My Denon X1600H - setup and settings

[Vikash Malya]

Hi all, Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Continuing from my earlier post HTiB or AVR...

During my initial days of setting up my denon, i spent considerable amount of time researching as to what parameters / configuration would be ideal for setup for my TV / Movies and Music. However, i felt the process was difficult and cumbersome as i had to change settings every time i found a new suggestion or article On how to setup. After a few days of tinkering with setup, i have been listening to the following setup for the past few months. My setup at home comprises of 42” LG TV, 2 floor standing towers, 2 Front heights, 1 Center and 1 Sub. The speakers being Taga Harmony SE and BIC Venturi Sub.

Following are the screen grabs of my Denon setup (sorry to keep this long). I know i could have just typed in the settings, but i thought it would be nice to have all the screen grabs so that i do not miss out on any key aspect. It would be great if you can let me know if i should modify anything that would enhance the sound quality. Not that it is not great now, but i would certainly want to improve if there is a possibility.

Some issues that i am facing:
a. Airtel xtream volume is low - decrease in volume by a significant margin. what i could hear at -30 on Firestick / Tatasky needs to be at -20 or -15 on Airtel xstream
b. Enabling dolby on Airtel xtream - plays audio only on front towers. Center and front heights are completely muted. The volume is extremely high though (on par with Firestick / Tatasky). Disabling dolby on Airtel xtream fixed this. Now i have set DD Surr - playing on all speakers.
c. I feel i am missing that immersive audio (both for movies / music). The quality of audio is great. However, i feel there is something missing. Could be due to the placement of speakers, but nevertheless, i want to be sure that it has nothing to do with settings.

Here are the screen grabs of the settings:

1. Home Screen - while on Airtel xtream

2. Center - Voice clarity and clarity of dialogues is amazing for music, movies, tv

3. Subwoofer level - i have not done a sub crawl. THe sub is closer to the front towers. Can’t do much on placement due to space constraints.

4. Surround Parameters - enabling Cinema EQ seems to reduce volume for some reason. Hence not enabled.

5. Restorer

6. Audio delay lip sync - on

7. Volume - i like the - to + scale and i have set the power on volume at -35 which is comfortable to hear on startup.

8. Audessey setting - there is big difference if i turn off dynamic EQ. Volume levels get extremely low and significant reduction in quality. Turning it on seems to set it right. I did not find major difference in MultEQ XT - Refefence / Bypass LR etc.

9. Inputs - Source Level - THis i set as suggested by the dealer from who i bought this. This made lot of difference during the initial days of setup.

10. Speakers - Manual Setup

11. Amp Assign - don’t know if changing this would make any difference. I couldnt see any change.

12. Speaker config - changing front to small made world of difference.

13. Distance - Initially when i did Audessey setup, it automatically assigned the distance. when i was reviewing this, i thought since the Front L and R showed different values, i thought audessey did not work properly and made some manual changes. I regret it now. I am unable to run audessey now as i am unable to find a completely calm / silent moment for it to work. These are manually set parameters after measuring by tape.

14. Crossovers - sticking to rule book 80 Hz for all.

15. Bass

16. Video Settings - HDMI Setup - i have not tweaked this at all.

I feel, getting the right placement of speakers / sub and setting up the right parameters would make world of difference to our listening. Request all of your inputs to enhance my setup. Thanks. Again wishing you all a happy New Year. Stay Safe.

 

[neelay2709]

This is very informative. Will try something similar on my setup.
Query: i have speakers near the ceiling and hence would like to know if i should measure along the ground (seat to speaker wall "Base of triangle" or the hypotenuse (from ear to speaker). Do let me know.

 

[Vikash Malya]

This is very informative. Will try something similar on my setup.
Query: i have speakers near the ceiling and hence would like to know if i should measure along the ground (seat to speaker wall "Base of triangle" or the hypotenuse (from ear to speaker). Do let me know.

View attachment 53574

I considered the length from Speakers to my ears. In your diagram it is the hypotenuse.

