I seriously need help

[corElement]

Your ears have got used to it, so the extra that you used to hear is now considered by your ears to be normal. Go and listen to some crap system for some days, then your stuff will start sounding good again .

Bwaaahahaha thats quite true and ironic at the same time.

 

[prosenjit]

it happens.........no joke

 

[Vj@HiFi]

I use a Musical Fidelity M1 Clic as source.
Audio files from a NAS over wifi.
iPad as a controller.

Another inexpensive option is the Logitech squeezebox touchscreen player.

The M1 seems to be a serious piece of equipment, I don't think my pocket is that deep yet!

I've been trying to read up on the squeezebox, more so since Logitech stopped making the touch version! Actually I've someone coming over from the US in the next couple of weeks, so need to finalise something quick if there is a deal available!

If you have suddenly started to not enjoy your system, then your ears have gotten used to it basically and picking up the deficiencies. Before going on a wild goose chase, you may want to try from the cheapest to the more expensive options - adjust room treatments (rearrange furniture and/or system placement if possible), also carpeting, drapes make a big difference. You may also want to check with your music files. How did you rip them to flac? WD TV is not necessarily the best resolving transport, thats the reason the DVDP may be sounding better though I dont have first hand experience with it.

Observe and post what changes you can perceive then we can go on to more expensive options

Let me see what more I can do to the room, but you are right, I need to get the simple things right first and then proceed.

Did you play the same song on WDTV and CDP? And was the song ripped from the same CD?

Reason for asking this is, if song was sourced from elsewhere, it might have been a poor rip.

Actually, the songs were ripped from the same CD. Yesterday I think I had a more satisfying experience by playing the CDs on the CD player. I kept tinkering with the settings. Need to run more comparisons.

Your ears have got used to it, so the extra that you used to hear is now considered by your ears to be normal. Go and listen to some crap system for some days, then your stuff will start sounding good again

Since I can't play music aloud, I have a number of earphones/headphones over the years. Each one progressively of better quality. The better one sounds good for a couple of months of buying but then my ears get used to it. To know how good it really is, I switch back to one of the old lower quality ones and the difference is so obvious.

If you have no limit on how much you can spend, go ahead and buy higher quality stuff, but you'll end up with the same result down the line.

No, no, I very much have a limit on what I can spend. But I think your suggestion of listening to a known bad system is indeed ingenious!

how about running audyssey setup again.............that works like a charm every time for me.

For one thing, if nothing else changes in the system or the room, then why should the settings degrade? Why does one need to keep running the audessey again and again? I mostly do it manually these days..

But I'll give it a try, just to be sure.

 

[Vj@HiFi]

I gave the Audyssey a try once again, this time noted down the settings it 'set' and have saved them on a file for posterity.

I was careful when I ran the set up and I think the results are better and I am feeling happier at the end result. However I was curious to note that while the distances of FL and FR were the same, Audessey set the FL channel level higher by 1.5dB. The room acoustics must be playing a part in this. The crossover freq. was set to 40Hz for FR and FL and the Center to 60Hz.

I read on the Audessey website that the SW XO freq. should be set to the max it can take while running the setup, but should I now bring it back down to 80Hz or even lower to 50Hz to give a cushion of 10Hz over the 9.6s?

Also the AVR has assigned the 9.6s as Large, will a manual override to Small make a difference? I guess I need to find out for myself..

What I can definitely confirm is the difference between the same song being played via the WDTV (flac) and from a CD on the Pioneer 410. The latter is superior.

I did plonk some money on the Squeezebox Touch before it all sold out. It will take a few days to reach me and I will have an update then..

Cheers and thanks for all your suggestions, once again.

 

[kaushik]

I can guess that the WD Player may have got a Static shock or Due to some spike or so ur DAC components might have got damaged partially .

 

[aakashr]

Audyssey recommends to set all speakers as small and crossover to be set at 80Hz. Also try to enable dynamic volume and see the difference. It all depends on what your ears perfer.

c)2. Why do I often see advice to raise the Crossovers to 80Hz?

