New system about to go out the window

[mke1078]

Oh, I am.... Have you tried www.meebo.com? Your work may be blocking yahoo

Joe, thanks alot for your time the other day, it is alway good to make a new friend. I tried switching the HDMI's and I did not see a difference, so I ruled that out. I ran the auddesey again and noticed and improvement, as well as a raised the speakers up a little. I also read an article and talked to a friend of mine who is huge into this, I am going to also set my fronts to 70Hz and my sub crossover to 80Hz. From what I understand this will help use my speakers more efficiently and allow the sub to carry alot of the load. I am begining to understand that with this A/V stuff you are never "there", you are always getting "there".

I also thank all those who give their tidbits, they have all come in handy. Especially the night mode, I never new of it.

 

[Joeteck]

Joe, thanks alot for your time the other day, it is alway good to make a new friend. I tried switching the HDMI's and I did not see a difference, so I ruled that out. I ran the auddesey again and noticed and improvement, as well as a raised the speakers up a little. I also read an article and talked to a friend of mine who is huge into this, I am going to also set my fronts to 70Hz and my sub crossover to 80Hz. From what I understand this will help use my speakers more efficiently and allow the sub to carry alot of the load. I am begining to understand that with this A/V stuff you are never "there", you are always getting "there".

I also thank all those who give their tidbits, they have all come in handy. Especially the night mode, I never new of it.

Mike, the pleasure was all mine! I enjoyed trying to help with your problem. Diagnosing is enjoyable for me, especially if we could of fixed it. However, speaker tweaking always takes alot of time, either with the crossover settings or the sizes of your speakers.

Give me a call sometime and maybe we can hit a ball game to take a break from the kids / family.. Mets vs Yankees preferred.

 

[Soundman]

center channels tend to be bad compromises in loudspeaker design. I suggest never buying one unless it's a must for you. I see them as a waste of space in many setups. The LR channels do a good job of approximating the center and usually have better sound. Plus with the money you save on the center you can spend more on the LR channels.

I agree that they do take up some space. But unless I upgrade my entire system, I'm not getting rid of this center, ever. I believe the center channel really adds to the experience. So, I'm not giving up my center channel anytime soon:

 

[mke1078]

An update, I have ran the auddeysey and am getting closer to a better sound. But my biggest problem is still when people are talking on the screen, it can be difficult to hear. For some reason every other sound is good, but talking. Why would dialogue be lower than other sound?

 

[Rickster71]

An update, I have ran the auddeysey and am getting closer to a better sound. But my biggest problem is still when people are talking on the screen, it can be difficult to hear. For some reason every other sound is good, but talking. Why would dialogue be lower than other sound?

I'm afraid you may be expecting too much from those speakers.

I had the same problem with a middle of the road PSB center channel.
I would blame the DVD, thinking the movie's sound wasn't mixed properly.
At the suggestion of Markw I got a much better center to match the rest of my system, and that was it! (Mark's speakers sound great)
Try getting a few of the movies that you have trouble hearing the dialog, and bring them with you to audition some better centers.
That way you can listen and make a comparison of the spoken word.

 

[mke1078]

I'm afraid you may be expecting too much from those speakers.

I had the same problem with a middle of the road PSB center channel.
I would blame the DVD, thinking the movie's sound wasn't mixed properly.
At the suggestion of Markw I got a much better center to match the rest of my system, and that was it! (Mark's speakers sound great)
Try getting a few of the movies that you have trouble hearing the dialog, and bring them with you to audition some better centers.
That way you can listen and make a comparison of the spoken word.

Thanks for the response, I had a sony center that sounded better. I don't know what it is. Maybe my center stinks, but I don't know if that is the case or not. Energy, from everything I hear makes good stuff so i don't know.

 

[Patrick_Wolf]

Thanks for the response, I had a sony center that sounded better. I don't know what it is. Maybe my center stinks, but I don't know if that is the case or not. Energy, from everything I hear makes good stuff so i don't know.

Have you tried disconnecting your surrounds and using one of them as the center? So you'll have 3.1 with three C-100s. Not meant as a permanent solution, just a test to see if the C-100 produces clearer dialog than the C-C100. Don't change any settings, unless you can change it to 3.1, otherwise I'd think 5.1 would be the best so dialog only comes from the center.

 

[mke1078]

Have you tried disconnecting your surrounds and using one of them as the center? So you'll have 3.1 with three C-100s. Not meant as a permanent solution, just a test to see if the C-100 produces clearer dialog than the C-C100. Don't change any settings, unless you can change it to 3.1, otherwise I'd think 5.1 would be the best so dialog only comes from the center.

No, I haven't tried that yet. There are a few things that lead me to believe it is not my center. It is fine watching TV, as well as playing Xbox. The problem arises on movies on my blue ray player. I also don't think I'm "expecting to much" from my speakers. My list of things for tonight is:

1. Changing the speaker wire
2. Set the Dynamic Compression or Range on my blueray to ON
3. Setting the LFE to 120Hz.
4. Checking the double base setting.
5. Playing with the port plug. Currently not in use.

 

[Rickster71]

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to sound as if I was putting down your speakers.
Your situation just reminds me so much of mine, along with it's frustration and endless tweaking.

 

[mke1078]

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to sound as if I was putting down your speakers.
Your situation just reminds me so much of mine, along with it's frustration and endless tweaking.

Thanks, I got that from your post. My point was more along the line that I had a crappier center that sounded better and there was alot of stuff I still need to try. My center is in my cabinet, so I think the port plug will reduce the bass it produces and thus eliminate the low vocals.

 

[lsiberian]

Thanks, I got that from your post. My point was more along the line that I had a crappier center that sounded better and there was alot of stuff I still need to try. My center is in my cabinet, so I think the port plug will reduce the bass it produces and thus eliminate the low vocals.

This sounds like an Onkyo firmware issue. Does your receiver have the latest firmware? Contact Onkyo for support and service. Center Channel Dialogue issues with HDMI sources area known issue with Onkyo receivers.

 

[mtrycrafts]

An update, I have ran the auddeysey and am getting closer to a better sound. But my biggest problem is still when people are talking on the screen, it can be difficult to hear. For some reason every other sound is good, but talking. Why would dialogue be lower than other sound?

Why don't you do a simple experiment? Move one of the other front speakers to the center and wire it to the center channel and see if that makes a difference in the dialogue.

 

[mke1078]

Here is what I have done, first I organized my wires and got ride of the wire ties and replace with velcro straps. Then I replaced the center channel wire with a newer wire. Put the port plugs in the back, set the LPE to 120 Hz and a few tweaks to the speaker settings. A 100% improvement, I use the Transformers end scene as my judge and I am loving the results, a few tweaks here and there and I think I will spend the day watching movies. Thanks to all for your input.

 

[Patrick_Wolf]

Hmm, great to hear! But do know exactly what made the biggest improvement? The new speaker wire perhaps?

 

[mke1078]

Hmm, great to hear! But do know exactly what made the biggest improvement? The new speaker wire perhaps?

I don't know, but I think the port plugs. The center is in a box type enclusure where the bass may have drowned out the vocals.