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Onkyo 806 and Music

post #1 of 10
6/20/09 at 6:00pm
Thread Starter 
I have an Onkyo 806 amp that I set up with Audyssey. When watching tv or movies the sound is excellent. When watching music concerts though the sound isn't as great. It seems you have to turn it up way louder and then it still doesn't sound that great. These concerts are in HD so they should sound good shoudn't they? What can I try? SHould I be using a different setting when watching music programs?
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post #2 of 10
6/21/09 at 7:04am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

What dvd player do you have and how is it hooked to your receiver? HDMI or analog? Since you mentioned that the music is HD it looks like you have a BluRay player, correct?

In any event, the first thing I'd do is turn off Audyssey in the setup menu and see if that improves things. Audyssey is great (or so I've heard) but if the directions aren't followed to the letter it can produce some less than stellar results. If things sound better with Audyssey off then try re-running it. A very quiet room (refer-w/d off, dog outside, kids and wife to the mall, etc.) and mic placement (tripod?) are critical. Also, when Audyssey is finished, make sure the speakers are set to small and the cross-over has been set correctly. 80hz is a good depending on the size of your speakers.
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post #3 of 10
6/21/09 at 8:55am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Quote:
Originally Posted by gene c

In any event, the first thing I'd do is turn off Audyssey in the setup menu and see if that improves things. Audyssey is great (or so I've heard) but if the directions aren't followed to the letter it can produce some less than stellar results. If things sound better with Audyssey off then try re-running it. A very quiet room (refer-w/d off, dog outside, kids and wife to the mall, etc.) and mic placement (tripod?) are critical. Also, when Audyssey is finished, make sure the speakers are set to small and the cross-over has been set correctly. 80hz is a good depending on the size of your speakers.
Audyssey is great........... I'd try running it again. Did you save the Audyssey settings, when it finished? If watching HD concerts on tv's HD channels, it may be the broadcaster's fault. It may also be the DSP mode you're using. I use the "Movie" DSP mode for everything. Your speakers may also be better for movies, than for music. What speakers do you have?

BTW........
Audyssey sets the speakers and sub where they need to be. I've found Audyssey to be pretty accurate. Onkyo doesn't have large and small setting for speakers. It sets Hz and/or kHz, and crossovers for the speakers instead (if I remember correctly). Gene is correct about placement of the mic.

I have the Onkyo 805, and it sounds great for everything, so I don't know what else to tell you. Good luck!
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post #4 of 10
6/21/09 at 9:12am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Quote:
Onkyo doesn't have large and small setting for speakers.
I knew that! But sometimes I forget .
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post #5 of 10
6/21/09 at 10:18am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

The 806 has Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. Sometimes these new technologies make a mess of poorly recorded material (TV and CD are prime culprits). Try turning these options off.
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post #6 of 10
6/21/09 at 11:00am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

These HD music concerts that you don't like the sound, what was the source? BD/cable/satellite? Titles of show, what channel was it on if it was a broadcast?

If it was some concert from long ago, they just transferred film of it to HD, maybe they just didn't have a good sound recording setup at the time.
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post #7 of 10
6/24/09 at 9:23pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Thanks for the responses. The music i'm talking about is from my cable(Comcast) usually on channell 665 which is called Palladia. Maybe it's just the source, I'll try some other sources. These usually are newer concerts and the amp says it's in dolby digital which i think would sound great. I have JBL S-Series speakers.
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post #8 of 10
6/25/09 at 6:33am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Unless the 806 is different from the 876, it says full band for large or has a crossover setting for anything other than that. If you have a sub, make sure all of your speakers are set to some crossover setting. I set any speakers that were previously set to full band to an 80hz crossover. Make sure your sub is set to a 120hz crossover.

I just came across Palladia recently and have listened to portions of a few concerts. There is definitely varying quality to the recordings, but I wouldn't say that any of them were great. Just because something coming through your cable says it's HD won't mean that it is going to have a great picture and sound.
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post #9 of 10
6/25/09 at 9:02am

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Willow
The 806 has Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. Sometimes these new technologies make a mess of poorly recorded material (TV and CD are prime culprits). Try turning these options off.

This is very true according to many comments over at AVS. The problems stem from the fact that the Audyssey "Dynamic" options assume that the source audio material was mixed at "reference" level. Only movies are mixed at a known, and common, reference level. All others including CDs and concerts are not mixed to any standard reference level. This causes Audyssey's Dynamic software to boost the level of bass and the surrounds if you are listening below reference level, which is very typical for nearly everything except movies (and most people watch movies below reference level, but higher than other audio recordings). There are many comments about this in the Audyssey thread on the AVS board. You may want to review people's comments and see how they are being guided to reduce the problem.
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post #10 of 10
6/25/09 at 2:42pm

Re: Onkyo 806 and Music

Quote:
The music i'm talking about is from my cable(Comcast) usually on channell 665 which is called Palladia.
Even though they are broadcast in DD, concerts on tv don't always sound as good as those on dvd. My favorite concert dvd is Boz Skaggs Live and it sounds great in DD/DTS but when I saw it on HDNet it sounded pretty bad. If music sounds good in 5.1 from a dvd then the problem is most likely the broadcast and not the receiver.
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