Question about amps....

[bboock]

Hello all,

Ok so I am having a problem with my rear surrounds and my side surrounds not putting out enough dialouge during movies, tv shows, music, etc. I have an Onkyo 605 receiver, Klipsch F3 Fronts (I know HUGE mistake not going reference series), RB-61 Rears, RS-52 sides, RC-62 Center, 2 Rw-10d subs. I know this is not a great job of pairing up speakers, I bought the F3's when I first started getting into this, and then money determined the size of the rest.... stupid I know, I should have waited. But I guess what I really wonder is if I need to amp my rear 4 speakers? I have tried hours upon hours of adjusting the receiver and speaker settings, but cannot get it to my liking.

Any help would be upmost appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[Adam]

I wouldn't expect much dialogue, if any, to be present in the audio track for the rear speakers in most movies. Do you actually mean dialogue (conversations), or do you just mean volume in general?

Also, have you run test tones through your speakers while using an SPL meter to measure the output? If so, are you able to set the output on your rear speakers to match that of your front speakers? If you can do that, then I'd think that you were good to go.

Thanks.

 

[bboock]

No I just mean noise in general, the little things, and no, I have been looking for an SPL meter but I have not been able to find one, the last two times I have been to American they have been sold out of them. I have to stand very very close (within 6 inches) of my 4 rear speakers to hear anything out of them.

 

[DD66000]

Even w/o a meter, go into the AVR menu and increase the surround output by 3db to each surround speaker. And then listen to how they sound during a movie.

 

[Adam]

Gotcha.

Do you have to stand that close to them to hear them when you play the receiver's test tones through them? SPL meter or no, you should be able to get them close just by listening. If you can't do that, then there's something off.

Let me take a look at the owner's manual and see if anything catches my attention. I'm sure that you've looked through it a lot, but two sets of eyes are better than one.

 

[bboock]

Yes sir I have been through that thing it feels like 100 times, and cant find anything. On the test tones it is pretty decent, they sound like they should be great, just when I watch anything or play any music they are so weak. DB, I have all my surrounds turned to +10 db and still not enough difference to matter. I appreciate all the advice though.

 

[Adam]

FYI, there's a firmware update to the 605 that may or may not apply to you (but probably has no effect at all on the volume of the rear speakers).

You can check out the details on the link here.

 

[bboock]

Yeah I have the FM update, I think that was just for the upscaling features though. But I do apprecaite all your help. Just seeing if anyone has any ideas before I go spend money on an amp to see if that does anything.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Yes sir I have been through that thing it feels like 100 times, and cant find anything. On the test tones it is pretty decent, they sound like they should be great, just when I watch anything or play any music they are so weak. DB, I have all my surrounds turned to +10 db and still not enough difference to matter. I appreciate all the advice though.

Something is not right somewhere. With a +10dB it should sound too loud. But, remember, not all movies have robust surround soundtracks or, if they do, it is not all the time.
Have you checked Radio Shack for an SPL meter?

If your test tones are fine, is that with that +10 setting, perhaps yoru other settings are not right to decode the audio. What sources you have this issue mostly? What happens when you play music in all channel stereo?
Maybe your expectations for the surround speakers are not realistic?

 

[bboock]

Mrty,

I was at Radio Shack the other day and the lady behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about, and I could not find one hanging on a shelf anywhere. I guess that teaches me to try to find something two days before Christmas. I have spent the last three hours re-wiring my entire system, and it seems to have done some good, I reset the receiver to all factory defaults and started over. I am messing around now with a few things and am getting it closer. The only thing I question is, is that I seem to have an impediance problem, and when I unplug one of my subs things get dramatically better. I am now working on running another circuit to my living room, unfortunatley I only know enough about all of that to get bit, so I decided to take a break
I am just finishing it up and for some reason it is working awesome, I have never heard of this problem before. I still turned my surrounds to a +4dB, and my center and front 2 speakers to +2 (the sounds were drowning out the words). I appreciate all the suggestions, and think I will spend my gift cards from Christmas to American to upgrade to a bigger Plasma now. Thanks a bunch!