Did you use YPAO to auto-calibrate the system??? ...Do you have an SPL meter???
Thank you for your response. I do not have a SPL meter and I don't think I'll be getting one. I did use the YPAO to auto calibrate the system a couple of times. It did a good job. All my speaker distances were auto selected properly. The test signal goes around to each speaker as it should. The resulting SPL's were calculated by the software properly. A decent enough sound resulted.
That being said, maybe I personally find it too bland. I need more bass, so I crank up all the bass. I want more side sound and rear sound, so I have them all cranked full. Whenever I get "too much" of something I can reduce it. Not that scientific but attempting to be "more pleasing"
Yes medium SPL, halfway between full and minimum.
What brand/model speakers are you using???
For fronts I have 2 - JBL EON 15's - set large
For sides I have 2 - Cerwin Vega D9's - set small
For rears I have 2 - homebuilt with Hi Vi full range drivers - set large
Subwoofer - large ported cabinet, 18" Mach 5 driver, set to sub only
The rears do not sound that much different set either large or small so really I have used both quite a bit.
The sides are set small to transfer their low frequency to the sub. It also prevents the woofer from fluttering at the low end
The fronts are set to large because
(a) they sound "fuller" and thus "better"
(b) I can switch the sub off easily at night when others have gone to bed. I am still left with enough bass to be pleasing, without having to dive in to the menu.
What other option do you have in the sat/receiver???
PCM stereo or mono
If you set the player to PCM multichannel, You are letting the player decode the audio, Right??? ...What happens if you set it to Auto and let the AVR decode the audio???
This gets a little weird, can change a bit, I have used auto a lot but just recently changed.
The player will decode "regular types of Dolby" and output via bitstream. Whenever it encounters a more advanced codec it auto outputs via PCM multi. This is all good until you play an older authored disk. I have caught a few outputting in stereo instead of Dolby. Forcing PCM multi will force multi from those disks too.
This is all good until you consider I am enhancing back to stereo anyway.
You see with the disk player I am busy trying to get them to output the 1080p properly. I am at the 4th software upgrade for the player. Each one has changed something a bit, but I am never sure what. The player came unable to output 1080p / 24. Good by me cause my set doesn't support that anyway. Well they got it enabled but now I have to monkey around when changing formats. It can also change depending on what you were doing before, watching TV, listening to music, a fresh boot up. The HDMI handshake will change what you get too. So I go in to the player menu and change between 1080p 60 and 1080p 24. HD disks like it one way, regular DVD likes it the other way. This can change too depending on the software iteration. I remeber this changing 180 degrees after and upgrade.
So the last thing I want to do is have to adjust the audio via menu. You have to turn a HD DVD off and restart from before the disk menu, (yukkk).
changing the distance will change the delay time not the loudness .
I understand that, however, I can't say I tried all the buttons and settings unless I do, multiple times. I would be quite willing to put up with incorrect delay times if I could make it much louder. That is not how it works though. My real distances are 6, 7, or 8 feet depending on the speaker. I tried setting them to 20 feet or so and doubled up on the "actual effect level" in a few instances. I could hear to reverb more and would have left it on that way, except for my original question or problem;
1. I am trying to hear the rear speakers at other times than the test signal. If they are on low for 5 minutes out of 60 - then that is not enough for me. I do not have any room to move the side speakers behind us. I found a way to make the rear speakers sing - but it is a stereo mode. Short of driving them with their own amp and volume control I can't see any other way? But I don't want all that if they are off most of the time anyway.
Believe me. I'm not the only one who would like to have their rear speakers blasting away. Like I said, I would rather "turn down" the effects when they get too strong.
