Speaker Question? (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Scott]

When i am listenign to a dvd in DD 5.1, my speakers sound great, but when i am watching regular cable.some of the stations sounds great on my rear surround speakers. but on most stations, you can hear the center channel speakers over the rear surrounds even when sitting back near rears.

i know center channel speaker is the most important, but is this how it is suppose to be.

 

[Jim Williams]

Different TV stations may sound differently through your setup. I know that UPN gives me more sound from my surrounds than most of the other cable stations. Also the programming can also make a difference. CSI has more surround content than most other shows. Why this is exactly, I don't know.

You also may want to play around with your DSP settings and find one that gives you the kind of sound that pleases you.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Jeremy,

In order to have surround sound on TV programming, you have to have two things. First, the station has to be received in stereo. Second, the program has to be recorded for (and encoded in) surround sound. As Jim noted, some program producers take more advantage of surround sound that others – some do not at all.

A notable “for instance,” two sitcoms, Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond : Home Improvement had the audience participation – applause, laughter, etc. - in surround sound, adding to the illusion that you were in the audience. With Raymond, the producers don’t put any effort into the show’s audio, and everything is in the center channel only – which means the show is recorded in mono.

Bottom line, we are at the mercy of a show’s producers for any surround sound we get from TV programming.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Jeremy Scott]

ok, now how about when i listent to a music station on the radio?

I just got my speaker stands today so all the speakers are at ear level which sounds ALOT better.

But it still seems like a majority of the sound is coming from the center channel speaker.

is it suppose to?

 

[scott>sau]

It depends on the sound-field it is set at. For film try "Dolby", DD, DTS, Film, 70MM, or PL II. For music try club, music, etc. Dialog will be heard from the center channel in film modes. When you go to a music mode the center should turn off.

 

[Ted Lee]

ok, now how about when i listent to a music station on the radio?

typical fm stations broadcast in stereo only.

if you listen to this stuff in dd/dts/pro-logic you tend to "collapse" the stereo to the center speaker. sort of like converting the stereo-signal to mono. at least that's what it sounds like to me. i *never* listen to music in anything but 2-channel.

however, pro-logic II is the exception. that's designed to take two-channel stuff and "expand" the soundfield. i've never heard it, but supposedly it works pretty well.

 

[gene c]

jeremy, it sounds to me that you are expecting dolby pro-logic and the other "phantom" processors to sound as good as true dolby and dts 5.1 and that just ain't gonna happen. try listening to a dvd in 2.0 and set your receiver to dolby pro-logic and you can see there is a big difference to dolby digital and dts. these other processers are pretty good for what they are, but can't compare to true dd and dts. the only way i know of to get dd on tv is though direct tv or dish network if you have a box with a toslink connection. even then direct tv offers very few movies broadcast in dd. if any of this is wrong i hope someone corrects me. i'm still learning too! gene

 

[scott>sau]

XM radio and also digital music from cable broadcast offer SOME of their material in 5.1 not all of it. Cable TV can get Dolby Digital if you send the Motorola digital cable box (DCT) to the Texas plant. They solder a coaxial digital audio cable output jack in the board (they can also solder a S-Video jack in the board). We did it for a couple of customers when I was with Adelphia. But again not all broadcasts are in DD.