 

[neelay2709]

I considered the length from Speakers to my ears. In your diagram it is the hypotenuse.

Thanks. Will do the same and check. Else will try base distance if not satisfied.

 

[prashant80]

Hi all, Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Continuing from my earlier post HTiB or AVR...

During my initial days of setting up my denon, i spent considerable amount of time researching as to what parameters / configuration would be ideal for setup for my TV / Movies and Music. However, i felt the process was difficult and cumbersome as i had to change settings every time i found a new suggestion or article On how to setup. After a few days of tinkering with setup, i have been listening to the following setup for the past few months. My setup at home comprises of 42” LG TV, 2 floor standing towers, 2 Front heights, 1 Center and 1 Sub. The speakers being Taga Harmony SE and BIC Venturi Sub.

Following are the screen grabs of my Denon setup (sorry to keep this long). I know i could have just typed in the settings, but i thought it would be nice to have all the screen grabs so that i do not miss out on any key aspect. It would be great if you can let me know if i should modify anything that would enhance the sound quality. Not that it is not great now, but i would certainly want to improve if there is a possibility.

Some issues that i am facing:
a. Airtel xtream volume is low - decrease in volume by a significant margin. what i could hear at -30 on Firestick / Tatasky needs to be at -20 or -15 on Airtel xstream
b. Enabling dolby on Airtel xtream - plays audio only on front towers. Center and front heights are completely muted. The volume is extremely high though (on par with Firestick / Tatasky). Disabling dolby on Airtel xtream fixed this. Now i have set DD Surr - playing on all speakers.
c. I feel i am missing that immersive audio (both for movies / music). The quality of audio is great. However, i feel there is something missing. Could be due to the placement of speakers, but nevertheless, i want to be sure that it has nothing to do with settings.

Here are the screen grabs of the settings:

1. Home Screen - while on Airtel xtream

2. Center - Voice clarity and clarity of dialogues is amazing for music, movies, tv

3. Subwoofer level - i have not done a sub crawl. THe sub is closer to the front towers. Can’t do much on placement due to space constraints.

4. Surround Parameters - enabling Cinema EQ seems to reduce volume for some reason. Hence not enabled.

5. Restorer

6. Audio delay lip sync - on

7. Volume - i like the - to + scale and i have set the power on volume at -35 which is comfortable to hear on startup.

8. Audessey setting - there is big difference if i turn off dynamic EQ. Volume levels get extremely low and significant reduction in quality. Turning it on seems to set it right. I did not find major difference in MultEQ XT - Refefence / Bypass LR etc.

9. Inputs - Source Level - THis i set as suggested by the dealer from who i bought this. This made lot of difference during the initial days of setup.

10. Speakers - Manual Setup

11. Amp Assign - don’t know if changing this would make any difference. I couldnt see any change.

12. Speaker config - changing front to small made world of difference.

13. Distance - Initially when i did Audessey setup, it automatically assigned the distance. when i was reviewing this, i thought since the Front L and R showed different values, i thought audessey did not work properly and made some manual changes. I regret it now. I am unable to run audessey now as i am unable to find a completely calm / silent moment for it to work. These are manually set parameters after measuring by tape.

14. Crossovers - sticking to rule book 80 Hz for all.

15. Bass

16. Video Settings - HDMI Setup - i have not tweaked this at all.

I feel, getting the right placement of speakers / sub and setting up the right parameters would make world of difference to our listening. Request all of your inputs to enhance my setup. Thanks. Again wishing you all a happy New Year. Stay Safe.

HI vikas.This info quite helpful. Iahave similar setup with denon avr X1400 H and pioneer AJ 5.0.Dont have sub as of now.will purchase later.need help as when i select front speaker(towers) as small it wont allow it automatically comes as large when i set sub to NO(as i dont have sub).is there any methos to select front as small as you are saying this is making much difference in improving sound.

 

[skumar]

Dont have sub as of now...when i select front speaker (towers) as small it wont allow it automatically comes as large when i set sub to NO... is there any methos to select front as small.

