Brightness issue, is it the speakers or the receiver

[James_Stewart]

Ok I don't know where to begin to pinpoint my brightness issue, I'll start by asking here. My current setup: Harman Kardon 635, , Aperion Audio 522 Fronts, Aperion Audio 422 center, Aperion Audio 422 surrounds, SVS PB-10 sub, and a Panasonic RP62 DVD player.

I've set everything up with DVE using an Aperion SPL meter. The problem I'm having is with brightness. During refrence level (-4db) movie playback the highs are painful to the ears. Even at -10db levels the highs are ear piercing. I never had this problem before I upgraded to my H/K 635 (I used a Pioneer 1014 before). I ran my system at refrence levels before the upgrade with no problems. I have all speakers set to small, and crossover is 100 on the 422s, and 80 on the 522s. I don't know why I never experienced this level of brightness before I purchased the H/K 635. Isn't the H/K supposed to be a warmer receiver?

~james

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

The HK's are known to be lacking in the brightness department - smooth and warm. The Pioneer's were the ones who had that label put on them. This could be proof the tables are turning. Are your tweeters aluminum? If so, you may have to adjust your receiver to tone down the higher frequencies. Possibly even adjust the room acoustics if you have hardwood floors or bare walls. The HK may be putting out more power during those bursts scenes, and seem quieter during dialogue due to a more robust amp.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Ok I don't know where to begin to pinpoint my brightness issue, I'll start by asking here. My current setup: Harman Kardon 635, , Aperion Audio 522 Fronts, Aperion Audio 422 center, Aperion Audio 422 surrounds, SVS PB-10 sub, and a Panasonic RP62 DVD player.

I've set everything up with DVE using an Aperion SPL meter. The problem I'm having is with brightness. During refrence level (-4db) movie playback the highs are painful to the ears. Even at -10db levels the highs are ear piercing. I never had this problem before I upgraded to my H/K 635 (I used a Pioneer 1014 before). I ran my system at refrence levels before the upgrade with no problems. I have all speakers set to small, and crossover is 100 on the 422s, and 80 on the 522s. I don't know why I never experienced this level of brightness before I purchased the H/K 635. Isn't the H/K supposed to be a warmer receiver?

~james

This issue is a combination of your speakers and room's acoustics, nothing more, unless the recording is recorded but then you would notice when the setup is 'bright' or not. Modern components are transparent otherwise.

 

[MacManNM]

Are you sure you haven't moved the speakers, or changed something else? How does it sound using a 2ch source, analog?

The receiver can make a difference, but it sounds like it made a huge difference. I would say that you are missing something on the setup somewhere.

You set all of the levels with the same meter the same way you did it before?

 

[silversurfer]

It could also be the difference between MCACC on the Pioneer and the EQ feature on the HK.

Maybe they sound totally different, maybe one or both are setup incorrectly.

 

[MacManNM]

It could also be the difference between MCACC on the Pioneer and the EQ feature on the HK.

Maybe the sound totally different, maybe one or both are setup incorrectly.

I had that thought, thats why I said to try the analog inputs.

 

[silversurfer]

I thought one of those receivers did EQ on the analog inputs.

 

[porksoda]

If its a recent brightness issue or they always been bright...

- if its recent then might be a cap on yer crossover on the speakers.
- try different speakers that you know sound alright to you.
- personally in my expierence the hk are a bit bright to me.. but thats just me...

I would go and borrow someones speakers and try them in stereo mode... and actually try yer current speakers in stereo mode and rotate rears to front and maybe you will find one or two speakers are extra bright? cap on crossover.

Ok I don't know where to begin to pinpoint my brightness issue, I'll start by asking here. My current setup: Harman Kardon 635, , Aperion Audio 522 Fronts, Aperion Audio 422 center, Aperion Audio 422 surrounds, SVS PB-10 sub, and a Panasonic RP62 DVD player.

I've set everything up with DVE using an Aperion SPL meter. The problem I'm having is with brightness. During refrence level (-4db) movie playback the highs are painful to the ears. Even at -10db levels the highs are ear piercing. I never had this problem before I upgraded to my H/K 635 (I used a Pioneer 1014 before). I ran my system at refrence levels before the upgrade with no problems. I have all speakers set to small, and crossover is 100 on the 422s, and 80 on the 522s. I don't know why I never experienced this level of brightness before I purchased the H/K 635. Isn't the H/K supposed to be a warmer receiver?

