Question on Sony 5.1

[eXpo]

I have had my Sony-surround-in-a-box (Sony DAV-HDX285) for about a year now and just recently got around to hooking up all speakers and fixing up all of the settings however I have a question.

When I put it on surround to where I have all speakers working, the rear speakers are very quiet and have an echo sound to them. Almost sound as if they are under water. However when I change to a different setting, they work perfectly fine however I have no sound from my center.

Right now I am running it at AFD MULTI which is basically making it a 4.1 with no center and all speakers are outputting at the same decibel level.

However, when I put it on PRO LOGIC, PLII MOVIE, or PLII MUSIC (which are the ideal settings to have the stereo) the rear speakers have the echo/underwater noise to them.

I have already calibrated it using the supplied mic and played around with the different surround modes. The two that are ideal to use where it puts out the sound properly with how it is calibrated are the two settings that are sound like an echoey speaker drowning in water. Currently I have it set to where it turns a 2ch sound and outputs it to the rears. So all speakers are putting out the same decibel level minus the center speaker which is not putting out an sound...(which is not the way it should be).

I have read, reread, and read the manual over and over again...combining that with my general knowledge and cannot figure it out for the life of me.

Also, this comes from all sources possible...whether it is playing music off of my Ipod using the Dport dock, Watching movies saved on my external harddrive, or even actual DVDs with Dolby Surround 5.1.

Any ideas?

 

[markw]

Whan playing movies with 5.1 "real" channels, the rears are usually pretty qiuet. Once and a while you'll hear some some sound effect or perhaps some ambiance clues but they don't produce sound consistently. You should notice that most dialog comes from the center channel.

When you use some sort of signal processing (DPL, all channel stereo, whatever) to fool the system into putting out sound from all channels from a stereo source they will generally produce more consistant sound from all channels.

But keep n mind that when you start out with only two channels, whatever you hear in the surrounds was never there to begin with. It's all fake. It's just your system "guessing" what might be there. Don't expect "real" channels like the original right and left.

If you were to play it in straight stereo, you'll naturally only get the front right/left speakers.

So, in summary, what you describe sounds about right.

 

[markw]

The main problem are the speakers themselves not being designed for full range sound.

Wrong. Stop filling OP's head with incorrect info and false hope.

Is this the quality of advice dispensed on the Polk forums? If so, it's quite scary.

 

[markw]

Doesn't matter.

Your answer has no bearng on the problem he's reporting. You might want to learn a bit more about what you purport to know before posting here.

I know it's pouular on that other forum but BS doesn't make it here. I can guarantee you'll be called on it, like you are here.

[edit] Wow... I got a zero point grey chicklet on this one.

 

[sterling shoote]

I have had my Sony-surround-in-a-box (Sony DAV-HDX285) for about a year now and just recently got around to hooking up all speakers and fixing up all of the settings however I have a question.

When I put it on surround to where I have all speakers working, the rear speakers are very quiet and have an echo sound to them. Almost sound as if they are under water. However when I change to a different setting, they work perfectly fine however I have no sound from my center.

Right now I am running it at AFD MULTI which is basically making it a 4.1 with no center and all speakers are outputting at the same decibel level.

However, when I put it on PRO LOGIC, PLII MOVIE, or PLII MUSIC (which are the ideal settings to have the stereo) the rear speakers have the echo/underwater noise to them.

I have already calibrated it using the supplied mic and played around with the different surround modes. The two that are ideal to use where it puts out the sound properly with how it is calibrated are the two settings that are sound like an echoey speaker drowning in water. Currently I have it set to where it turns a 2ch sound and outputs it to the rears. So all speakers are putting out the same decibel level minus the center speaker which is not putting out an sound...(which is not the way it should be).

I have read, reread, and read the manual over and over again...combining that with my general knowledge and cannot figure it out for the life of me.

Also, this comes from all sources possible...whether it is playing music off of my Ipod using the Dport dock, Watching movies saved on my external harddrive, or even actual DVDs with Dolby Surround 5.1.

Any ideas?

Read your manual again. From what you describe, it sounds like everything is working perfectly. That echo, underwater like sound is the illusion of reflective sound, which is governed by the surround effect selector, like "stadium" or "large hall". Sound from the rears will usually only be like that of front speakers when they're producing movie sound effects rather than music. Make sure you have appropriate material to audition. In any sort of Dolby multi-channel mode, you'll still have "underwater" unless the material is Dolby or DTS stuff.

 

[markw]

veddy intelesting....

Hmmm.... Something seems to be missing here. I don't usually talk to myself.

 

[Rickster71]

Hmmm.... Something seems to be missing here. I don't usually talk to myself.

Sure you do....... aren't you married?