This is not logical. as you will lose the front channel LFE content in case you set your fronts to small and then not have a sub. I would suggest that you set them as large and then adjust the tone settings to adjust the Bass, till you get a sub.
NB: The fronts set to small may be sounding good in the other FM's setting as he has a sub.

 

[prashant80]

This is not logical. as you will lose the front channel LFE content in case you set your fronts to small and then not have a sub. I would suggest that you set them as large and then adjust the tone settings to adjust the Bass, till you get a sub.
NB: The fronts set to small may be sounding good in the other FM's setting as he has a sub.

Thanks skumar fo rquick reply. I got ypur point.as th tower speakr volume is low,can you suggest how to increase it as the level for LR at -4.0

 

[skumar]

Thanks skumar fo rquick reply. I got ypur point.as th tower speakr volume is low,can you suggest how to increase it as the level for LR at -4.0

You can increase in "Speakers, Levels" or similar setting option. You can +/- level of each channel separately. Pls check.

 

[prashant80]

You can increase in "Speakers, Levels" or similar setting option. You can +/- level of each channel separately. Pls check.

thanls.can u guide on amp assign settings.I have 5.0 speakr .No SUB

 

[skumar]

thanls.can u guide on amp assign settings.I have 5.0 speakr .No SUB

Check image 10, 11 & 12 above. In image 11, you should go for 5.1 or 7.1 channel and then in image 12 set sub to "None" or similar value.

 

[Vikash Malya]

In you case the change you will have to do is in image 12. You need to set the fronts to large and sub to no.

 

[prashant80]

In you case the change you will have to do is in image 12. You need to set the fronts to large and sub to no.

Hi this is already done.but not sure in amp assing setting what to select

 

[prashant80]

Hi just to divert from issue can somebody share best audio out put settings from TV to listen music/song and Movies.
Currently i use PCM as TV audio out and stereo/muit ch in AVR for listening songs while for movies TV audio is set on Auto/pass thru and in AVR is set to direct auto.I observerd PCM gives good clarity and treble as compared to auto/passthu from TV.
FM gurus can throw light on these setting

 

[v.anand]

There are a few things I see your settings to be wrong. I would suggest you re-run your audessey again and stick to the settings it configures before changing any parameters.

Before running audessey, you may try few things though which may give you a better experience.

Go to Audessey settings and reset the changes. It goes back to your previous settings.

Under speaker config, surround is off. Correct that if you have surround speakers.

Don't change the crossover or speaker config from large to small. Rule book 80 hz doesn't work for all rooms.

Under speaker levels, subwoofer is shown at +4.0 db. Your Amp is unnecessarily over working. Audessey and SVS recommends sub level to be under -5.0 db. What you need to do is increase the volume in your sub and ensure in Audessey rerun that its below -5.0 db. This makes a huge difference to overall sound.

Hope it helps.

 

[Livito Jones]

G ood post thanks

 

[Vikash Malya]

There are a few things I see your settings to be wrong. I would suggest you re-run your audessey again and stick to the settings it configures before changing any parameters.

Before running audessey, you may try few things though which may give you a better experience.

Go to Audessey settings and reset the changes. It goes back to your previous settings.

Under speaker config, surround is off. Correct that if you have surround speakers.

Don't change the crossover or speaker config from large to small. Rule book 80 hz doesn't work for all rooms.

Under speaker levels, subwoofer is shown at +4.0 db. Your Amp is unnecessarily over working. Audessey and SVS recommends sub level to be under -5.0 db. What you need to do is increase the volume in your sub and ensure in Audessey rerun that its below -5.0 db. This makes a huge difference to overall sound.

Hope it helps.

Hi Anand,

thanks for your comments.

i dont have surround speakers and hence disabled. I use my front heights instead due to room design limitations.

My fronts are towers. Changing it to small gives better sound balance than when it is large.

What you see is Subwoofer levels and not speaker config. Thats the setting for increasing sub levels.

As you mentioned I am also waiting to run the audessey again. But just couldn’t find time to do it. Will try out and update if it makes any difference.