Thanks Pyrrho,
If the movie scene/passage is relatively quiet I don't have a problem turning up the volume to understand it, but I do keep it pretty close to the point of distortion. If it is at the level that I can cleanly here dialogue and it switches it a much louder scene then it will distort. That's one of the reasons for the constant volume dance.
I actually looked a ribon speakers and planar speakers and did enjoy their sound. One of the main concerns I had was space requirements though, especially for planar speakers (Maggies.) I know that they typically interact with the room a tremendous amount and require a lot of space, which is something I just don't have in my apartment.
Is there anyway to tell if I am having a lot of problems with acoustic reflections or if I need room treatments? I know that treatments will help in just about every situation, I'm just trying to get a feel for where.
Thanks!
From what you say, it seems that more power with your current speakers may be a good thing, but if they are unclear at low volume, they are likely to still be unclear at high volume, even if you buy more power. (This is because you are unlikely to be driving your amplifier into audible distortion at low volume, and therefore any lack of clarity at low volume is almost certainly the speakers or the room.) You might be able to understand it better when louder, but don't you think having it actually clear would be better?
If your budget is tight, I recommend finding a Bohlender-Graebener (BG) dealer, and trying one of their speakers (perhaps only trying it in their showroom). Here is their website:
http://www.bgcorp.com/
One of my brothers is using one of their Acculine A1 speakers for a center channel, which is similar to their current Z1 speaker. The dialog is clear. BG speakers tend to be fairly efficient, so they don't tend to require massive amounts of power.
Of course, if you change your center speaker, ideally, you will change your other speakers to match it. Otherwise, when sounds pan across the front, the tonal quality will change, which can be distracting and bad.
Many speakers that seem subjectively good for music are not properly clear for dialog. This means that they are distorting the sound.
Regardless of what you try replacing, make sure you go someplace with an excellent return policy so that you can get your money back if whatever the salesperson sells you does not solve your problem to your satisfaction.
As for the room, do you hear a slight echo when you clap your hands once? Generally, the more soft stuff in a room, and the fewer large flat hard surfaces their are, the fewer the reflections (echoes) in the room. The extreme of this is in an empty room--do you know what I am talking about? You seem to have a lot of things in your room, which helps, but it looks like you have very few things that absorb sound (like carpet, heavy curtains, etc.).
