Newbie with more questions (1 Viewer)

[jackbur23]

I've set up my Pioneer VSX 1021-k with 2x Polk RTI A8 floor speakers, and Polk Blackstone TL2600 speakers (4 satellite, 1 center, 1 sub) and listened to music (via Ipod), movies and tv. My main issue so far is the quality of the sound, or rather the type of sound I'm getting. Everything seems to come out of the two floor speakers and although these sound great there is still something missing (mid range or highs??) and it doesn't really surround you when you're listening. I'm not sure what is wrong but I just don't have the same level of clarity I did even with my old Theater in a box setup. I tried adjusting the treble/bass and it doesn't really make much of an impact either. So now I'm thinking it's because I need rear speakers to match or exceed the floor speakers? I know someone had recommended ditching the blackstones and going with a large center...but I still think I'm going to have lopsided sound with everything coming from the front. If I do upgrade the speakers what would the ideal sizes be and how many? (ie, two rear towers and 2 bookshelf side speakers with a large center?). Or could it be I just need a more powerful receiver?

 

[Robert_J]

You now have quality equipment that will allow you to hear the artifacts and losses of compressed music. How does a CD sound? 99.9% of music is stereo and will only go through the front speakers. Have you run MCACC? Did you override the speaker settings and change them to small? At least that will turn on the sub for music.

 

[gene c]

Use the Data Copy feature of MCACC and copy the preset you used for the original MCACC automatic setup to another preset and then use that one to re-adjust the the individual speaker volumes of the center and surrounds to something that's more appealing to you. If you make it worse you can go back to the original preset or copy it again and start over. What crossover setting are you using? Did you try the EXT. STEREO setting in the ADV SUR menu (on the remote)? This will give you 5 or 7 channel stereo so can more easily compare the volume of the Surrounds to the Fronts. Larger speakers would be better, but they shouldn't be needed. But I use bookshelf speakers with the same size driver as my fronts. If you're using Dolby ProLogic to extract surround sound from two channel stereo sources then, with ProLogic activated, go into the Audio Parameters menu and re-adjust the Panoramic. Dimension and Center Width for the Movie and Music settings. You can also adjust the Center Width for DTS Neo:6. But you must be using a two channel source and select ProLogic (or Neo:6) for these settings to appear in the Parameters menu.

 

[jackbur23]

Thanks...can you explain a little more about crossover and what it's used for? I'm not sure about the setting..I will have to look at it again. I think I am going to start over with the MACC and see what I can do. I will copy over the current settings before I do...thanks so much for your help.

 

[gene c]

The crossover is the setting the receiver uses to distribute the bass frequencies to the subwoofer. The bass frequencies below the setting are sent to the sub and those above the setting are sent to the speaker. Sending too much deep bass to a speaker that wasn't designed to reproduce them can damage the speaker, especially at high volume. The "standard" recommended setting is 80hz but your satellites and center don't go down that deep so 100 or 120 would be better for them. Most other receiver brands allow you to choose a different crossover setting for each speaker group independantly (often called quadruple crossover) but Pioneer only allows for a single crossover setting for all speaker groups. This isn't an ideal situation for those with large towers in the front and smaller satillites for surrounds and/orcenter. In all fairness, using a lower crossover setting for the surrounds and center might not be as harmfull as i may have led to believe because there usually isn't that much deep bass sent to the surround and center channels during the mixing process anyway. But why take chances? And I see Pioneers point that all speaker groups should use the same crossover setting for confomity and consistancy of sound, but there are many people, such as yourself, where different x-over settings would be helpfull. I try and make a point of this single crossover setting when recommending Pioneer receivers. What I do with MCACC is I set the speakers to "Small" in the Speaker Setup menu, then select the Auto MCACC (not Full Auto) which allows you to keep your speaker settings (it won't change them), run the setup program and then copy it to another preset. I then make any changes to speaker size, volumes and eq that I feel are necessary. The fact that MCACC has six presets and remembers individual speaker volumes as well as eq settings allows me to setup different presets for different situations. Regular movie/tv viewing (lots of everything) , two channel stereo music (more bass in the eq, a little less sub volume) multi-ch music (a little more center channel volume) and late-nite movie/tv (less sub, more center). I only wish it could eq the sub and allow different x-over settings for each input or MCACC preset but, alsa, it does not. But, there is no perfect receiver. I know. I've tried them all (except Yamaha).

 

[jackbur23]

Ok i recalibrated everything with MACC; it sounds much better now. I will also check the crossover setting and see if that is in the correct range. I still want to get the large center (csi a6) and the bookshelf speakers to round out the system. The only problem I have now is I accidentally spilled water on the remote and now some of the buttons aren't working I had to order a replacement today since the remote appears to be sealed pretty well (I removed the screws on the back but I still can't separate the two halves to even look at the damage..eek!

 

[Robert_J]

Water on the remote is the best excuse to get a Harmony as a replacement.

 

[jackbur23]

What is a harmony?

 

[gene c]

What is a harmony?

From Amazon http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16268211 They are kind of expensive but those who have them love'm. Especially if you have kids. I don't really need one (I just use the receivers remote to control everything but the satellite receiver) but I used to have an 880. They can be found new on the net for about $75. I also just bought a good-as-new remote for a Pioneer 1120 off ebay for $28 shipped.

 

[jackbur23]

I have to agree with your assessment of cd quality; i was raised on vinyl and am seriously thinking of buying a high end turntable....i do have a cheap usb turntable but nothing beats the sound you got on the older models, i dont know why they think digital is a step up

 

[gene c]

IMO nothing will ever beat a pure analog signal but you have to have very good equipment to get the most out of vinyl. Digital is a nice compromise of good sound, moderately priced equipment, ease of use (it can go in the car, the home, in a portable player) and durability. And in lossless form like TrueHD and DTS-MA, digital can sound very good indeed. And there are many who feel cd's from the early days sound much better than the stuff being pressed today. And they were much better than the cassette and 8-track player that came before them.

 

[Robert_J]

i was raised on vinyl and am seriously thinking of buying a high end turntable....

I had a chance to hear a $20,000 turntable once. That's high end.