Upgrade suggestions

[MaSh]

My fronts are at +9db( range is -12 to +12) with centre being +11db. So i really dont have muc room left here. And what do you really mean by Dsp settings?

Wow thats really high and does not sound right. Are these numbers set by the Auto Setup? Center at +11 is a Red Flag right away.

Thanks Mash for your support.
See initialy u asked me to get a budget sub. I wanted to ask you when u say budget then what does basically budget mean. Coz i can see the companies which specialise in subs their sub usually costs around 50 60k which is quite high and definitely nit budget for me. With rti's which sub do you really suggest? Like any good sugestions..

I have polk audio csi a4 as my center. It is set to small with crossover at 80. And i dont feel space to be an issue, it hs plenty.

Well you are right. By budget, I mean, get the best one you can in your budget. A great place to check is OLX, Hifiads, and the For Sale section in this forum. Great deals come up once in a while. I am also looking to upgrade my Sub.

MaSh

 

[dr_rocket]

With your equipment I see no reason not to have clear and punchy dialogue. What is your source for movies? Have you tried Blu-rays or Blu-ray rips with DTS HD master audio?

 

[Akshit2111]

With your equipment I see no reason not to have clear and punchy dialogue. What is your source for movies? Have you tried Blu-rays or Blu-ray rips with DTS HD master audio?

No i mostly watch movies on youtube netflix and amazon prime. I dont have a blue ray player currently.

 

[Akshit2111]

Wow thats really high and does not sound right. Are these numbers set by the Auto Setup? Center at +11 is a Red Flag right away.



Well you are right. By budget, I mean, get the best one you can in your budget. A great place to check is OLX, Hifiads, and the For Sale section in this forum. Great deals come up once in a while. I am also looking to upgrade my Sub.

MaSh

What to do then? Like if i reduce the center i really have to crank up the volume... i had to set them to this level manually ... default by av was 0.0 db... i too was quite worried setting the level too high but seemed no other option to me.

 

[dinesh1201]

With your equipment I see no reason not to have clear and punchy dialogue. What is your source for movies? Have you tried Blu-rays or Blu-ray rips with DTS HD master audio?

I thought the same but even DVDs gives you the punchy dialogues Although Blu-ray improves the sound and picture quality.

 

[MaSh]

What to do then? Like if i reduce the center i really have to crank up the volume... i had to set them to this level manually ... default by av was 0.0 db... i too was quite worried setting the level too high but seemed no other option to me.

In that case, there is error in Auto Setup. Are you setting up your Mic in the seating positions as mentioned in the manual? If the Auto setup if setting the level of Center at 0.0, then what is the level of your Towers? What volume do you run at on dB scale?

maSh

 

[Akshit2111]

In that case, there is error in Auto Setup. Are you setting up your Mic in the seating positions as mentioned in the manual? If the Auto setup if setting the level of Center at 0.0, then what is the level of your Towers? What volume do you run at on dB scale?

maSh

I think center was default at +1 and other two being 0. Yes mic was placed at my listening level. I watch movies at -22db ( 0 being the loudest).

 

[MaSh]

I think center was default at +1 and other two being 0. Yes mic was placed at my listening level. I watch movies at -22db ( 0 being the loudest).

Yes those values seem normal. So -22db is with values set by Audyssey or after you increase the levels manually?

MaSh

 

[Akshit2111]

Yes those values seem normal. So -22db is with values set by Audyssey or after you increase the levels manually?

MaSh

After i increase the level manually!

 

[MaSh]

After i increase the level manually!

Whats the Volume you listen at without making any manual changes?

 

[Akshit2111]

Whats the Volume you listen at without making any manual changes?

When i had taken my new avr to various places for demo , i had to crank up the volume upto -15 -16 db to get to the desired level for my liking always thinking that maybe avr ia not powerful.. then i cranked up.the channel levels quite high to get the desired output..so now i usually watch movies at -22 to -20 db to get the desired level.

 

[MaSh]

When i had taken my new avr to various places for demo , i had to crank up the volume upto -15 -16 db to get to the desired level for my liking always thinking that maybe avr ia not powerful.. then i cranked up.the channel levels quite high to get the desired output..so now i usually watch movies at -22 to -20 db to get the desired level.

