Settings For Denon AVR 1311

[iamanand]

Hi,

Can someone help me with the settings of Denon 1311, I have Paradigm 70CT speakers attached to AVR.

I have setup distance, spkr size.
Not sure with the frequency what should be setup, currently it 80hz for all and 120hz fro SW.. What if I change this settings? have tried changing it but there were noticable difference after that.

 

[no1lives4ever]

Use audyssey to setup the speaker size, distance & cutoff frequency. After that, if you find any speaker set to a cut off frequency less than 80Hz, then set them to 80Hz, but do not lower the cutoff frequency below what audyssey auto setup does.

Read through batpig's denon guide here and check out the various audyssey setup guides to which he links to. A full read through this guide will be a good way to get a full understanding of all the features on the denon avrs.

-- no1lives4ever

 

[iamanand]

@ no1lives4ever, AVR 1311 doesn't have audyssey so have to setup manually
Thanks for the link, I will go through it before asking any further questions

 

[tirthankar]

get a db meter.. you can buy a cheap one from any good electronics shop or order one from geb or shopyourworld for within 3000. or you may get it from a friend if some one has it.

Place the meter in your primary listening position(s) and adjust the gain on each of the satellites till the reading on the meter is approximately the same for each channel. use the test tones during the adjustment, it sends white noise to the speakers and keeps the sound clean.
you may keep the center channel a little higher if you have difficulty in catching dialogues, but too high may break the consistency among the fronts and the center. adjust according to your liking. and make sure that the room is as silent as possible. I turned off everything including the fan during the operation (man it was hot... )

For the subwoofer besides the setting on the receiver, the location is very important as well. you can search the net.. there are many good subwoofer placement guides available. heres one of them I liked Audioholics Subwoofer Placement Guidelines

what speakers are you using? telling us the speakers and the sub you are using will help determinse what crossover you should use. for satellites it is recommended to keep the crossover at 120 Hz.
Also in bass setting, use LFE and not LFE + Mains and set the Low Pass filter for LFE at 110-120 Hz, too high and it may make your sub sound bad.

Edit: Noted you are using paradigm 70 ct. crossover for each channel should not me lower than 120. you can try increasing it and see if you like the sound better.

 

[edjamesx]

Hi,

Can someone help me with the settings of Denon 1311, I have Paradigm 70CT speakers attached to AVR.

I have setup distance, spkr size.
Not sure with the frequency what should be setup, currently it 80hz for all and 120hz fro SW.. What if I change this settings? have tried changing it but there were noticable difference after that.

setup distance is differentiation in sound level how the sound have to be arrived to your ears. This is very important setup to acheive good sound stage.

Sit at your comfort listening postiion and measure the distance to your Home theater front speakers and keep note.

Keep SP distance of center speaker 1 feet (more)above than front speakers. Your dialogs will reach your ears first.So it will be clear.

Keep SUB distance same as front speaker. This is to properly align the BASS to front speakers. If your sub is placed in the corner then Keep 2 feet more than the front speakers so that both sound will arrive at your ears at the same time.

Keep the surround sepakers distance accordingly by measuring its distance.

For setting up frequency response refer your speakers manual. Most of the speakers work best at 80hz-100hz.

Also keep the sp level settings of the each speaker in correct db, so that each speaker has correct louder level.

Now your Home theater will rock.

 

[iamanand]

Thanks a million tirthankar and edjamesx for your valuable inputs..

For the subwoofer besides the setting on the receiver, the location is very important as well. you can search the net.. there are many good subwoofer placement guides available. heres one of them I liked Audioholics Subwoofer Placement Guidelines

what speakers are you using? telling us the speakers and the sub you are using will help determinse what crossover you should use. for satellites it is recommended to keep the crossover at 120 Hz.
Also in bass setting, use LFE and not LFE + Mains and set the Low Pass filter for LFE at 110-120 Hz, too high and it may make your sub sound bad.

@tirthankar, I can't get the DB meter :sad:, will have to check if any of my friend is having it but I doubt. Currently, I am using LFE only since LFE+Mains are suggested only for Large speakers. what happens if we change low pass filter for LFE? (Sorry for such foolish questions, jave not idea what it is)

setup distance is differentiation in sound level how the sound have to be arrived to your ears. This is very important setup to acheive good sound stage.

Sit at your comfort listening postiion and measure the distance to your Home theater front speakers and keep note.

Keep SP distance of center speaker 1 feet (more)above than front speakers. Your dialogs will reach your ears first.So it will be clear.

