Need reccomendations for replacement of Polk CS1 center channel

[Adam]

As I read your post, I realized that I probably made a mistake in what I wrote earlier. Let me correct that first - if the audio connection that you were talking about between the receiver and the TV was from an audio output on the TV to an audio input on the receiver, then you definitely want that. Sorry for any confusion.

If you're using a stereo source, or have the receiver in stereo mode, then you may only have the option of adjusting the front left/right speakers. I'm not sure about this, but it's the first thing that popped into my head. Try putting the receiver into a surround sound mode and try the Sound Menu again.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Adam, I got them all changed now, but two questions.
1. for Sur. B L/R it gives me a different option list than the rest, do I choose SMLx1 or SMLx2....the side surrounds were same as fronts in SML or LRG only.
2. Before leaving this screen do I need to make sure of anything to make these changes stick?


Edit: I'm supposed to choose x2...but question#2 still stands.

 

[Adam]

If you have two surround back speakers (so, running a 7.1 system), choose "SMLx2". If you only have one surround back speaker (so, a 6.1 system), choose "SMLx1".

I don't think that you have to do anything special to save the changes. They should be stored as you change them. However, if you exit and go back to find that they didn't save - well, sorry. If they don't save, let me know, and I'll look through the manual some more and find the proper way to save them.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I believe they saved and I turned 'Memory Guard' on as well.
So I turned the frequency to 90Hz and also turned my on sub crossover to it's max point which is 150Hz. I turned all speakers to small. I set speaker distances. I increased the four surround speakers output levels a bit(will have to see if I like that). I also slightly lowered output from center channel(already not sure I like that but will see).

So I want to get it out of 'FLAT' mode which i changed it to yesterday as it is too muddy and I lost too much detail, back to Natural, but am worried that will either change all my just finished tweakings or require them all to be tweaked for the 'natural' mode again?

 

[Adam]

Hmmm. I don't have enough knowledge to truly answer your question.

Here's my two cents, though. Because the setting of the PEQ ("Natural," "Flat," or "Front") is done prior to initiating the auto calibration routine, I would tend to think that you'd need to rerun the auto calibration in order to change it. If you do that, then unfortunately you would need to redo the tweaks that you just did. However, now that you have some experience under your belt, it will take you much less time. You can always write down your settings so that you can just go back in and change them again after rerunning the auto cal.

Now, you can change the equalizer setting for the center channel only without rerunning the cal - see page 75.

I know that this can get frustrating trying to set it all up, but once you've done it - you're done! Then you can enjoy it for months or years to come.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I'm not too sure I want to lower the frequency of the center as that would lead to loss of detail, no? I want the detail, just not delivered harshly if that makes sense.

Crap, guess I'm going through it all again....wish I didn't remove the component set-up, lol.

You have been so much help. When I get this all done I'm going to run a movie to see if it gave me what I'm hoping for. I'll let you know.

 

[Adam]

So I want to get it out of 'FLAT' mode which i changed it to yesterday as it is too muddy and I lost too much detail, back to Natural...

This does confuse me a little bit. The Natural setting is intended to decrease the output of high frequencies, while the Flat setting should just run the speakers as flat as it can. According to the manual, the Flat setting should actually sound more harsh than the Natural setting. I would think that the Natural setting would be muddier than the Flat setting, not the other way around.

Perhaps, the muddiness (probably a real word somewhere ) is being caused by setting the speakers to small, so now all of the bass is going to your sub. So, the muddiness is a result of the sub. This doesn't mean the sub sucks, but rather that is the place that we can work on "tweaking" next. Just a theory.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

You would think so, but the muddiness, lol, is from the front three speakers sound difference. If I turn the sub off it sounds muddy compared to Natural? I know that's backwards but it is night and dayin the detail.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Well, I lowered my 1K HZ by -0.5 and my 3K and 10K by -1.0, don't know idf that will make any difference.
I thought I was grasping this but there is alot to it that you change and then something else changes in the sound you didn't want to change.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Do all of these tweaks work for all inputs? Like when I hook my DVD player back up and play a movie will it use all these tweaks I made with just the receiver to the t.v.?

