New to the game (1 Viewer)

[SeanK325]

Had another concern: When playing the playstation, the rear speakers do not produce equal levels of volume. The right rear speaker seems much louder when explosions go off. Is this normal because it's a game, or do I need more adjusting? If it matters, the wire running from the receiver is longer to the left rear than to the right rear. Also, the left rear is closer to the wall, but what's affected is the sound coming from the front, not the rear.

 

[Jason Charlton]

The length of the speaker wire will have absolutely no effect on the sounds produced by the speakers.


The best thing you can do is make sure your system is properly calibrated. I did a quick check online and the Onkyo 606 does have a version of Audyssey that (I believe) includes a little microphone for speaker setup.


Have you run the setup utility? If not, that's where you should begin. It will use the microphone (placed at the primary listening spot) to accurately set up the speaker distances and auto-set their sound levels (volume) so that everything is balanced in the sweet spot.


Once it's calibrated correctly, then you know that whatever you hear is as close to as the designer's intended it to be as possible.


That being said, not all sources are mixed the same way - some have more aggressive surround activity, and some have very subtle surround effects. I'm not familiar with many PS3 games, but I would expect that most shooter-style games will be at the more aggressive end of the scale, so directional effects will be more pronounced.

 

[SeanK325]

I don't have the Audyssey mic that came with the receiver. I got the receiver for free. So, I'm not able to calibrate it like that. I tried doing it manually, but it wouldn't be perfect as if it were with the microphone. I played a couple games (Modern Warfare 3 and Need for Speed). Both had the same effect on the speaker. The gunfire and engine noise is much more pronounced on the right rear than on the left rear. Could it be that the game's design just wasn't set up to be so loud around the room? The frontal speakers and the center speaker are spot on.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Well, if the right rear is consistently louder for everything you play/listen to, you can always go back into the setup menus and turn that speaker down a few dBs to help even things out.


Also, make sure you don't have any sound processing modes enabled (often times receivers will have a "game" mode that, IMO, has just as good a chance of screwing up the sound as it does enhancing it).


If the problem seems localized just to those two games, then there must be something with how the audio is configured for the games, and there's isn't much of a "global fix" for a problem that's localized to two titles.


It does get pretty annoying after you get a nice system that you start to notice how "not all surround sound is created equal". Some things are mixed soooo differently than others. Trying to get your system to produce the same sound for all titles is like herding cats - it can't be done.

 

[SeanK325]

Well, if the right rear is consistently louder for everything you play/listen to, you can always go back into the setup menus and turn that speaker down a few dBs to help even things out. Also, make sure you don't have any sound processing modes enabled (often times receivers will have a "game" mode that, IMO, has just as good a chance of screwing up the sound as it does enhancing it). If the problem seems localized just to those two games, then there must be something with how the audio is configured for the games, and there's isn't much of a "global fix" for a problem that's localized to two titles. It does get pretty annoying after you get a nice system that you start to notice how "not all surround sound is created equal". Some things are mixed soooo differently than others. Trying to get your system to produce the same sound for all titles is like herding cats - it can't be done.

The manual states to set the sound level to the point where you hear "pink noise." I did that and had the listening issues with the rear speaker. I later set everything to 0 decibels, but no luck. It seems a little better, but I don't know if that's just a placebo. I do usually play it on "game" or "music". I'll try it without the preloaded settings next time. I'm thrilled with my system. Watching movies has never been nicer. A friend of mine thought there was an earthquake when the subwoofer thumped! I do play a lot more games than I watch movies, so in that respect I am very annoyed. The sound quality is perfect. It's just that damn balance in the rear. I almost want to turn off the rear speakers, but when you hear gunfire from behind you it makes the game that much better. As a side note, am I worrying too much when I don't want to raise the volume past 60%? I don't want to blow anything.

 

[Robert_J]

As a side note, am I worrying too much when I don't want to raise the volume past 60%? I don't want to blow anything.

It really depends on the input signal level. Movies are recorded about 10db lower than standard stereo signals so you will always have to turn it up more. My normal listening with the wife is at -25db on the dial. When I'm alone, I'll watch a movie at -10db. I've cranked up concert DVDs to 0db for a song and then had to straighten pictures and make sure no items had been vibrated off shelves. I have knocked the focus and alignment out of whack on my projector a few times also. If your system sounds strained then you are pushing it too hard.

 

[SeanK325]

How would I know what dB I'm at? My receiver just has a general scale from 0-75

 

[Robert_J]

Buy a Radio Shack analog SPL meter.