Your listening experience (1 Viewer)

[stymie222]

I notice that while listening to my newly installed Home Theater system that while playing just about any DVD movie, the actors voice mono log [adjusted to normal volume levels] is so over whelmed by the other special effects on the movie. I have to constantly turn down the volume during those sequences and then turn up the volume to hear what the actors are saying. I have calibrated everything to ensure that each speaker volume is equal and placement is correct but find it extremely annoying to constantly have the remote in my hand to adjust the volume up and down. Do you have this experience? Any solutions?

 

[mitch]

If you've balanced the system and the voices are still too low, increase the gain [volume] on the center speaker. I had to do the same thing and it made a big difference.

Sometimes, the way that the sound tracks are layed out, the voices are drowned out by the surrounding music or other sound effects.

Give it a try!

Mitch

 

[JohnRice]

When you say "I have calibrated everything to ensure that each speaker volume is equal" do you mean you have actually run test tones on a calibration disc and used an SPL meter to set them all to the same level?

I ask because it doesn't sound like it. If you did it correctly, there won't be that discrepancy.

 

[stymie222]

On my Onkyo SR-TX700 there is a speaker calibration mode which emits "pink noise" to each selected speaker. The manual says to listen to the volume of that noise from the fist speaker selected and then to try to remember that volume and match it to the others as you select them. It seems they want them all the same but I will try to increase the center channel volume to see if it helps. There is also a mode to select the distance of all speakers from the listening area, which I have also done.
If there is any other "software" that would be helpful or better than this , please tell me where I can purchase them.

Thanks for all of your replies. This is an excellent forum that I will recommend to all my friends.

 

[Gary Shipley]

I agree with John. You really need to use an SPL meter to properly set the volume of each speaker. One can be purchased at Radio Shack for around $25. I would get a calibration disk as well. It will actually tell you how to use the SPL meter , and how to properly set the speaker level. You can find one of those at Circuit City or Best Buy.

 

[Mark Dill]

I think this problem is actually a little simpler. You are used to watching movies through your TV speakers and this is your first home theater right? The problem is largely psychological. The movies are mixed for "theater loud", and you are just not used to being in your living room and listening to a movie at that decibel level. You are trying to listen to the special FX at living-room-TV loud, and then when the voices come on, it's way too quiet.

Try this: during a dialogue scene, set the volume so that the voices sound natural and easy to understand and then watch the whole movie WITHOUT decreasing the volume from there. It will seem loud since you are not used to that kind of sound in your living room, but you will get used to it. Try to imagine you're in a theater - the sound is killer loud in most theaters - louder than we'd ever accept at home, yet we feel psychologically comfortable because we are used to the loudness in that environment.

PS: I've gotten used to this, but my wife has not, so when I watch a movie with her, I do the VOL UP, VOL DOWN thing constantly too.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Mark, that doesn't sound like the problem Alan is describing. He doesn't say the FX sound louder than he thinks they should or louder than he find aesthetically pleasing, he says they're so loud they drown out the dialogue - and that shouldn't be the case except in rare instances where the characters are hearing a sound so loud that they can't hear one another. So it does sound (you should pardon the pun) like an adjustment problem.

Alan, you can put me down as another vote for a calibration disc and a Radio Shack SPL. (Get the $25 analog model, there's no reason to pay big bucks for a digital one.) Avia Guide to Home Theater or any version of Video Essentials will walk you through balancing the system with the meter and with better test tones than the receiver's internally-generated ones. (Besides which a disc-based calibration tests the whole path from disc to speaker, thus accounting for any change introduced by the player itself, which the built-in tones can't do.)

Buy or rent either of those discs and you should be in good shape. (And by all means, calibrate your monitor with them while you're at it. )

Regards,

Joe

 

[drobbins]

I am another for the SPL meter and calibration. Another thing that I recently noticed that might help you is speaker location. Most of the dialogue comes from the center speaker. I originally had my center below the screen and calibrated the system with a SPL meter. Normal listening volume was -20 when sitting front center. Then recently for looks and to help sound reach the back row, I moved the center above the screen and recalibrated. Now I can hear the dialogue much better and my listening volume level is around -25 or or even quieter. (I don't know about your receiver, but -25 is quieter than -20 on mine)

 

[Mark Dill]

Well, his first post is a little unclear actually, but I think my interpretation makes sense, since he says he is turning it down during FX scenes and up during dialogue. That wouldn't really help him if it was a case of FX drowning out dialogue that is occurring simultaneously. Although, simply turning it louder can help that situation too, but not as much.

 

[Doug_H]

Another vote for SPL Meter. The meter has proven me wrong every single time.

 

[stymie222]

Wow! I never expected so much great advice. Just to clarify things- It seems that the special effects are twice as loud as the dialog. So when they are running full force, my wife cant take it [Kids and I love it] and she says its too load, so I lower the volume. End of effects and back to dialog which is now too low and out comes the remote to increase the volume. Then the onslaught of more effects and the process is repeated. I think this is a small price to pay for the slam bang sound I now have. I will try all suggestions that are given and let you know how it works out. I'm a union Electrician and if any of you need advice in that field please feel free to ask me. Its the least I can do to repay all of you for taking time out for me. Thanks again

 

[JohnRice]

Alan, you should also describe how the speakers are placed. Recently there was an instance of the poster saying he had the center speaker behind the tv, and I mean almost completely obscured by the TV. No amount of calibration will fix something like that.

Still, the dynamics you will get are greater then regular tv viewing. Some people choose to turn on a dynamic range limiter, which most digital receivers have.

 

[Mark Dill]

One more thing that may help you: if your center is smaller than your L/R speakers, it may not do a good job "keeping up" with them. I've never been happy with a smaller center, as I feel it shortchanges the dialogue and the center-FX. I prefer to run in phantom mode, without a center, and let my L/R speakers do the "talking", so to speak. Someday I might get a huge expensive center, but I don't really feel the need, as I like the way it sounds now.

 

[greg2185]

your problem is you need to adjust the center channel volume or db level its the same thing, try increasing it a few points 5 or so and turn down the front left and right a few points, that way when you watch a movie you will hear the actors talk and the sound effects wont over power the movie and you should not have to turn it up down let me know if you need any more help you dont need to buy a db meter just play and pause a dvd while you make the adustments to get the desired effect call or email me if you need any more help i have a big pro audio system its my hobby greg 602-469-7369 [email protected]