As long as you are under or not having to cross 0.0dB volume, you are fine. This without increasing any levels manually. I usually listen to my Marantz at around -15 to -10dB. I have a volume stop set at 0.0dB.

I would recommend not to increase the Levels to such high levels. They will degrade the quality. Try experimenting with Mic and Speaker positions right till you get the effect you are looking for.

MaSh

 

[tuff]

Are you using a pc or a streamer _Chromecast) as source?

 

[Akshit2111]

Are you using a pc or a streamer _Chromecast) as source?

I have a smart tv. I watch movies on netflix, amazon prime & youtube. Dont possess blue ray player currently.

 

[Akshit2111]

As long as you are under or not having to cross 0.0dB volume, you are fine. This without increasing any levels manually. I usually listen to my Marantz at around -15 to -10dB. I have a volume stop set at 0.0dB.

I would recommend not to increase the Levels to such high levels. They will degrade the quality. Try experimenting with Mic and Speaker positions right till you get the effect you are looking for.

MaSh

Ok so i have drastically reduced my db levels now. My fronts being at +2b and centre at +4db. Is this fine? So now ill be playing movies at around -15db with 0 db being the max volume. If you play your marantz at that level, this means my pioneer isnt performing any inferior.. theres some problem with my ears i guess

 

[elangoas]

Will adding a sub make the dialogue more loud and pronounce. As this is one of the main issues i jave currently. I feel the dialogues in movies are not that loud. The bass i feel ia there but not the dialogue clarity/ loudness..

Adding a sub will not improve dialogues.. Sub is for dedicated LFE channel in movies..

May be something to do with speaker settings (large/small).. If you had set the center as large until now, change it to small so that the fronts (FS) does the bass duty..

If you haven't done the MCACC auto calibration, suggest you to do it, as it will help set correct (each) speaker levels w.r.t your listening position.. Once MCACC is done, you may try using some movie preset in AVR and see if that improves dialogues..

 

[dr_rocket]

I have a smart tv. I watch movies on netflix, amazon prime & youtube. Dont possess blue ray player currently.

Well that explains it. The TV is degrading the sound, possibly downmixing to 2.0 and then the AVR needs more gain on it to produce audible sound. Are you getting dolby digital+ displayed on AVR while playing netflix? How is the TV audio connected to AVR?
I think you mentioned about bluetooth sounding better, probably because it is natively 2.0, so gain required is less on part of AVR.

 

[Akshit2111]

Well that explains it. The TV is degrading the sound, possibly downmixing to 2.0 and then the AVR needs more gain on it to produce audible sound. Are you getting dolby digital+ displayed on AVR while playing netflix? How is the TV audio connected to AVR?
I think you mentioned about bluetooth sounding better, probably because it is natively 2.0, so gain required is less on part of AVR.

So what should i do? It is bizarre to see bluetooth sounding much better. I guess we are close to a possible solution. I have connected my tv through hdmi cable. My tv suports ARC so just one hdmi doing the audio video both. I dont remember whether dts is displayed while playing something from netflix but i guess it plays in dts( i can see that when i select auto surround on my avr remote).
Adding to this i have a setting on my avr as "volume absorber" i dont what it does but this also has a level ranging between -12db to +12db. If i increase this number it has an impact on my audio though not that significant but it has.

I would request all the vetarans here to help me find a possible solution to this. I guess dr_rocket has helped us take the step in right direction.

 

[Akshit2111]

Adding a sub will not improve dialogues.. Sub is for dedicated LFE channel in movies..

May be something to do with speaker settings (large/small).. If you had set the center as large until now, change it to small so that the fronts (FS) does the bass duty..

If you haven't done the MCACC auto calibration, suggest you to do it, as it will help set correct (each) speaker levels w.r.t your listening position.. Once MCACC is done, you may try using some movie preset in AVR and see if that improves dialogues..

Sir
I have set the center to small crossover at 80. Done mcacc too multiple times. But i always felt the volume lacking. The only reason i used to manually crank up the channel levels.

 

[dr_rocket]

HDMI connection should work well. Do check if it is DD+ in netflix. Netflix does not use DTS, it uses DD+ for surround.
Try a bluray player, media player (android box) or PC, using HDMI cable, play a surround sound track, to see if they also have the same problem. Pioneer owners can chip in about settings on Pioneer AVR. I have no idea on auto surround or volume absorber.