5.1 Surround question

[Vlatko]

hi! i'm a total newbie in this area and i found this place, where i hope to get some answers. as i said i'm not into this so bear with me if my questions sound stupid.

i have a genius 5.1 wood system and i'm quite pleased with it. for my needs it does the trick. what i'd like to know more about is the centre speaker, by default it's turned off in my creative control panel. why is that and should i leave it turned off, what difference does it make? is it better to watch movies with it on or off? i didn't notice much difference while watching movies, except maybe when it's on it seems like most of the voice comes out of the centre speaker, i could be wrong though

one more thing, i was reading your article on calibrating a 5.1 system and i would like to do it, the only thing is i don't know how. how do i set the delay times, is there a programme for that or what?

hope someone has the time to answer me.

 

[mfabien]

A Center channel is very much appropriate for movies. You then get most of the dialog in the Center channel. For concerts in Dolby Digital, you would get the main performer (signer or instrument player) in the Center channel.

For playing Cd's I would recommend to play it in Stereo and subwoofer shutting down other speakers (unless you can select audio modes such as Stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1). If your card enables DTS 5.1, that is best.

I see in your model's specs the following:

"Functions: Master Vol., Center Vol., Surround Vol., Subwoofer Vol., CD/VCD/DVD Mode, AC3 CH Mode, Tape Mode and TV Mode."

You already have a speaker balance control in your computer's audio panel (left and right). Your speaker application provides you with volume controls for other speakers. My sense is that you should adjust volume for your system by ear and forget distances and delays. And for your subwoofer in accordance with your own taste.

There are DVD's for Video and Audio calibration (I have Avia plus a SPL meter). But this is a little fancy for your setup.

 

[Audiacc]

Which creative soundcard do you have? Upper models like Audigy 2 Zs or X-Fi have a simple calibration tool bundled in the software. It is not as advanced as these more sophisticated, separate tools with SPL meter, but it does the job pretty well, all depends what degree of accuracy are you looking for.
If you cannot note any difference between 4.1. and 5.1. setup my guess is this can have something to do with dolby decoding settings in the app or in the sound card setting. Center channel clearly stands out in movies.

 

[jcPanny]

Delay settings

The delay settings are relate to amount of time it takes sound to travel from each speaker to your listening position. Most receivers use a distance measurment to make it easier to configure.

1 foot is approximately 1 millisecond of delay.

 

[mtrycrafts]

how do i set the delay times, is there a programme for that or what?

hope someone has the time to answer me.

Back in the olden days of multi channel reproduction, delay times were used to set by formula to compensate for different distances the speakers are from the listening position. You want toe signals that were mastered properly to arrive at the listening position at the same time.

Now, to set the distance. you would use one of the channels as the reference channel, say the left front. Or, depending on the setting capability of + and - settings, you may need to have the speaker the furthest be the reference, if you cannot have a + setting.

Once you have the distances, you set the other channel by the distance difference from the reference channel. If the difference is 5 ft, you use a 5 ms delay ion that channel.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Is this a pc surround system? Do you have an A/V receiver, or are you using a pc to control your speakers?

How far are your speakers from your seating position?

Leave the center channel on - it's for voices. If you're on top of the center channel, you'll simply need to calibrate the distances of your relationship between all 5 speakers.