Vocals

churfsan

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
104
Points
0
Location
Hyderabad
Hi,

Whenever I listen to English songs, I have difficulty in listening to the vocals clearly, maybe because of heavy music accompaniment. I listen to slow-medium fast songs, not the heavy rock / rap type.

If I increase center speaker level, will it help? Or is this only for use in movies with 5.1 tracks. How can I expect to improve clarity of the voice?

What is the best setting on the AVR for listening to stereo music? The AVR has settings for Dolby PL-II, there is also the "Direct Stereo" etc.

The AVR is Yamaha RX-V459, Speakers: Wharfedale MovieStar 70 5.1 setup

Source is either CD or high bit rate MP3 (320 KBPS)

Thanks
 
Hey,
Am not an HT guy at all but u will be better served by listening to stereo with all ur surround off. Boosting center is not the right way at all. Direct stereo seems to be the correct option
Rgds
 
Hi,

Whenever I listen to English songs, I have difficulty in listening to the vocals clearly, maybe because of heavy music accompaniment. I listen to slow-medium fast songs, not the heavy rock / rap type.

If I increase center speaker level, will it help? Or is this only for use in movies with 5.1 tracks. How can I expect to improve clarity of the voice?

What is the best setting on the AVR for listening to stereo music? The AVR has settings for Dolby PL-II, there is also the "Direct Stereo" etc.

The AVR is Yamaha RX-V459, Speakers: Wharfedale MovieStar 70 5.1 setup

Source is either CD or high bit rate MP3 (320 KBPS)

Thanks

5.1 HT setup is not ideal for stereo music, but Dolby Prologic II should be good, also All Channel should be good or any equivalent setting in Yamaha that will output via all speakers at the same time.
 
5.1 HT setup is not ideal for stereo music, but Dolby Prologic II should be good, also All Channel should be good or any equivalent setting in Yamaha that will output via all speakers at the same time.

Thanks, I will try it out.
Although I have no intention or the means to change my setup, I would like to know whether on more high-end system, you will have better separation of vocals and different instruments. Whether AVR will play main role or the speakers?

Thanks
 
Although I have no intention or the means to change my setup, I would like to know whether on more high-end system, you will have better separation of vocals and different instruments. Whether AVR will play main role or the speakers?

Churfsan, to a large extent it is the recording and mixing that have a say in the way a music is presented. That is why we keep screaming bad recording, bad recording.

With a well recorded CD, yes a better system will be able top present it better. A careful mix of CD Player, amplifier, and speakers do make a difference.

What I would suggest is as follows. Cut one your CDs in to a MP3 file with a high bit rate - minimum of 256kbps. If you can use a Apple Lossless format it is even better.

Listen to the song using an iPod and good pair of headphones. Are you able to hear the vocals clearly, and all the instruments even when you play at low volume?

If so it is time you looked at tuning your system.

Mind you all this is about sterephonic sound.

Cheers
 
hi, what you are noticing is exactly what I noticed in my Philips 5.1 system.
The sats are so small that actually they cannot give the full range required for the song. So, the centre channel had to be bumped up and that being bigger than sats do a better job. In fact it was quite dominant than sats and better than them, that when I wanted to sell the set, my friend was asking if I can sell the centre channel alone for him. However, this problem was never there in any other bookshelf I auditioned. Your comment took me back 2 years to the Philips problem. I would say that no harm in bumping up centre channel to get the vocals better. But, however my recommendation will be slightly different here. I would say just spend 11k for a diamond 9.1 and put them as fronts. Use them either in 7.1 or 5.1 or a seperate 2 channel in second zone mode. There will be tremendous improvement than what you are noticing now. Until then bumping up the centre is the shortcut.
 
Thanks, I will try it out.
Although I have no intention or the means to change my setup, I would like to know whether on more high-end system, you will have better separation of vocals and different instruments. Whether AVR will play main role or the speakers?

Thanks

A combination of both actually. Very good AVR/stereo receiver with bad speakers will still give bad output and vice versa too. I have had the most mileage though with good quality speakers, but YMMV. Also with technology changing so much any AVR/stereo receiver gets outdated so soon these days, but investing in good speakers will last you many years.
 
Churfsan, to a large extent it is the recording and mixing that have a say in the way a music is presented. That is why we keep screaming bad recording, bad recording.

With a well recorded CD, yes a better system will be able top present it better. A careful mix of CD Player, amplifier, and speakers do make a difference.

What I would suggest is as follows. Cut one your CDs in to a MP3 file with a high bit rate - minimum of 256kbps. If you can use a Apple Lossless format it is even better.

Listen to the song using an iPod and good pair of headphones. Are you able to hear the vocals clearly, and all the instruments even when you play at low volume?

If so it is time you looked at tuning your system.

Mind you all this is about sterephonic sound.

Cheers

Thank you, Venkat.

I will try your suggestion and post back the results
 
hi, what you are noticing is exactly what I noticed in my Philips 5.1 system.
The sats are so small that actually they cannot give the full range required for the song. So, the centre channel had to be bumped up and that being bigger than sats do a better job. In fact it was quite dominant than sats and better than them, that when I wanted to sell the set, my friend was asking if I can sell the centre channel alone for him. However, this problem was never there in any other bookshelf I auditioned. Your comment took me back 2 years to the Philips problem. I would say that no harm in bumping up centre channel to get the vocals better. But, however my recommendation will be slightly different here. I would say just spend 11k for a diamond 9.1 and put them as fronts. Use them either in 7.1 or 5.1 or a seperate 2 channel in second zone mode. There will be tremendous improvement than what you are noticing now. Until then bumping up the centre is the shortcut.

Thank you Gopi

I was wondering whether center speaker will have a role to play in stereo music. My earlier impression was that it produces the vocals in a 5.1 recording, as the recording itself will mix voice for the center channel.

As you say, the center speaker is definitely bigger (double) than the satellite and having more frequency range as well. I will follow your suggestion and see if there is major improvement.

If I go for a 9.1 diamond, will I still need a sub? Do these speakers go fairly low to enjoy the song without the sub? If we connect as 2nd zone, whether low-frequency will be still routed to sub, or will it be purely 2-channel setup?

Thanks again
Churfsan
 
sub won''t be routed for a room 2 mostly. Also, 9.1 doesn't go low enough particularly if you are coming from using a sub. You might have to play it with the sub only.
 
Hi,

I have the same AVR and found it best in 2ch stereo. However, do have a look at the connections from the source to the AVR. Direct in the 459 works best if your source player is excellent ( good quality CDP). Try listening through the amp using a good quality headphones to rule out whether the speakers are alright for audio.
 
Hi,

I have the same AVR and found it best in 2ch stereo. However, do have a look at the connections from the source to the AVR. Direct in the 459 works best if your source player is excellent ( good quality CDP). Try listening through the amp using a good quality headphones to rule out whether the speakers are alright for audio.

Thanks, I will check it out.
Which speakers you are using, by the way?
 
A friend of mine built the speakers, they are nice, have a 6" driver and tweeter and give 120W at 8 ohm impedance. Waiting to upgrade when the wife and budget agree :)
 
Join WhatsApp group to get HiFiMART.com Offers & Deals delivered to your smartphone!
Back
Top