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Voice distortion...what gives? (1 Viewer)

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Aug 30, 2004
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Everynow and then I have some voice distortion on my speakers. I'm using an Onkyo system (receiver/speakers, etc....all Onkyo). They are virtually brand new so I have a hard time thinking it's them, but I'm open to suggestions. It tends to happen more when I'm watching Sopranos or other TV DVD's - I don't notice it as much during a movie, but it does happen (Hitch, for example, shows signs when Will Smith talks every now and then)

Any ideas what the culprit is? Thanks guys!
 

John_RO

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May 24, 2005
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It's probably the limitations of the HTIB speakers. I've heard the Onkyo setup at a friends house and while it sounds ok at moderate volumes, it does tend to distort a bit when you crank it up. Not that it's a bad combo...probably one of the better ones out there but you do get what you pay for.
 
Joined
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It seems to just be the front speakers that distort, and it's not at a really high volume - nothing ear piercing. I thought maybe it was just the recording on the TV DVD's, because the really good movies, like LOTR and such, dont' ever do it, they're crystal clear.

What about the cables, could it be that? What do you reccommend for speakers? I assume the receiver is decent, but the Onkyo speakers aren't so great.
 
Joined
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Are there any settings that you know of I can quickly change that would perhaps make it a little bit better?

I'm novice at this, so thanks for your patience. Only gets better with time, right?
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
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Nov 4, 2003
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You experience it at soft volumes? And every applicable sound mode? I run into on various sources and it seems to help if I enable THX post processing.

Just really difficult to say if it could just be a source / content issue or if some combo of equipment is causing it really.
 

Mark Dill

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Jan 20, 2005
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Does it happen mostly on lower male voices? I am guessing you have your sub crossover set too high and whenever someone's voice drops into subwoofer range you are hearing the "distortion". You may also have your sub a little too hot which would make the problem worse. Your crossover on your sub should be no higher than 80 Hz.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Not true if he is using the bass management in his receiver. If his receiver crossover is set to 80Hz and the sub is set to 80Hz, this will cause a steep slope that may lead to nulls in the bass response. If his mains/center are set to small, the receiver is doing the crossover and the sub should be set to the highest crossover possible (or none at all).
 
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On the settings on the receiver I only see one crossover setting - how do I set the subwoofers crossover? There is just a level adjuster on the back...perhaps if I turn that down a bit? It's about halfway up right now, maybe slightly higher.

All my speakers are set to "Small" and the crossover is set to 100Hz (on the receiver, as I said, I don't see a subwoofer setting by itself). 80, 100, 120 are my choices.

I really appreciate all the feedback and suggestions.
 

John Garcia

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100Hz should be fine on the reicever. 80 is probably too low for the speakers that come with the system. The sub should have a small dial on it that shows it's max and min x-over frequency (if it is variable) - it should be set to max.

Does the distortion seem to come from the sub or the main speakers? If it's coming from the sub, you should turn it down and see if the problem goes away. If your sub is turned up too high, it can get boomy and sound distorted.
 

PhilBoy

Second Unit
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Sep 30, 2003
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Try using good headphones and see if you still hear the distortion.

I noticed the distortion on Soprano's season 3 and a few other highly saturated vocal tracks.

I posted basically the same question quite a while ago and the response was over-compression on the audio tracks.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
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The noise is coming from the front speakers, FR, FL, and Center.

I just did a little bit of testing...and the pops/distortion i'm hearing happen at the same exact moment in the film regardless of volume...I mean, I turned it way down and put my ear to the speaker and played the same scene over and over and it happens at the same point everytime...gotta be the audio track, don't you think?
 

mark.wo--

Auditioning
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May 29, 2003
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I'm using the Onkyo HTS-650 system and replaced the fronts with my old ADS L-810's, circa 1982. They outshine the stock Onkyo's by far. Now I need to get a new center speaker equally as good as the L-810's. The Onkyo center sounds very muddled and dull...sometimes I can't even understand the dialog in a movie, since the voices sound muffled due to the poor high freq response.

The Onkyo system is good for the price, and the receiver is fine, but the speakers leave a lot to be desired.
 

RyanJE

Second Unit
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Jan 5, 2005
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438
Eric,

Ive noticed this same issue will lotr, Two towers. In some scenes when gimlee talks it sounds distorted.

I have fairly good fronts (paradigm minis) and I know its not them because it happens at every volume.

So in this case your in luck it just seems to happen with some recordings.
 

John Garcia

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I noticed the same thing last night on Full Metal Jacket. On one particular scene, the dialogue is heavily distorted, but only in that one scene, so it seemed to be the movie itself.
 

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