Originally Posted By: Micah

Unless someone like Grunt who is currently on the 'don't care for' side of the line but can't stop himself from tinkering finally finds a setting he likes well enough to leave Audyssey on!

First I will never stop tinkering. Hell I’m planning to eventually put up sliding rails to mount my QS8s from with Full Metal Brackets so I can continue to tinker even after they are wall mounted.

That said I gave up on tinkering with this iteration of Audyssey. I really wish it did work for me, because I do like part of it’s effect especially here in my largest room so far. It noticeably enhances the 3D nature of the surround sound-field so that discrete sounds like the glass and concrete exploding around you at the beginning of “Appleseed” don’t just come from various directions but you also distinctly hear them hitting right next to you and all the way out past the walls.

OTOH what it does to the front soundstage is awful. The EQ curve it applies makes male voices sound very hollow and tinny. The best example is “Master and Commander” where Russell Crowe’s voice sounds like he’s talking through two tin cans connected by a string. No exaggeration it’s really that bad.

Nor am I a purist. I do like Dolby Pro-Logic 2 and 2x for some things but not universally. I also like some of the virtual room modes like “Jazz Club” for some things but again as always for me it’s source dependent.

I’m sure my next receiver will have some room correction capability, more than likely Audyssey since it seems more and more that SN’s and Outlaw’s implementation of Trinnov is a not starter.

So I may drink the cool-aid some day…spiked with tequila of course.

Cheers,
Dean

3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1