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Poor Soundstage - HELP!

post #1 of 7
5/13/09 at 8:26pm
Thread Starter 
My home theater hardware are the following:
Harman Kardon AVR355
BnW DM-620 (Old) - Fronts
JBL ES25C (New) - Center
JBL ES10BK (New) - Surround
JBL ES250P (New) - Subs

I recently setup my home theater using the hardware above. I used the mic that came in with the amp to calibrate the sound. Unfortunately when I am watching a movie, I would notice that all the dialogues comes solely from the center speaker and when music and subs kick in the sound becomes really faint. Its like its being overpowered. Aside from this the sound of the dialogue is really low even at high volumes. I tried adjusting the level of the center speakers, but I noticed that my center is like being stressed. Also, the sound has no depth, it looks like the center is the only one doing the work, it does not work harmoniously with the other speakers. Need help, thanks.
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post #2 of 7
5/13/09 at 8:32pm
Thread Starter 

Poor Soundstage - HELP!

My home theater hardware are the following:
Harman Kardon AVR355
BnW DM-620 (Old) - Fronts
JBL ES25C (New) - Center
JBL ES10BK (New) - Surround
JBL ES250P (New) - Subs

I recently setup my home theater using the hardware above. I used the mic that came in with the amp to calibrate the sound. Unfortunately when I am watching a movie, I would notice that all the dialogues comes solely from the center speaker and when music and subs kick in the sound becomes really faint. Its like its being overpowered. Aside from this the sound of the dialogue is really low even at high volumes. I tried adjusting the level of the center speakers, but I noticed that my center is like being stressed. Also, the sound has no depth, it looks like the center is the only one doing the work, it does not work harmoniously with the other speakers. Need help, thanks.
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post #3 of 7
5/14/09 at 12:08am

Re: Poor Soundstage - HELP!

Most dialog and music will come from the center speaker.
Try putting one of your mains as the center and see if it's an issue with your center speaker or your receiver.
Also, try moviing your sub around if at all possible. It could just be your sub is in a place that makes bass sound too loud.
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post #4 of 7
5/14/09 at 8:44am

Re: Poor Soundstage - HELP!

In my experience, the auto calibration often gets you close, but I typically need to make additional adjustments to get things just right.

Bumping up the level of the center speaker is almost always necessary, especially with DVD sources that use the "lossy" Dolby and DTS sound codecs. I was amazed recently, when I finally switched to Blu-Ray and heard the lossless audio for the first time, that center dialog was no longer muddy. To me, that was the most noticeable improvement of Blu-Ray over DVD.

I'm also not sure if the impedance of the mains is different than your center/surrounds and if that would have a noticeable affect, but it may be something to try and track down.

Finally, one other potential source for your poor soundstage is the mix of speaker brands across the front. Most people on the forum would recommend not only using the same manufacturer for the front 3 speakers, but also that they be from the same product line. The front soundstage is where most of the panning takes place, and properly timbre-matched speakers are able to accomplish this much more effectively. I would recommend that when your budget allows, consider getting new fronts to match the rest of your speaker setup.

Hope this helps.

~Jason
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post #5 of 7
5/14/09 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 

Re: Poor Soundstage - HELP!

Thanks Jason. I tried calibrating the speakers again, but still the sound coming from the 3 front speakers its kinda out of sync, same problem as written above (eg. center voice is very noticeable and not working harmoniously with the 2 fronts) . I checked the impedance of the speakers, my center (JBL) is 8 Ohms, freq. is 80Hz-40khz, while the 2 fronts is 4 Ohms with 58Hz-20Khz respectively. Honestly i'm new to this and I'm not sure if this specifications would have a great effect on the sound. Hope you can enlighten me on this.

As for getting the same brand, I'm thinking of getting the same line for the fronts. I just want to make sure that I've exhausted all possible options before spending on it.
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post #6 of 7
5/15/09 at 6:42am

Re: Poor Soundstage - HELP!

Hopefully others will chime in here, because my understanding of impedance is quite limited. What I do recall is that speakers with lower impedance (4 Ohm would be considered low) require more power to drive at higher volume than higher impedance speakers (most speakers fall into the 6 or 8 Ohm range). In addition, your receiver is rated at 65W per channel - perfectly fine, I think, if you're driving higher impedance speakers, but it may be a bit underpowered for the 4 Ohm speakers.
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post #7 of 7
5/15/09 at 6:59am

Re: Poor Soundstage - HELP!

The HK should handle the 4 Ohm. speakers without a problem. I think the biggest issue is the mis-matched fronts. I suggest you find the matching JBL left and right to go with your new JBL center.

Also, the mic on the remote that came with the HK is not the best. It's a good start, but using an SPL meter is much better. Also, I seem to remember the calibration is needs to be done for each format independently. In other words, if you calibrate you system for Dolby Digital, DTS will not be calibrated and will not sound good. This was my experence with an old HK reciever (4 years older than yours).

BTW - You can not tell how a speaker will sound (or if it will be timbre matched) by the numbers.
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