Keep SUB distance same as front speaker. This is to properly align the BASS to front speakers. If your sub is placed in the corner then Keep 2 feet more than the front speakers so that both sound will arrive at your ears at the same time.

Keep the surround sepakers distance accordingly by measuring its distance.

For setting up frequency response refer your speakers manual. Most of the speakers work best at 80hz-100hz.

Also keep the sp level settings of the each speaker in correct db, so that each speaker has correct louder level.

Now your Home theater will rock.

@edjamesx, I will try to change this tonight and let you know the results. Really curious to see difference after changing crossover frequncy from 80hz to 120hz. Also reading thru Batpig's guide, found interesting and helpful as well.

Any suggestions for any other setting are welcome..

EDIT: forgot one thing, I have Tata Sky HD and earlier my AVR used to detect Dolby when I watch HD channels but from couple of days its not detecting Dolby neither automatically nor manually selecting.. Stereo, PLII, Neo 6, Direct are only shown when tried to change it from my remote... have I messed up anything??? But yes, it detects Dolby D when I am using Xtreamer.

Thanks

 

[tirthankar]

you can think of lpf(low pass filter) for lfe as the upper cut off for the lfe channel, similar to speaker crossover, which is a high pass filter and determines the lower cut off for the speaker channels.

it basically prevents any frequency higher than the defined frequency to be sent to the lfe channel.
the crossover makes sure that frequency lower than the defined frequency is sent to the lfe channel.

 

[gannyboy]

Hi
DB meter is available as an app to most high end phones nowadays like iphone, N8 , xperia..etc..u can download the app from their respective app sites like nokia store , android store etc.. its working fine but ive not compared it with a dedicated decibel meter.Hope this helps

cheers!!

 

[edjamesx]

EDIT: forgot one thing, I have Tata Sky HD and earlier my AVR used to detect Dolby when I watch HD channels but from couple of days its not detecting Dolby neither automatically nor manually selecting.. Stereo, PLII, Neo 6, Direct are only shown when tried to change it from my remote... have I messed up anything??? But yes, it detects Dolby D when I am using Xtreamer.

Thanks

Hi iamanand,
This means your receiver haven't recvieved proper dolby audio from your Tata SKY box. Try connecting through digital coaxial cable from Tata sky box to your receiver instead of HDMI cable. Many people complained about dolby signal is not working via HDMI cable.

 

[iamanand]

yeah.. I was just reading few posts that people are not getting Dolby D 5.1 sound from their HDMI cable on their TataSky however sound thru Coaxial cable is working perfectly fine. I'll have to buy new Coaxial cable while going home today

Hopefully TataSky technical team may fix this issue as soon as possible and I won't need to regret on my decision of buying TataSky over AirtelHD

 

[Kittu]

yeah.. I was just reading few posts that people are not getting Dolby D 5.1 sound from their HDMI cable on their TataSky however sound thru Coaxial cable is working perfectly fine. I'll have to buy new Coaxial cable while going home today

Hopefully TataSky technical team may fix this issue as soon as possible and I won't need to regret on my decision of buying TataSky over AirtelHD

Even if tatasky is not going to fix it , you are good going with tatasky. Airtel sucks .

PS : I have airtel dth, waiting for balance to hit 0 or -

 

[edjamesx]

Even if tatasky is not going to fix it , you are good going with tatasky. Airtel sucks .

PS : I have airtel dth, waiting for balance to hit 0 or -

Comparing to Airtel tatasky is better in customer care. But qualitywise both are equal and tatasky is bringinf more hd channels quickly than airtel.

For me pictures are getting freezed frequently in National discovery channel in Airtel HD. I complained to airtel..they came and changed my antenna's direction. I have to wait and see.

I preferred Airtel over tatasky only because Airtel has more regional channels than tata sky.

 

[iamanand]

Today, I have launched complaint at Tata Sky for DD 5.1 problem and they would be sending technician at home to check the problem. Even though I know Dolby D 5.1 works with coax and having problem with HDMI (currently) I wanted to get this acknowledged by Tata Sky (as they claim they provide Dolby D 5.1 sound for their HD channels).

@edjamesx, I have changed crossover freq from 80Hz to 120Hz for all the speakers but didn't notice any difference (checked on TataSky HD channels).. yet to check it with movies by playing with Xtreamer. Other than HD stuff I feel that my speakers are useless as they won't produce quality sound.. Is this something like, we can get the quality only when played quality material/media?? (Obviously, it make sense to me but still expecting more than my desktop 2.1 speakrs).. I am sure I am missing some other settings too.

