Hi all, Wondered if you could help me troubleshoot something. We just bought an Onkyo TX-SR507 so we could take full advantage of the sound formats on Blu-Ray (our previous model could not take HDMI) and mostly everything sounds fantastic so far. The only thing I've noticed is that the dialogue sounds pretty soft/muddy in relation to the music/effects. For example, we watched Serenity tonight and the opening scene with River at school the teacher sounded very tinny. Throughout the movie, though, it was fairly difficult to hear what most people were saying without having it SO loud that the sound effects would shake the house. The receiver has an Audissey EQ calibration system (w/ microphone) that I used since my knowledge of speaker is pretty limited. If anyone else has experienced this and might know what setting(s) to manually adjust I'd greatly appreciate it! Thank you.
When you ran the Audyssey, was the mic in your sitting position, at ear height? If not, it should be done in that position. It will make a difference, if you just set it in the seat. Also, how many positions did you run Audyssey in? I had to run it in three positions, before it let me save the settings and quit. You didn't say what speakers and sub you have. Does the center speaker match the fronts? Are you using any of the DSP modes (Hall, Stadium, Club, Movie, etc.)?
I didn't have the mic on the seat, but rather on the armrests of the sofa/loveseat (figured that would be closes to "ear-level"). I can certainly try it again from the seat itself to see what it does. Although, I've read a lot of reports in other forums/reviews, etc. that the Audissey might not be all it's cracked up to be. For one thing, it determined my fronts were Large, and I really don't think they are. We have them hung on the wall, but they're basically large bookshelf speakers...not the tall floorstanding ones. Also, I've read that the Dynamic EQ can over-do the bass and leave the center channel a little soft (which seems to be my problem), but I tried turning that off and it still didn't help. As far as the speakers go, it was an Onkyo system we bought about 6 years ago (Receiver/speakers). I don't know the "specs" of them, but they all should be matched. We never had any issues with the previous receiver producing a full, balanced sound...and no, we're not using any DSP modes. Just the "vanilla" DD or DTS-HD that comes with a lot of HD programming and Blu-Ray movies respectively. Thanks!!
I've not read what you mentioned about Audyssey. All I've seen were people talking about how good it is. It did very well with my 7.1 setup, and my Onkyo 805. If you're not happy with the Audyssey settings, you can get an SPL (Sound Pressure Level) meter from Radio Shack, http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=sound meter&origkw=sound meter&sr=1, and a tune up disc, http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_e...d-keywords=digital+video+essentials&x=8&y=24, and manually setup the speakers. A lot of people go with the Audyssey settings, but raise the center channel and sub just a little. Also make sure the phase is right on the center speaker (same wire on + side of receiver connection, is in + side of speaker connection). The speakers coming from a "system" (HTIB) means they were matched with the receiver in the system. Changing receivers, even to another Onkyo, doesn't necessarily mean it will match well with the speakers. If you have access to another speaker you can try as the center, see if it still has the tinny sound. Maybe try a bigger speaker. It will have bigger drivers, and shouldn't sound tinny. Good luck!
