Pioneer 45tx sound... (1 Viewer)

[James USAF]

First of all...I believe the receiver is great. I have it powering some Athena speakers.

Anyway...my problem is that on movies sometimes the normal dialogue is muddy(?) in that all the action around the characters is fairly loud but it is hard to hear what the characters are saying.

I get that alot...I have to turn up the volume to hear dialogue but turn it down on action scenes because it gets fairly loud.

Any suggestions? I have used the MCACC from where I sit. I can what I am trying to say is that the range between soft noise and loud noise is to much? I want the louder sounds and softer sounds to be closer together. Hmmm...hope you all know what I mean.

 

[kevitra]

Turning on 'Dynamic Range Compression' will make the louder scenes quieter. There should be 2 or 3 different levels of compression, depending on how much you want the loud sounds 'softened'.

 

[Bob_Hammond]

Have you calibrated it with an SPL meter and a calibration disk? If not you should as this can make a big difference also.

Bob

 

[David Susilo]

james, go to the setup menu and set DRC to MID or MAX. I personally don't like MAX because it's too compressed.

I always set DRC to MID and when I want a bit more compression, I use its Midnight Mode to compress the dynamic range a bit more (but not as extreme as MAX setting)

The MCACC is accurate enough, at least from my experience it's more accurate than using SPL meter.

 

[James USAF]

Thank you. It sounds much better with the DRC on mid. Couldn't figure out for the life of me why I was having that problem.

Thanks again.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

It sounds much better with the DRC on mid. Couldn't figure out for the life of me why I was having that problem.

James, So, it was set to "Max" ?? That is kind of odd.

 

[David Susilo]

it was set to 'OFF'

 

[Wayne Ernst]

it was set to 'OFF'

Why does this receiver sound better with the compression set to "mid" ?? This is weird. I thought the receiver should sound better (not muffled) with the dynamic compression off. Are there speaker issues that are present and creating an issue in this situation?

 

[David Susilo]

not that it sounds better with the compression set to "MID", it's just some people don't like the so-called natural uncompressed sound with dynamic range that will wake up somebody living in the next state

Most movies nowadays have ridiculously artificial dynamic range to show-off the sound-system. Therefore when the dialog level is perfect, when it comes to the rest of the sound effects it will be too loud for many people.

 

[James USAF]

Yes...that is exactly what it was David. Just to much difference in the sound range...so I was having to keep lowering and raising the volume. With the compression on "mid" I can keep it on one volume setting.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

David and James ...

Thanks for the clarification. I can see your need for the dynamic compression. At times, it is greatly needed for those of us who live quite close to our neighbors. When I first read this post, I thought you were compressing all sounds - even music that you listen to. There are a few variations of dynamic compression. Some just offer it on Dolby Digital sources, while other receivers offer a "night mode" that will perform the compression with all sources. However, I am glad that setting it made a difference that benefited your situation.

 

[David Susilo]

Wayne, just to add some info on the 45TX, the DRC only works for Dolby Digital and its Midnight Mode works for both DD and DTS.

45TX is a very good performer for its price range. Just wait for the 59TXi. It's a killer.

Some of the features includes:

TWO iLink Mercury inputs (digital inputs for DVD-A, SACD)
NINE-BAND equalizer for the MCACC
Power transformer that weighs about 10 kg (about 22 lbs)
DPL IIx

 

[Drew_W]

Just wait for the 59TXi. It's a killer.
Some of the features includes:

TWO iLink Mercury inputs (digital inputs for DVD-A, SACD)
NINE-BAND equalizer for the MCACC
Power transformer that weighs about 10 kg (about 22 lbs)
DPL IIx

...and a hefty price tag as well

But this year's models are great, the 53 is essentially the 45 of last year without usb...i'm waiting for my 53 to come in sometime this week