Home Theatre Movie Enthusiast

[shijalude]

This is my first time on a forum unrelated to IT issues. I am a huge movie nut, I have always been trying to achieve a great home theatre setup. However I have always gone for the simple HTIB option, my first being the Sony SAVA-500 (which I still have), then to an Onkyo HT-S6100. Then I finally built my own with the DefTech Pro 800 5.1 set with a Sony STR-DN840.

None of the systems except for the SAVA, sounded like they were at the full potential. Probably my doing. I would scour google for settings and configs but nothing ever worked. Finally I began having issues three weeks ago with the Sony going into protector constantly when playing movies. I checked all the wires (so I thought) and came to the conclusion that I needed a new receiver.

So I went to Best Buy and was surprised to see that Def Tech had a 20% off sale on their 9000 series equipment, something I had been eyeing since they came out. So I pulled the trigger (with wife approval), and picked up the CS9060 and two BP9060. I asked the magnolia rep to recommend the receiver that is best paired with the equipment, he sold me the Denon AVR-X2400h.

I had to setup the receiver first as the speakers had to be shipped to me, When hooked everything up I found I got the same issue with the receiver powering down. That's when I discovered the front right speaker wire from the speaker side was too exposed ad was causing a short. I tested everything later and realized the after doing the Audyssey setup the Pro 800 sounded spectacular.

The speakers finally arrived but I was already contemplating to return everything minus the receiver, until I didn't and setup up everything. When I finished the setup and put on a movie I found myself extremely disappointed the sound was Meh, The pro 800's sounded better. It has to be a configuration issue but I cant figure it out so I am hoping someone here can give me some advise, Below is how its currently setup.

BP9060 - Setup to front left and right, LFE is connected on both using a mediabridge RCA y-splitter and the same brand RCA cables to both on Subwoofer 1.

CS9060 - setup to center channel, LFE connected on the center powered sub and pro800 sub using mediabridge RCA y-splitter and the same brand RCA cables on Subwoofer 2

Pro800 Sub - as mention above

Pro800 Mon - Both setup as the surrounds.

I used 12awg speaker wire from Monoprice and premium banana plugs to terminate on the receiver side.

I ran the audyssey setup but i made the minor tweaks after.

I set the fronts to small and the center to small

Crossover set to Front=100 hz, Center=100 hz, Surround=100 hz

Bass mode LFE, LPF for LFE is 110 hz

Dialog Level Adjust is turned on and set to 0dB

Subwoofer Level Adjust is on and set to 0dB

Amp Assign Mode is set to Zone 2

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[shadyJ]

What exactly bothers you about the sound? We don't know what you mean by meh.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I tested everything later and realized the after doing the Audyssey setup the Pro 800 sounded spectacular.

Hard to beat "Spectacular".

I say just return everything and go back to the way it was before if the sound was better the way it was before.

Definitely don't spend money on something that doesn't sound as good as the old system.

How much did you pay for the Denon X2400?

You can get the Denon X3400 brand new for $599 from @DigitalDawn. It has Audyssey XT32, which is a step up from the X2400.

Also, when on sale, the Denon X2300/2400 is usually $450 brand new on Amazon. The Denon X3300/3400 is usually $599 brand new when on sale on Amazon.

You can also bring the X2400 back to Best Buy and ask them to price match Amazon on the X2300 for $449. They may do that, instead of losing the sale altogether.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X2...F8&qid=1522435332&sr=8-1&keywords=Denon+X2300

Best Buy may also sell you the X4400 for $599 to price match the X3300 from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X3...F8&qid=1522435459&sr=1-3&keywords=Denon+X3300

 

[shijalude]

What exactly bothers you about the sound? We don't know what you mean by meh.

Sorry for the late reply, by meh I meant that I wasnt hearing that much of a difference in the pro800 and the 9000 series. So i called DefTech and they helped me configure this correctly.

They had me remove the LFE on the towers and center, remove the subwoofer all together as they said the built-in were better that the prosub800. set the fronts and center speakers to large and set the subwoofer to none. and sure enough the speakers sounded better. I think they could sound better if I can finish setting up the receiver as when I select movie mode the only options are multi ch or Multi ch plu Dolby SS.

And most of my blu-rays are DTS so perhaps that has something to do with improving the sound

 

[shijalude]

Hard to beat "Spectacular".

I say just return everything and go back to the way it was before if the sound was better the way it was before.

Definitely don't spend money on something that doesn't sound as good as the old system.

How much did you pay for the Denon X2400?

You can get the Denon X3400 brand new for $599 from @DigitalDawn. It has Audyssey XT32, which is a step up from the X2400.

Also, when on sale, the Denon X2300/2400 is usually $450 brand new on Amazon. The Denon X3300/3400 is usually $599 brand new when on sale on Amazon.

You can also bring the X2400 back to Best Buy and ask them to price match Amazon on the X2300 for $449. They may do that, instead of losing the sale altogether.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X2...F8&qid=1522435332&sr=8-1&keywords=Denon+X2300

Best Buy may also sell you the X4400 for $599 to price match the X3300 from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X3...F8&qid=1522435459&sr=1-3&keywords=Denon+X3300

Thanks for the posting the links I am very interested in changing my receiver i'm not sure this receiver is a good pairing with my speakers. I am not seeing an option for DTS or Dolbly when using movie mode, the closet is the multi ch + Dolby SS.

This is driving me nuts because I was hoping to tweak this correctly.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Thanks for the posting the links I am very interested in changing my receiver i'm not sure this receiver is a good pairing with my speakers. I am not seeing an option for DTS or Dolbly when using movie mode, the closet is the multi ch + Dolby SS.

This is driving me nuts because I was hoping to tweak this correctly.

Play around with the Surround Sound modes in the Denon. Try Standard if there is one.

Make sure your SOURCE (BD player, PC) is also bitstreaming (bypass) the signal via the audio options, not sending PCM signal.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd turn off the dialog level adjust. Not sure what you mean by subwoofer level adjust or what your starting point was. Your amp assign mode doesn't make a lot of sense. Not much saying the woofers in the larger DefTecs are better than the bass module Pro800 (it's not much of a sub by any measure). Might raise the xover for the surrounds, tho.

If you're using a Bluray with a lossless codec like DTS HDMA you can see if there's any difference in your player unpacking the codec (since you're showing Multi-ch on the avr) vs sending it as bitstream (where your avr will show the DTS HD MSTR mode). Should result in the same audio, tho.

 

[snakeeyes]

The receiver might be a little overmatched with your speakers. If you can return for one with pre outs like 3300 or 3400 those have pre outs and you could look at an amp like Outlaw 5000 if needed.
But I can tell you that the bigger wow factor would come from a 12 in sub or a 15 in sub. Rythmik and HSU are what a lot of people are using. Some like SVS or PSA as well.