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Adam, I just hooked up my dvd player through HDMI and I chose 5.1DTS on the disc but my receiver is not showing DTS anywhere on its' screen?
and I have to choose 7.1 music Enhancer to get anything at all to come out of four surrounds. neither 'Straight' nor 'SUR. Decode' was outputing anything on the four surrounds??

 

[Adam]

Well, I lowered my 1K HZ by -0.5 and my 3K and 10K by -1.0, don't know idf that will make any difference.
I thought I was grasping this but there is alot to it that you change and then something else changes in the sound you didn't want to change.

I'll tell you what I did with my set-up. I ran the auto calibration routine (but mine doesn't have an equalizer setting before the routine runs), set all of my speakers to small, set my crossover at 80Hz, rechecked the speaker and sub levels with an SPL meter (but I don't think that I had to change anything), and pretty much left it there. I now consider myself lucky.

What I would recommend, and I know that this go against the fabric of what most people consider good and holy, is to really get familiar with the owners manual. They aren't perfect, and some of them really suck. However, it should help you understand the different settings in the receiver. Just from browsing your owners manual, it seems a lot better than my Yamaha manual from 1997. That might just be because I know what the terms mean now, but I also think that they're getting better.

We're more than happy to help you through anything and everything, but what we can't do is actually hear your system. So, I mention the manual because it helps to put you in the driver's seat with your system.

I do look forward to you getting this all set up! I hope to read about your first great movie watching experience with this new system.

 

[Adam]

Adam, I just hooked up my dvd player through HDMI and I chose 5.1DTS on the disc but my receiver is not showing DTS anywhere on its' screen?

Ahhh. Check your DVD player's set-up menu. You'll want to make sure that the DTS output is set to "bitstream". Often, DVD players are set up by default to not be that way.

I might be wrong on this because you're using HDMI, and I'm not familiar with that, yet. I'm behind the times and need to dip my toes into the HDMI pool one of these days.

 

[Adam]

Do all of these tweaks work for all inputs? Like when I hook my DVD player back up and play a movie will it use all these tweaks I made with just the receiver to the t.v.?

They certainly should. You're tweaking the speakers settings, and those are independent of the inputs.

One thing that is probably dependent on the input is the surround sound mode. Make sure that the DVD player is not set to "stereo" or something (this applies to my last post, too...sorry that I forgot to mention it!!!). You can probably set it up to auto-detect the mode, or you can choose between the modes yourself.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Gotch-ya. Will do on the DVD player.
There's still stuff I don't get, like sometimes it reads MPCM and sometimes just PCM and I think I'm trying to get LPCM....and this is all just so much it's making my head swirl. Thought it would be easy to set-up a receiver and seven speakers and a sub and get great sound. Yeah right! Not for a newbie.

 

[Adam]

Make sure that the DVD player is not set to "stereo" or something...

I meant to say "DVD player input on the receiver", not just "DVD player." You want to make sure that the receiver is set to play in surround mode for the DVD player input. Sorry about that.

"MPCM"? I really gotta start reading up on HDMI. There are people here that know that stuff backwards and forwards. Maybe they'll see this and chime in.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

How do I see if the receiver is set to surround for dvd? Should I also do this for T.V.?

On another note, I've noticed that my preference is for the surrounds to be as lound as the mains when like a crowd cheers or a ball bounces, where-as the auto is much louder out of front three speakers. I need to turn the surrounds all the way up in the receiver to get the effect I like without switching to 'Enhancer mode which makes them all perform the same with voices and everything the same.

 

[Adam]

How do I see if the receiver is set to surround for dvd? Should I also do this for T.V.?

Check out page 26 of the manual. The left-hand side of the front display has some readouts labeled as "2", "13", and "14" that will show that information.

On another note, I've noticed that my preference is for the surrounds to be as lound as the mains when like a crowd cheers or a ball bounces, where-as the auto is much louder out of front three speakers. I need to turn the surrounds all the way up in the receiver to get the effect I like without switching to 'Enhancer mode which makes them all perform the same with voices and everything the same.

I haven't read too much on this in the manual, but I did see where your receiver has what it calls "SCENE Templates". These are described starting on page 33. You might be able to set up a special "SCENE" to do what you want with sports programs.

EDIT: It actually has a built-in scene for "TV Sports Viewing"! I don't know what it does, but you might want to check it out.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

That's scene 3 which is on now. Although that's also the one I had on for the blu-ray movie....