Audyssey and dialogue level

19924 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by gazoink, Apr 21, 2014

omega6666

Discussion Starter · Feb 9, 2014

Last night I did another Audyssey calibration. As a result all my 'dialogue levels', in every preset, were set to -1,5 dB. I have a Denon AVR X2000.

I've never found any suggestion that this could be set (by Denon, I presume) as a result of Audyssey's calibration. Furthermore it's a hard thing to Google, since almost every hit has nothing to do with the actual dialogue level setting.

Since I was never interested in setting dialogue level, I've never looked into it. What's the main difference between setting the level of the center speaker, and changing the 'dialogue level'?

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hjones4841

· #2 · Feb 13, 2014

Nothing, really, since the center channel is where dialog "occurs." Do you have a sound level meter to check the result of Audyssey's channel levels? Sometimes it makes a mistake. Besides, there is really nothing wrong with setting a particular channel up or down from Audyssey's settings. I have done that on my center and many of us run the sub channel "hot."

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hopper12

· #3 · Feb 13, 2014

I have found that a little increase in center volume helps blend my denon

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BeeMan458

· #4 · Mar 13, 2014

For normal commercial television viewing, we have the CC jacked up +3dB and the subs jacked up +3dB also. For "normal" commercial television viewing, we listen in the -40dBfs to -30dBfs range.

For movies, we jack up the CC an additional +4dB and the subs are jacked up +7dB and to compensate, the volume is set to -17.5dBfs. Occasionally, the CC dialogue recording is so poorly done, we'll have to stop the movie, jack the CC up an additional +3dB to +6dB just to understand all the whispering going on with the action sound track playing over the dialogue.

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primetimeguy

· #5 · Mar 14, 2014

BeeMan458 said:
For normal commercial television viewing, we have the CC jacked up +3dB and the subs jacked up +3dB also. For "normal" commercial television viewing, we listen in the -40dBfs to -30dBfs range.

For movies, we jack up the CC an additional +4dB and the subs are jacked up +7dB and to compensate, the volume is set to -17.5dBfs. Occasionally, the CC dialogue recording is so poorly done, we'll have to stop the movie, jack the CC up an additional +3dB to +6dB just to understand all the whispering going on with the action sound track playing over the dialogue.

To me that seems like a red flag that either your have some room/reflection issues or some speaker issues. I know some people like to boost it a couple three db to make it easier to hear, to each their own. But 3+4 so 7db and sometimes 3-6db more so 10-15db total? I have never felt the need to bump it 1db. Think how it would sound if you bumped up the level of just your front left speaker 10db, how much that would change the sound stage and I bet you wouldn't like it. May be worth investigating more.

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tonyvdb

· #6 · Mar 14, 2014

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you could post how your front speakers are placed in the room that would be ideal.

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BeeMan458

· #7 · Mar 14, 2014 (Edited)

primetimeguy said:
May be worth investigating more.

Thank you for the thought. I figure after over a plus year of investigating what's what with what, I have nothing more to investigate. There's only so far one can push a sonic string and then they have to work with what they have.

We replaced the CC with a Klipsch RC-64 II.

We upgraded the AVR to a (Marantz SR5007) equipped with XT and added Anti-Mode 8033S II. We weren't happy with the results so we upgraded the SR5007 to an AVR unit (Denon AVR4520CI) that has Audyssey XT32 w/SubEQ HT. We upgraded the blu-ray player to a universal blu-ray player which is set to bitstream to the AVR and the AVR unpacks the LPCM. We upgraded to a pair of high output subwoofers and for the effort, have a beautiful graph.

We figure those sound engineers have headphones on and the dialogue is much easier to hear as opposed to listening over all the rest of the transient sound track. Set up the way I described has increased the listenability of the sound tracks immensely and my wife is much happier with the sound quality.

tonyvdb said:
A picture is worth a thousand words. If you could post how your front speakers are placed in the room that would be ideal

As to how the front three speakers are set up, the first image is from my listening position, the second image is from my wife's listening position. The third image is of the back wall with the surrounds. Due to furniture placement, the speakers have been intentionally set up in an asymmetrical placement fashion. Again, thank-you for the thoughtful concern. The setup works very well and there's no need for concern as it has a wonderful sound stage that's quite the pleasure to enjoy.

...

Hopefully one won't think ill of me for enjoying this sort of purposeful setup. A lot of time, effort and money was put into this final setup and it's a setup to die for that one has to experience to appreciate the compelling sound quality being produced.

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tonyvdb

· #8 · Mar 14, 2014

BeeMan, my question was directed at the OP but seeing as you like to talk about your setup I do see one issue. Your centre channel needs to be pushed forward so the front hangs over the front of that cabinet just ever so slightly. You will improve the sound from it noticeably by doing so.

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BeeMan458

· #9 · Mar 14, 2014

tonyvdb said:
BeeMan, my question was directed at the OP but seeing as you like to talk about your setup I do see one issue. Your centre channel needs to be pushed forward so the front hangs over the front of that cabinet just ever so slightly. You will improve the sound from it noticeably by doing so.

My apologies as to me, your response was in the context of the post before yours, which referenced the settings of my system.

Thank you for your thoughtful thought regarding the placement of our CC.

(just saying, if it helps, there isn't any problem with our system, placement of the speakers nor is there anything wrong with our levels settings)

But again, thank-you for your thoughtful suggestion.

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86eldel68-deactivated

· #10 · Mar 14, 2014

Since I was never interested in setting dialogue level, I've never looked into it. What's the main difference between setting the level of the center speaker, and changing the 'dialogue level'?

There's no difference - they're one and the same.

With Dynamic EQ 'on', I find that I need to boost my CC / Dialogue level by ~2-3dB vs. the level with with DEQ set to 'off'.

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Mike0206

· #11 · Mar 14, 2014

eljay said:
There's no difference - they're one and the same. With Dynamic EQ 'on', I find that I need to boost my CC / Dialogue level by ~2-3dB vs. the level with with DEQ set to 'off'.

I have to do the same. I also find that dynamic volume has a tendency to reduce dialogue as well. Instead of boosting soft sounds( like when a movie has soft dialogue or soft effects) it seems like it just reduces the loud sounds or loud effects. I have to leave dynamic volume and dynamic eq off in order to be satisfied with audyssey. Sometimes I disengage audyssey all together and for certain movies it just sounds better, less choked up if you will. I think it is more of an issue with the fact audyssey has a hard time calibrating bipolar speakers of which all mine are.

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gazoink

· #12 · Apr 21, 2014

Mike0206 said:
I think it is more of an issue with the fact audyssey has a hard time calibrating bipolar speakers of which all mine are.

Correct. Bipolars confuse things because the direct and reflected fields are closer in strength, but different in response, with the reflected field smeared in the time domain. Not much you can do with that, Audyssey or not. But bipolars and their ilk do sound huge and spacious, which some interpret as "real".

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