vary, probably as its near impossible to duplicate each run just with mic positions.

Yep. First time it set my mains to large. They are -3dB @ 55Hz.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep. First time it set my mains to large. They are -3dB @ 55Hz.

That's not Audyssey in any case, that's the avr manufacturer's choice. If it detects an in-room f3 of 40hz the avr manufacturers tend to do that....Audyssey's own recommendation is for starting point of small/80hz when using a sub.

 

[Hobbit]

Yes, results can vary, probably as its near impossible to duplicate each run just with mic positions.

I concur. It's surely not a plug and play but beats the old manual method...

I ran the Aud cal a few times which included moving the mic to different positions and adding more mic positions. I also played around with multiEQ, dynEQ, subwoofer, & center channel levels, and probably a few other settings I don't recall right now before I was happy. Most this however was fine tuning. Music never sounded muddled, or that bad unless I put it in one of the sound modes where it was trying to convert native stereo source to a surround sound mode.

 

[lovinthehd]

I concur. It's surely not a plug and play but beats the old manual method...

I ran the Aud cal a few times which included moving the mic to different positions and adding more mic positions. I also played around with multiEQ, dynEQ, subwoofer, & center channel levels, and probably a few other settings I don't recall right now before I was happy. Most this however was fine tuning. Music never sounded muddled, or that bad unless I put it in one of the sound modes where it was trying to convert native stereo source to a surround sound mode.

I prefer all mic positions myself. I tweak Audyssey results a bit. If using all the same settings for everything it may not work equally well for both movies and music, but I haven't had any overt problems with "music" playback particularly....but then its fairly easy to setup different profiles (or just turn it off if you find "for music" any issues).

 

[Focus SE]

There are a lot of people here with far more technical expertise but the last three months of getting started down this path is that the source (favorite artist/ movie) sounded so different than I was used to. (In too many cases worse) If it’s equipment/ equipment settings then deal with that, but I found having reference material to compare to your previous knowns is helpful as much. Jumping up in equipment clarifies and shows how muddy things can be and that I was just used to that. I would suggest a constant source if you’re not already. Best of luck!

 

[lovinthehd]

There are a lot of people here with far more technical expertise but the last three months of getting started down this path is that the source (favorite artist/ movie) sounded so different than I was used to. (In too many cases worse) If it’s equipment/ equipment settings then deal with that, but I found having reference material to compare to your previous knowns is helpful as much. Jumping up in equipment clarifies and shows how muddy things can be and that I was just used to that. I would suggest a constant source if you’re not already. Best of luck!

First, consider your sonic memory is fairly unreliable. If you do compare, you need to do some level matching for a fair comparison, as well as quick switching....hard to do. Better speakers will show up more faults in material, tho.

 

[Hobbit]

I prefer all mic positions myself. I tweak Audyssey results a bit. If using all the same settings for everything it may not work equally well for both movies and music, but I haven't had any overt problems with "music" playback particularly....but then its fairly easy to setup different profiles (or just turn it off if you find "for music" any issues).

That's actually been one of my main gripes.... I wish there was a movie and a music setting.

 

[lovinthehd]

That's actually been one of my main gripes.... I wish there was a movie and a music setting.

There is in most avrs afaik, with the press of a single button on the remote....let alone how easy it is to setup particular profiles....what has been your roadblock in doing so?

 

[pseals68]

Update: Thank you so much for all the advice given. Been doing a lot of research to try to understand everything. Worked on speaker placement, listening distance and speaker distance from the wall. Ran Audyssey multiple times with 8 different mic positions and sound has greatly improved. I guess you keep tinkering to find that sweet spot and it all falls into place. You guys have been awesome mentors on my journey to try and understand Audyssey, the receiver, speakers, the room setting and getting to place of sound quality I was hoping existed when I made this jump.

 

[BBHT]

Hi @pseals68
I thought I'd throw in my recent experience. In the past month I got the AVC-3700H, and a set of Q Acoustics speakers (no subwoofer yet).
I have experienced a "muddy" sound, and overly strong "boomy" bass. It took me some investigation, but I figured it out.

Muddy Sound:
I had muddy / garbled sound from my rear surrounds, but not always. I tried different settings etc in the AVR, and sources. It came down to two things:
1. The source (streamed) just had bad rear channel feed (garbled sounds).
2. Leaving Dolby Surround setting on when playing back Stereo feed from the TV source. (muddy)

Boomy bass:
On initial set-up (after Audyssey set-up was ran), the bass was really strong at a very particular small frequency range.
1. I moved the tower speakers further away from the TV
2. Tried putting the bungs in the port (made the sound so much worse), so removed them.
3. Downloaded the Audyssey App, and found it set all my speakers to large. I changed the rear and centre to small, and played with the crossover setting. This really fixed it all.

Anyhow, hopefully there is something here you can try to help your case.

EDIT: While posting, I saw your response. Sounds like you are making great progress!

 

[lovinthehd]

Hi @pseals68
I thought I'd throw in my recent experience. In the past month I got the AVC-3700H, and a set of Q Acoustics speakers (no subwoofer yet).
I have experienced a "muddy" sound, and overly strong "boomy" bass. It took me some investigation, but I figured it out.

Muddy Sound:
I had muddy / garbled sound from my rear surrounds, but not always. I tried different settings etc in the AVR, and sources. It came down to two things:
1. The source (streamed) just had bad rear channel feed (garbled sounds).
2. Leaving Dolby Surround setting on when playing back Stereo feed from the TV source. (muddy)

Boomy bass:
On initial set-up (after Audyssey set-up was ran), the bass was really strong at a very particular small frequency range.
1. I moved the tower speakers further away from the TV
2. Tried putting the bungs in the port (made the sound so much worse), so removed them.
3. Downloaded the Audyssey App, and found it set all my speakers to large. I changed the rear and centre to small, and played with the crossover setting. This really fixed it all.

Anyhow, hopefully there is something here you can try to help your case.

EDIT: While posting, I saw your response. Sounds like you are making great progress!

If you have no sub then there's no point in not setting speakers to "large" (which is marketing for don't use bass management with a sub). Sometimes telling the avr you have a sub and using crossovers to limit content to inadequate speakers might be a thing, but not really a great route. I'd get a sub personally, far better than what Qacoustic speakers can accomplish.

 

[BBHT]

If you have no sub then there's no point in not setting speakers to "large" (which is marketing for don't use bass management with a sub). Sometimes telling the avr you have a sub and using crossovers to limit content to inadequate speakers might be a thing, but not really a great route. I'd get a sub personally, far better than what Qacoustic speakers can accomplish.

Yep. I am planning on getting subs. I am in the midst of seeing who I can get to build the boxes for me, and a suitable power amplifier. All in the works. Just need to get the funds sorted (bit tough when money is tied up on 2 oversea family trips, Japan, and Europe.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep. I am planning on getting subs. I am in the midst of seeing who I can get to build the boxes for me, and a suitable power amplifier. All in the works. Just need to get the funds sorted (bit tough when money is tied up on 2 oversea family trips, Japan, and Europe.

DIY subs aren't particularly an issue, best sub amp/dsp can be a consideration. Competing with family travel needs is beyond my ken.