My speakers on surround mode sound bad...

[doomz78]

So when I listen to my PSB Stratus Bronze speakers on stereo mode they sound amazing. Im using an older Yamaha 80W/Channel receiver. As of now I have only a center channel for movies. The stratus C5. No rear surrounds yet.

So when I play a movie in Dolby surround why does it sound way better from just the fronts as oppose to the fronts and the center channel?

It almost sounds like with the center channel that the system is being played through a muffled box.

Is it the receiver or that the rear surrounds (not being present) would fill that void?

Thanks.

 

[jamie2112]

The center channel is almost always dialog only, meaning you are hearing all of the dynamic sound coming from your L/R and voice only from the ctr.And yes rear surrounds would fill in the gaps nicely.

 

[doomz78]

ok

Thanks for the reply. I needed to hear that. I wont go buy a new receiver until I get the rears and test them out. The receiver may be just fine.

I am looking at a Sunfire receiver. We'll see. Thanks again.

 

[NicolasKL]

I had the same (or similar) problem when my receiver didn't have the proper surround sound formats or the source wasn't really in surround sound. What's your receiver, what's your source, and how are they connected?

 

[doomz78]

ok

My receiver is the Yamaha v-772 or something like that.. it's about 7 years old. 80 watts X5.

They are connected with monster cable, hooked up to a HDMI DVD player.

My connections are fine. The system sounds great in stereo and I now believe that it's missing Rear surrounds is making it sound funny in Dolby digital surround.

The speakers are placed logically.

Im just trying to locate PSB stratus rear surrounds. Or im contemplating using Stratus Mini's as my rears. That will be the final piece of my HT puzzle. And then I'll see if I need to upgrade to a more current receiver. Arcam, NAD or top of the line Yamaha. Who knows?
We'll see.

 

[mtrycrafts]

My receiver is the Yamaha v-772 or something like that.. it's about 7 years old. 80 watts X5.

They are connected with monster cable, hooked up to a HDMI DVD player.

My connections are fine. The system sounds great in stereo and I now believe that it's missing Rear surrounds is making it sound funny in Dolby digital surround.

The speakers are placed logically.

Im just trying to locate PSB stratus rear surrounds. Or im contemplating using Stratus Mini's as my rears. That will be the final piece of my HT puzzle. And then I'll see if I need to upgrade to a more current receiver. Arcam, NAD or top of the line Yamaha. Who knows?
We'll see.

I don't think it is the lack of rear speakers. How do you have it connected from that DVD player? Coax/optical or just analog 2 ch audio?
Are you processing it as prologic? Even 2 ch music should sound just fine with prologic with center speaker getting all the signals that are in phase as mono. How is the receiver set up speaker wise? Assigned all three front speakers properly?
Your center speaker may be at fault? The program? May want to just test one of the left/right speakers as the center speaker and see?

 

[murl]

I don't think it is the lack of rear speakers. How do you have it connected from that DVD player? Coax/optical or just analog 2 ch audio?
Are you processing it as prologic? Even 2 ch music should sound just fine with prologic with center speaker getting all the signals that are in phase as mono. How is the receiver set up speaker wise? Assigned all three front speakers properly?
Your center speaker may be at fault? The program? May want to just test one of the left/right speakers as the center speaker and see?

If you have a digital in on your receiver I would try it that way (coaxial or optical) and set your dvd player on bitstream. I ran 3.1 until I ran the wire for my surrounds and didn't have much trouble. Also, like said above, be sure your receiver is set up for L/R/C.

 

[emorphien]

Perhaps that center channel speaker is a bit weak in comparison to your mains? Have you checked whether they're well balanced? I find that in general I like having the center channel turned up a bit more than is called for because with the way a lot of DVDs seem to be mastered it can make dialog a bit more clear.

 

[deedubb]

Good suggestions from everyone who has chimed in. I'd first check to make sure the center channel is okay. Use it by itself and see how it sounds. If it sounds okay, get an analog SPL meter (Radio Shack) and make sure the output dB is the same as the front L/R. If that's okay, then it must be something to do with the receiver, perhaps the mode you have it in. The lack of surrounds shouldn't make any difference at this point.

BTW, I'm not aware of any Stratus series surrounds. The need to match the surrounds is much less crucial than matching the front 3 anyway.