What to buy to improve audio performance on HT?

[tanmayj]

Hi, I own a Harman/ Kardon AVR 132 receiver which is coupled to JBL SCS 200.5 5.1 speaker system. I've connected a Sony BDP S370 Blu Ray player via Optical connection, and my Tata Sky HD STB via Coax to the HK AVR.

Now, as far as movies and other HD content (both from the TataSky HD STB and the Blu Ray Player) is concerned, I'm totally satisfied with the performance. Both during action movies (like Die Hard etc.) and musicals (like 'Rockstar' or 'This is it - Michael Jackson') The speakers sound totally Boombastic! Completely satisfied.

With audio streams from Blu Rays, or other HD content from Tata Sky, this issue doesnt arise because Blu Rays typically push out 1-2 Mbps of audio bitrate for their master audio, which is punchy enough to sound fantastic without further tweaking.

But with Audio CDs, MP3s (even 320 Kbps bitrate), or music DVDs (640 Kbps) unfortunately there's something left to be desired.

I usually listen to music in my car, where my car-audio has a lot of options to tweak the audio (such as 5 band graphic equalizers, additional bass-boosting etc.). Sadly my BDP S370 just passes 'flat' audio to the AVR which I dont find punchy enough. The AVR has a lot of options to change the effects such as theaters etc., but not a graphic-equalizer equivalent. Because of this, I cannot tweak the audio like I do in the car, and cannot enjoy it.

I tried to remedy the problem by installing a DNM 10 Band x 2 Graphic Equalizer in the setup. I connected the analog out of the BDP S370 to the Graphic Equalizer, and then the GE to the analog inputs of the AVR. But that's like using stone-age tools with space-age technology! The GE is of a poor build quality and plagued by loose contacts etc., and was overall a bad idea.

Please suggest a way to remedy the issue by either:
1) Buying a separate standalone DVD/ CD Player which has Graphic Equalizers inbuilt into it
2) Buying a better quality external GE
3) Any other tweaks that will help me in this situation

 

[pupupuchi28]

Get a better AVR which has built in GE and compressed file enhancer.

 

[marsilians]

First off note that listening to music in car is very different than home because of the enclosed nature. its similar to listening via headphones. Lots of dynamics and bass are enhanced in such surroundings.

The cheapest tweaks you can consider are room treatments - trust me this will improve the sound a fair bit and also placement. If you state what is lacking in a bit more detail then we can suggest a few options.

 

[doors666]

I am not familiar with the equipment, so at best its a guess work.
I presume you are using digital out from bluray to the amp, so the source quality kinda becomes irrelevant. HK usually makes pretty decent avrs, not sure about your specific model. I think your speakers are the issue here for 2 channel music. if you change your avr, bdp etc, gains might not be that much. By tweaking different things eg playing around with a GE etc might give you little bit more in terms of sq, but it wont be a whole lot of improvements.