Suggestions...
Millpool;
If you're listening to any 5.1 encoded material, vocals typically will come from the center channel with other effects and music emanating mostly from your L & R main speakers. The levels of these two speakers can definitely be increased to your taste, however it sounds from your description that the mains (Sonance) are different than the center (Def Tech). Quite often when mixing and matching different speaker manufacturers in the front sound stage, you can get either softer dialog in the center channel and overpowering effects and sounds from your mains or vice versa, depending upon which ones are more efficient and possibly provide better performance.
This is a common issue encountered due to a difference in timbre between speaker manufacturers. In your case, it sounds as though the Def Tech center may be a bit better than the Sonance mains you're using. If you don't believe this to be the case, double check your connections and re-calibrate.
For accurate level settings, I would strongly suggest using a Radio Shack SPL (Sound Pressure Level) meter. You can pick one up at a local Rat Shack for approx. $40. This will also help in calibrating your sub to match the rest of your speaker setup. To level match your speakers, you can use the internal test tones from the receiver and the SPL meter,
this link has some easy to follow instructions on doing this. If after this process has been completed and you still do not feel your mains are at the levels you'd prefer, perform the following:
- press the 'ch select enter' key (see attached image), this should display on the receiver and/or your tv/monitor the level of the FL (Front Left), it will display something like 0.0dB
- after seeing this level, press the right arrow button next to the enter key to increase the value to a desired level
- once you've increased the value to a level you prefer, press the 'ch select enter' key until it reads FR (Front Right), then perform the same steps as noted above
Regardless whether its Dolby Digital, DTS, ProLogic II/x or whatever your surround mode is set to, you can configure your speaker settings differently in each source (e.g., TV, DVD, Tuner, etc.). There are detailed instructions and images in the manual for the 2805 on page 32 for this process.
As for the auto calibration, I've found that most of the auto setup features are semi-reliable at best. In a previous Harman Kardon AVR330 I owned, the EzSetup was fair, same results w/the auto setup on my current Denon AVR-886 (same as a 2106) and the YPAO on my Yamaha RX-V2500. The only benefit I've found on some of the newer calibration tools is that they can flatten frequency curves to give you more neutral output.
Hopefully this gives you some direction on this... -TD