~james

 

[tbewick]

Try adding more rugs, covers, etc. to your room to soften its acoustics. I've found that scattering cushions around the room works quite well. Try not to have any hard walls exposed in the room, as these will increase harshness.

I don't know anything about your speakers/equipment. Perhaps:

- Your speakers might not be putting out enough bass at high SPL (105-115dB) levels.

Solution:

Route more bass/sub-bass to the subwoofer, if the subwoofer is sufficently powerful.

- Your speakers are distorting heavily at these peak levels.

This might not be the problem, as short periods of distortion are inaudible. Did the speaker sound good when you bought them?

- Your amplifier is clipping at these peaks.

Same as above except for amp.

I have also read that amplifiers can distort during transient peaks, but I'm sure mtrycrafts would disagree with that!

One way of removing system brightness is to use the tone controls. I've found a boost of 6dB at 100Hz and a cut of 6dB at 10kHz sounds quite pleasing at -6dB (to allow a little headroom for the bass boost). You could try using the THX re-equalisation on your amplifier if you've got it, as this is meant to 'remove the edgy brightness' of film soundtracks. Denon's cinema equaliser does something similar, though I don't think it sounds that good.

A good reference quality DVD to try your system out with is the Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars episode II.

 

[James_Stewart]

Okay this is what I've narrowed it down to. I did the EZ/EQ setup as suggested by members at AVS. This had some weird results, it set my fronts to Large and the rest of the speakers to small (my fronts are bookshelves) It set the Xover on fronts to 40, center to 150, and rears to 120. It also set the distance of my center speaker to 13ft, when it's only 10ft away. After running EZ/EQ the brightness was way down, but the sub response was way low. I messed with the bass adjustment and turned it way up, something doesn't sound right. There is also a tilt feature that I used to control the brightness. Someone in another forum suggested that I set the volume at -28 when I run EZ/EQ, We'll see how that works.

~james

 

[littleb]

Ok I don't know where to begin to pinpoint my brightness issue, I'll start by asking here. My current setup: Harman Kardon 635, , Aperion Audio 522 Fronts, Aperion Audio 422 center, Aperion Audio 422 surrounds, SVS PB-10 sub, and a Panasonic RP62 DVD player.

I've set everything up with DVE using an Aperion SPL meter. The problem I'm having is with brightness. During refrence level (-4db) movie playback the highs are painful to the ears. Even at -10db levels the highs are ear piercing. I never had this problem before I upgraded to my H/K 635 (I used a Pioneer 1014 before). I ran my system at refrence levels before the upgrade with no problems. I have all speakers set to small, and crossover is 100 on the 422s, and 80 on the 522s. I don't know why I never experienced this level of brightness before I purchased the H/K 635. Isn't the H/K supposed to be a warmer receiver?

~james

Set the crossover lower. Set the mains at 60 or 80 and I think you will notice a difference.

 

[Nick250]

On my Denon 3806 there is a specific setting to reduce the brightness when watching movies because many of them are mastered way to bright for a lot of us. It only works with DD as I recall (at work now). Note, this is completely different that the "late night" setting which reduces dynamic range. Maybe your receiver has a similar feature.

Nick

 

[PENG]

I never had this problem before I upgraded to my H/K 635 (I used a Pioneer 1014 before). I ran my system at refrence levels before the upgrade with no problems. I have all speakers set to small, and crossover is 100 on the 422s, and 80 on the 522s. I don't know why I never experienced this level of brightness before I purchased the H/K 635. Isn't the H/K supposed to be a warmer receiver?

~james

There are no shortage posts that mentioned the warmer sound of HK products. However, there are also no shortage of articles that talk about MOSFET being able to produce tube like sound as opposed to the bipolar's brighter sound. Here are some links:
Power amp: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_3_3/v3n3k.html
Preamp: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_3_3/v3n3m.html


If I remember correctly, Pioneer products such as the 1014/1015 use MOSFET. So it may be possible that your Pioneer did sound warmer, but the 635 should not sound that bright neither. Have you tried listening in pure direct with analog input as others have suggested, to eliminate any effect of EQ.