Omard.

Questions for Onkyo 601 owners.

I would like to ask the owners of an Onkyo 601 a few questions. What speakers do you have paired with this receiver? What surround sound mode do you haveit on? What volume level do you have it on? Thanks in advance for your help guys.

John Garcia

Volume depends on so many factors that it will be tough get any meaningful use from the answer.

I installed a 601 with Mordaunt Short 904 towers, 905C and 903S, in a 15x18 room and it was able to fill the room very well with just the mains running. It sounded pretty darn good too.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

Mike^C

John is spot on here. It depends on the size of your room and the effenciency of your speaker.

I have the slightly more powerful 701 and it drives my Paradigm Monitors fine for my 19 by 12 room. Honestly, as long as your room isnt huge and you aren't driving fronts expected to give out lots of mid-bass, you should be fine.

Omard.

I have Bose 301 series 4. And I have to have the volume at 40 or 50. My HT is in my living room / dinning room which is open to the rest of my house. I want to know what speakers people use with this receiver to judge if I should get new speakers.

Mark Dill

Hey you are not too far from me, and I have the same receiver, Onkyo 601. I have it hooked to B&W 602's.

My setup sounds awesome for music, I usually play it at around 45 for a comfortable, yet lively listening level. I'll take it up to 60 if I'm jammin' though. Ha!

For movies, I usually have it at around 55. I don't know why, but it seems like the dialog doesn't stand out as much as I'd like unless I keep it pretty loud. I used to have a B&W CC6, but that actually made the dialog problem even worse. It sounded better with the center channel playing through the mains, so I got rid of the CC6 center. This problem varies depending on the source. Most movies are fine, but some are particularly bad. (The LOTR movies are bad, undfortunately) I plan to try a CDM center channel (from B&W's next series up) to fix the problem, but I'm not sure if it will help.

Anyone out there have any ideas on my dialog problem? Turning the receiver's Late Night mode on helps a little, as it reduces the dynamics and brings the "quiet" dialog up to the level of the rest of the soundtrack, but this also varies by source. On some DVD's, Late Night mode has no impact.

John Garcia

For the 600 series, I thought the LCR600 would be the best choice to match 602s. CDM line is gone, now they have the CM and 700 series.

Have you calibrated with an SPL meter and test tones? If not, that would be a start, and probably make a noticable difference. Second would likely be positioning.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

Omard.

Mark what surround setting is your receiver at? I have the same problem that you have with the dialog. I was under the impression that it was my center channel.

Mark Dill

Dolby Digital or DTS, both exhibit the dialog problems in certain movies.

Omard, that is very interesting. Maybe the problem is the receiver and not our speakers if we are both experiencing the same thing. I haven't calibrated yet, but I'm not sure how that is going to fix my problem since I do not have an EQ. I tried turning the bass and treble way down but the dialog problem was still there.

Another weird thing: according the Onkyo receiver manual, there are supposed to be Dialog Enhancement settings under the Audio Adjust menu, but when I go to the Audio Adjust menu, all I see is Bass, Treble, and Late Night.

Mark Dill

John, the LCR600 is probably the correct speaker but it is terrible in terms of WAF. It basically looks like another 602. The CDM or 700 series center is not quite as huge.

Mark Dill

Omard, try configuring your receiver with no center channel. That helped it sound a lot better for me, but the dialog is still too quiet at times compared to the rest of the soundtrack.

Omard.

I will try that tomorrow. What setting do you have it at?