5.1 system question

[giacona]

My friend was moving away and gave me his 5.1 system. Now it's not the best but it's deceent until I can afford to buy a good one that I like. This is a sony and it came with the receiver and speakers all in the box. I set it up today and it's great for listening to music through the fm tuner.

However I am having an issue, when I play a music cd through my dvd player, and I turn the volume max it does not sound as loud as it does when listening to basic fm radio. I am not sure why. I checked all the settings I could. I know this one isn't the best but I cant understand why. The same goes for when watching a movie. All connections are made right.

I can tell you that I have a cheap dvd player less than 50 bucks. If that may be the issue I have no problem going to best buy or somewhere else and picking up a better one. I did go through the settings on my dvd player and it did not fix it.

Also the model of the receiver is STR-K665P.

any advice appreicated

 

[niceshoes]

It's fairly normal for different sources to have slightly different volume levels. This can depend on a few things including whether the source is analogue or digital, pcm or bitstream.

In your case I would think that the radio is an analogue source, but your cds and dvds might have a digital connection, which could explain the difference.

Are you playing all of these sources in 5.1?

 

[giacona]

hmmm

Thanks for the reply. I have tried every setting on my receiver and still cannot get the same volume I get from the fm tuner. I do have a cheap dvd player made my Jwin that I didn't even pay 50 bucks for around 5 years ago. If the dvd player is not anaolog or whatever it needs to be could this be why when i listen to a cd through the dvd player or watch a movie I cannot get the same loudness I get when listening just to the fm radio?

Now I can go to best buy a buy a new dvd player I just want to be sure that if I do that, this will fix the problem. If not I guess there is a return policy. Just so everyone knows this is a cheap receiver not the best in the world, it's a 5.1 in the box made by sony.

Appreicate any advice on how to fix this.

 

[MDS]

There is nothing to fix. Different sources have different average levels and the FM tuner is going to have the highest level of all because FM broadcasts are highly compressed.

Most CDs mastered since the mid '90s also have very high average levels and will be much louder than the soundtrack of a movie.

 

[Adam]

Something else that you can look into is whether the DVD player and/or receiver have dynamic range compression turned on. Different companies call that different things. Some call it dynamic range compression, others things like "midnight mode". What DRC does is compress the volume range so that the really loud sounds (like explosions) aren't as loud, and really quite sounds (like people whispering) are actually louder - so that the average sound level stays about the same. This can also make a movie sound "quieter".

The others are spot on that different sources can have different sound levels. This is just an idea of something else to check.

 

[niceshoes]

I do have a cheap dvd player made my Jwin that I didn't even pay 50 bucks for around 5 years ago.

I'm no Dr House, but I think I may have found the problem.