Audyssey has simply 'listened' during the measuring phase and reported the -3dB point of the frequency response to your AVR. What this means is this: when Audyssey sends the test chirps it will measure the frequency response of your speaker and find where it starts to roll off (i.e. become 'less loud'). When Audyssey detects the point at which the frequency response is down by 3dB ('the -3dB point') it stops trying to correct for the in-room response. So if, for example, your speaker is -3dB down at 50Hz, Audyssey will detect that and will only apply the EQ down to 50Hz. Audyssey will not correct below 50Hz for fear of boosting the lower frequencies beyond the capabilities of your speaker and damaging it.

It is then the responsibility of the AVR manufacturer to decide what to do with that information. In some cases, if the -3dB point is, say, 40Hz, the AVR will set the speakers to Large. In other cases, the same situation will result in the speakers being set to Small with a 40Hz Crossover set in the AVR menus. In addition, Audyssey takes into account the placement of the speakers in the room and the room characteristics itself when evaluating the -3dB point. So if your speakers are in a corner, for example, they will deliver more perceived bass than if they are out in the open because the room reinforces' the bass. All of this will influence the Crossover that is actually set. You can leave the Crossover to where it was set if you wish.
source : http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1/51750#post_21782993

 

[Vj@HiFi]

Audyssey recommends to set all speakers as small and crossover to be set at 80Hz. Also try to enable dynamic volume and see the difference. It all depends on what your ears perfer.

c)2. Why do I often see advice to raise the Crossovers to 80Hz?

Audyssey has simply 'listened' during the measuring phase and reported the -3dB point of the frequency response to your AVR. What this means is this: when Audyssey sends the test chirps it will measure the frequency response of your speaker and find where it starts to roll off (i.e. become 'less loud'). When Audyssey detects the point at which the frequency response is down by 3dB ('the -3dB point') it stops trying to correct for the in-room response. So if, for example, your speaker is -3dB down at 50Hz, Audyssey will detect that and will only apply the EQ down to 50Hz. Audyssey will not correct below 50Hz for fear of boosting the lower frequencies beyond the capabilities of your speaker and damaging it.

It is then the responsibility of the AVR manufacturer to decide what to do with that information. In some cases, if the -3dB point is, say, 40Hz, the AVR will set the speakers to Large. In other cases, the same situation will result in the speakers being set to Small with a 40Hz Crossover set in the AVR menus. In addition, Audyssey takes into account the placement of the speakers in the room and the room characteristics itself when evaluating the -3dB point. So if your speakers are in a corner, for example, they will deliver more perceived bass than if they are out in the open because the room reinforces' the bass. All of this will influence the Crossover that is actually set. You can leave the Crossover to where it was set if you wish.
source : http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1/51750#post_21782993

Went thru' a substantial part of the Audyssey 101 site. (it is this site which recommends to set the SW XO to the max (at least during the setup), and this prompts me to ask a few stupid questions:

If I have to dial up the very cut offs (cross over frequencies) identified by the Audyssey setup then why run it in the first place? (For eg. Audyssey set my towers to large and their XO at 40, similarly it set my centre channel as small and its XO at 60).

Why not simply set the towers to small, enter the distances and set the XO at 80 for the main speakers, and let the LFE (or LFE + Main) content be rendered by the SW? What extra does Audyssey bring to the equation?

I did notice one thing though, while the settings as calculated and stored by the auto setup (Audyssey?) are as mentioned earlier in the thread, if I start the manual setup then the various parameters are found to be different from the auto settings. Are there two separate settings, viz. Auto (Audessey) and Manual? If yes, how are they turned on or off, meaning how does one select the manual settings or the Audessey set settings? What am I missing here?

 

[Vj@HiFi]

From this page it says:
"Finally, read what Chris Kyriakakis of Audyssey has to say on the subject:

"LFE + Main should not even be an option because it just causes duplication of bass content by sending it to both the sub and any speakers set to Large (Full Range).

A "high ranking" official in a "well-known" AVR company told me that LFE + Main was invented to appease customers that were upset when their speakers were being set to Small. These customers had a complete lack of understanding of what Small means (i.e. turn on bass management and redirect the bass to the subwoofer) and felt... inadequate. LFE + Main allows them to set their speakers to a more manly Large and still have bass management. But it's a compromise that can cause boomy bass if the speaker and subwoofer overlap in the lower frequencies."

Aaargh, more testing to do! But probably pinpoints the reason for the boomy sound that I was getting earlier!

And more reading to do too. Wonder how I missed all these earlier. We know that the Jap translated manuals are useless and I used to rely on Batpigs pages...