Is It Just Me Or.... (1 Viewer)

[Drew_W]

If you don't like it, look for a receiver with Night mode (or something similar). It compresses the dynamic range with Dolby Digital sources so there isn't so much variation between peaks and valleys. Most also have settings within this to specify how much to compress.

 

[RobWil]

I think newcomers to surround sound expect to have their senses tickled during every second of a movie. There are many non-action type movies which, in surround sound, are extremely dull and non-stimulating. Not all movies can give Jurassic Park type stimulation throughout. Surround sound cannot make plain dialog any more exciting than what it really is. A lot of what surround sound provides is extremely subtle.
It's the same thing with many newcomers to subwoofers. They expect to be knocked off their feet at every beat, whereas a properly set-up and calibrated sub should be 'invisible'.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

There are plenty of films with lots of neat subtle effects going on in the surrounds and virtually no big bang action sequences. Stuff like birds chirping or leaves in trees rustling or insect buzz that really adds to one's immersion in the film but doesn't necessarily shake things off the walls. Another example would be scenes taking place in restaurants where you can hear all kinds of ambient noises in the surrounds that make you feel like you're really there. Try watching Se7en, for example--it's raining almost throughout the movie and the sound of rain in the surrounds almost makes you fell like you're getting wet.

I agree about subs. Once the "wow" factor one gets from big action set pieces was my main priority, but now I appreciate how a well calibrated and decently accurate sub can make me feel like I'm actually on an airplane or a train. Sometimes I have to pause a movie to see if a low but not loud bass sound is coming from the movie or if it's the distant sound of somebody's too-loud car stereo.

 

[Mike SJ]

I was thinking about this question late late last night. here goes:

regarding the "immersiveness" in movies, in your HT, if there is a conversation in the movie (normal dialog, say at a cafe or something, not like while skydiving, or escaping explosions) it should sound like they are sitting in your HT, sitting at the cafe, sipping their latte's. experiment. get your SPL out and measure a conversation between members of your family at about the same distance you watch your TV at. then turn on a dialog friendly movie or a "girly" movie. Now measure with the SPL what is coming out of your HT. neither should register much because neither should get louder than the minimum 70 db's on you rat shaq SPL meter.

my point is, a conversation in a movie is still a conversation. Scott, you say you wonder why you can hear ppl talk during movies, well just say you nd your wife had another couple over. if they were having a conversation dring dinner is it too overwhelming for you and your wife to carry a conversation? no.

just wanted to explain from that point of view.

mj

 

[Jonty Rees]

Couple of observations from a non-expert:

Try cranking up the gain setting on the center channel. Also, what are you using as a center channel speaker? If it's just a little 3" speaker in a cube, that could be your problem. Get a bigger one. I don't buy the "It's meant to sound like that - your ears are wrong" line of thinking - if you want a different sound, get it!

I too find that I have to crank my Onkyo receiver pretty high to get a good movie experience, (usually in the 45-50 range), although it generally will make it. The only time I've pegged it was for a live Metallica concert CD, which is obviously not the normal situation. One thing I've found is that it's more to do with the source material than the receiver. Have you tried listening to an old Dolby Pro Logic VHS casette on your DD receiver? They sound pretty good, and are much louder than most DVDs - it's the dynamic range thing again.

One more thing - I thought about all the spiffy new features I got in my Onkyo TX-DS575, then about how much I paid for it. How much of that $300 is left over for amplification after you put in all the DD/DTS circuitry, etc? So I'm not so hard on it anymore.

...and a final question. Why on earth is The Sopranos on HBO so freaking quiet? I literally have to set the receiver at 55 to hear it vs about 28 on a normal TV broadcast. Or is it just my local Cable company messing up their eq?