 

[tirthankar]

The thing is.. when you move up the hi fi ladder, the source becomes more and more important. When a speaker is better or more revealing, it will reveal both the details and imperfections by the same degree.. so if the source has too much noise / lack of detail, that becomes more apparent when you use better speakers.

for example if you play 128 kbps mp3 with this speaker, it is bound to sound worse than your desktop speakers.

 

[iamanand]

thanks alot tirthankar, that was quite informative for me.

 

[iamanand]

I still think there is something wrong with my setting :sad:

here are specs of my speakers, looking at below what settings you guys suggest me that would be best?

Center speaker specs:

Crossover 3rd-order electro-acoustic at 2.2 kHz
Low-Frequency Extension* 85 Hz (DIN)
Frequency Response:
On-Axis: 2 dB from 130 Hz - 20 kHz
30 Off-Axis: 2 dB from 130 Hz - 15 kHz
Sensitivity - Room / Anechoic: 89 dB / 86 dB

Front speakers specs:
Crossover: 3rd-order electro-acoustic at 2.0 kHz
Low-Frequency Extension*: 85 Hz (DIN)
Frequency Response:
On-Axis: 2 dB from 125 Hz - 20 kHz
30 Off-Axis: 2 dB from 125 Hz - 15 kHz
Sensitivity - Room / Anechoic: 87 dB / 84 dB
Suitable Amplifier Power Range: 15 - 80 watts

Sub-woofer specs:
Low-frequency extension: 35Hz (DIN)
Subwoofer cutoff frequency: variable 50Hz - 200Hz
Line-leve input impendance: 10k ohms

 

[edjamesx]

@edjamesx, I have changed crossover freq from 80Hz to 120Hz for all the speakers but didn't notice any difference (checked on TataSky HD channels).. yet to check it with movies by playing with Xtreamer. Other than HD stuff I feel that my speakers are useless as they won't produce quality sound.. Is this something like, we can get the quality only when played quality material/media?? (Obviously, it make sense to me but still expecting more than my desktop 2.1 speakrs).. I am sure I am missing some other settings too.

Hi iamanand,
You told you didnt quality sound. What do you lack in your sound?. BASS or clarity?.
Sound also depends on the soure material sound quality. Check with your TV how it sounds. If its good there then it should be definetly a lot better in your HT speakers.
But for me sound is good in Airtel HD box in dicovery channel . Its with dolby surround sound.
Also Try with original DVD movie with the dolby surround audio.

Crossover 3rd-order electro-acoustic at 2.2 kHz
Low-Frequency Extension* 85 Hz (DIN)
Frequency Response:
On-Axis: 2 dB from 130 Hz - 20 kHz
30 Off-Axis: 2 dB from 130 Hz - 15 kHz
Sensitivity - Room / Anechoic: 89 dB / 86 dB

80hz is the most recommended cross over settings for most of the Home Theater speakers.
Is your sound flat at 80hz ?. What do you lack?

 

[iamanand]

Hi,

While watching TataSky HD channels I am lacking bass as I am still not getting Dolby D 5.1 sound for HD channels on my TataSky. But while watching movies using bluray Rips and playing them thru Xtreamer bass is good but again vocals and other sound is lacking, if I increase voluume upto 65/75% vocals get audible but during music it becomes way loud so have to reduce (I got rid of playing with remote, increase and decrease through out the movie)

When the crossovers was set to 80Hz I was feeling sound was not so clear/audible from all the way though music was fine including bass management (but yes I had to increase crossover from the sub upto 60-65%, may be bcoz its low power sub??).. when I changed crossovers to 120Hz I was feeling fronts and center are doing same job there were not such noticeable difference between fronts and center. Again I changed these settings as follows: Fronts- 100Hz, Center-120Hz, Surround-100Hz and in bass management sub is set to 120Hz.. now I still feel the dialogs/vocals are low and have to be lil bit more louder than what its is currently, even after increasing volume to more than 50% in order to listen to the dialogs clearly.
I have few questions,
- What if center's crossover is higher than fronts & surround?
- Bass is not that much punchy or sometimes feeling I am lacking bass, do I have to change crossover for it?
- What sound we normally should use for watching movies (in percentage)?
- I have setup distance, speaker size and crossovers.
- Input Mode is set to Auto so shouldn't be any problem from this side
- Input assign - was not sure about this setting so yet to touch this setting.

