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Movie Dialog volume and clarity (1 Viewer)

Unatec1

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When watching Movies I have to have the remote in my hand at all times so that I can turn up the volume for the dialog and turn it down fast for music and special effects. Additionally, much of the time even after I have turned up the sound for the dialog the spoken words are unclear.
My speakers are Polk RM 7500's from about 12 years ago and my Receiver is a Pioneer VSX-917V from about 5 or 6 years ago. Both my Directv receiver and Blue ray player are connected to my Pioneer with HDMI cables and optical cables for the sound.
I wish I cold say that this is a new phenomenon but it has been going on for years. Is this problem due to my sound system or is it from the DVD's themselves? If it is the system, how can I fix it?
 

schan1269

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That is what we all have home theatre. Movies(especially on BD) are mastered with 20db of headroom. Quite of bit of TV is mastered with 15db of headroom.

If you don't like the dynamic range, turn on your DRC.
 

Unatec1

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schan1269 said:
That is what we all have home theatre. Movies(especially on BD) are mastered with 20db of headroom. Quite of bit of TV is mastered with 15db of headroom.

If you don't like the dynamic range, turn on your DRC.
Thank you, that provided an improvement. I will see how this goes. Would a new receiver help?
 

schan1269

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Probably not. Moving to an AVR capable of the lossless tracks will increase the dynamic range...which is what you are trying to avoid.

All Directv STB and every BD player I've ever run across have DRC. Not sure if the Pioneer has DRC or not(many AVR call it "late night"), I have no idea. But "stacked" DRC usually doesn't work. (stacked means turning on in the source and AVR)
 

gene c

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Pioneers also have a setting called Dialog Enchancement in the Audio Parameters menu which seems to be pretty effective.
 

Type A

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I would also experiment with increasing your center channel level. Its not preferred, as all your speaker levels should be balanced, but a notch or two shouldnt be huge. Many AVRs have different DSP modes that increase dialog performance, I would check your manual for what yours offers and experiment with them. Are there any flat surfaces in front of your center channel? If so pull it all the way out to the front of its shelf. Dialog is especially susceptible to a loss of clarity from sound reflections.
 

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