I hope its not confusing, I am new to this so its lil bit difficult for me to explain using technical terms.

Thanks

 

[edjamesx]

While watching TataSky HD channels I am lacking bass as I am still not getting Dolby D 5.1 sound for HD channels on my TataSky.

Even after connecting through digital coaxial cable r u not getting dolby digtital sound from Tatasky box?.

But while watching movies using bluray Rips and playing them thru Xtreamer bass is good but again vocals and other sound is lacking, if I increase voluume upto 65/75% vocals get audible but during music it becomes way loud so have to reduce (I got rid of playing with remote, increase and decrease through out the movie)

If your vocals are not clear then you can increase the SP level settings of the center speaker +2 or +4db in your AMP.

To adjust it properly , Play some movie and keep the volume in the hearing level . Now listen to the dialogs from center speaker. increase the center speaker's sp level until you hear the voice clearly at the same time its well balanced with front speakers sound. Genreally only +2b to +3db increase is recommended.

Also placement of the SUB in the room also matters. Go to splevel settings of the SUB now you should be hearing the sound only from SUB. Increase the volume in the AMP to the full level. Now keep changing the position of the SUB in the corner( moving near wall or moving away from wall) until you hear a deep and clear BASS. At the same time make sure it doesnt boom, If it booms move away from wall a little.
Also try adjusting LFE/BASS settings of your SUB. The knobs may be located in the backside of the SUB. Generally its good to keep this settings to 5% to 10%. Keeping more than that will boom.

Also Try this,

Go to speaker settings of the AMP. Change the speaker type of center channel to - SMALL. Keep the speaker type of front speakers to- LARGE.- It will increase the BASS.
And Subwoofer-Yes.

Tryp adjusting BASS/Terrible settings of your AMP to desired level until you hear a required BASS.

When the crossovers was set to 80Hz I was feeling sound was not so clear/audible from all the way though music was fine including bass management (but yes I had to increase crossover from the sub upto 60-65%, may be bcoz its low power sub??).. when I changed crossovers to 120Hz I was feeling fronts and center are doing same job there were not such noticeable difference between fronts and center. Again I changed these settings as follows: Fronts- 100Hz, Center-120Hz, Surround-100Hz and in bass management sub is set to 120Hz.. now I still feel the dialogs/vocals are low and have to be lil bit more louder than what its is currently, even after increasing volume to more than 50% in order to listen to the dialogs clearly.
I have few questions,
- What if center's crossover is higher than fronts & surround?
- Bass is not that much punchy or sometimes feeling I am lacking bass, do I have to change crossover for it?
- What sound we normally should use for watching movies (in percentage)?
- I have setup distance, speaker size and crossovers.
- Input Mode is set to Auto so shouldn't be any problem from this side
- Input assign - was not sure about this setting so yet to touch this setting.

I hope its not confusing, I am new to this so its lil bit difficult for me to explain using technical terms.

Thanks

If your cross over settings is more than 100hz then your highs will be very bright. You may not feel the bass. Keep the cross over settings of the speakers to 100hz and subwoofers crossover to 80hz.


By the way where are you located?

 

[tirthankar]

If your cross over settings is more than 100hz then your highs will be very bright. You may not feel the bass. Keep the cross over settings of the speakers to 100hz and subwoofers crossover to 80hz.

I dont understand.. how can crossover affect how bright a speaker will sound? unless what u mean is that decreasing the crossover will send more low frequency sound to the satellites and hence it will overwhelm the trebele slightly to make it sound less bright..
I dont think keeping the crossover too low or setting the speaker to large for satellites is a good idea as that will make them work harder than they are meant to. Ideally satellites are not supposed to be handling lower than 110-120 Hz, 80 is more bookshelf territory.

@OP: did you try what was posted earlier about channel levelling? if you cant use a db meter use your ear ears.. sit at the mean listening position , close your eyes and go through the channels with the test tones and equalise them. After that if you feel the center is tool low then you can push it up a bit.
edjamesx gave some good pointers about subwoofer placement in the last thread. one thing I would like to add is the best way to arrive at the correct bass setting for the woofer is with some bass heavy music. Set the bypass crossover on subwoofer to "Off" (if any) or set the LPF dial behind the woofer at the right most position.. set the subwoofer channel in the amp to -10 to -11 db (I would say it is better not to set it too high over here) and adjust the gain dial behind the sub till it does not feel like over powering the other frequencies. Then play some thing and experiment with position.