Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Audyssey Dynamic Volume

With the HK on the fritz I'm thinking about the Denon 1712 so I can take advantage of some of the newer technology. I am currently running my BR through analog inputs and the huge fluctuations in volume when watching movies drives me crasy. One thing that sounds very interesting to me is the Audyssey Dynamic Volume. Any advice on whether or not to use it and how well it really works?

Dynamic Volume is the one that makes everything the same volume level, right? Well, that volume level is pretty damn low, in my limited experience. Dynamic EQ is the one that "optimizes" for low volume levels, which I found was extremely bloated bass heavy. Sadness.

Dynamic Volume will tame, for example, the loud ads on TV, making them about the same loudness level as regular programming; it will also boost the background level sounds or weak dialog.
Using it, you probably will not need to adjust volume level either because the sound is too loud or too soft; it will always be the same tame sound level. It is in effect, a kind of compressor.

Dynamic EQ changes the boost in the low frequencies; it will reinforce them when the loudness level is below reference to compensate for the fact that, at low loudness levels, our ears are less sensitive to those sounds compared to mid frequencies.
There is also a small compensation for the high frequencies.

Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ are 2 very different animal.

Personnally, i've never used Dynamic Volume as i live alone and never bother anyone when there are loud passages playing and the soft passages are always easily understandable.

hope this helps. :-)

Yes, that does help. With Dynamic Volume I was under the impression that it lessens the difference between the lowest and loudest parts but it sounds from your description like it just makes everything the same volume. Not very exciting for movie watching but I can see some limited uses. The issue I always seem to have is continually raising the volume because the dialog is too low and then having everything else way too loud. maybe Dynamic EQ will help with that?

I think Dynamic Volume is more likely to help with that than Dynamic EQ.

Ken is right, if, when your volume is normal, but the loudest parts are much too strong, then Dynamic Volume is for you.
you have been warned: when engaged, it's not high fidelity anymore. ;-)
if you go to a good movie theatre and watch one of the movies that offend your ears when you're home, but it does sound good in the theater, then it's an indication your room should have some treatment to make it better sonically, or your speakers could be better positioned.
the room is as important as the speakers...

maybe your room is too live and so the loud parts are overwhelming and are not very clear and clean, and they sound much too loud when they should not. it might depend on your room, even if you use Audyssey.

i don't know if it makes everything the "same" volume - having never tried it - but i know that it does compress the dynamic range of whatever program you're using it on.

Dynamic Equalization will not help you with this.

maybe you have different settings for Dynamic Volume; if so, you could start by using the softest setting and by adjusting for normal volume level for voices, and see if you like it; if not, then use a harder setting (more compression).

The irony is that even though I hate the results of dynamic Volume (very unnatural, specially on the surrounds), it is the processing that I use the most I have 2 small children that go to bed early so this mode is useful for night time viewing where it pretty much removes the bass and the spikes in volume. Another solution would be to watch the movie at lower volume but in that case I find it extremely hard to hear the dialog and you can still hear the bass.

The Onkyo I have has some other solutions for this, from Dolby and THX. Haven't investigated them yet.

So it seems the concensus is that it works, just a matter of whether I will like the results. No doubt I will spend hours turning it on and off trying to decide if I like it or not while driving the wife nuts.

put the wife on "pause" for a while; i've seen it done on tv a few times. ;-)

If only we could

i suppose the wife would like to do the same to you once in a while.

I have no doubt

Mike, although Dynamic Volume is a "smart" volume leveler in comparison to the old "night" modes, it still has some effect in reducing dynamic range, so I rarely use it. Dynamic EQ, on the other hand, is always on.

The 1712 does have a choice of three levels of Dynamic Volume, with the strongest setting making everything essentially equal in level. You may well find that experimenting with the two lower settings may allow you to set a comfortable level for dialog in movies(not to be used for music)and that the higher volume peaks in non-dialog material won't be uncomfortably loud.

Hi John, That sounds like what I'm looking for. I think that for the price I can get the 1712 for it's worth a try. Watching movies in surround is new to me and so far has been a pretty frustrating and disappointing experience. Previous to my recent purchase of the epic system my system was 4.0 and only used for music and concert DVD's. Seems like some movies arent as bad as others so it may even be something that I only use occasionally, maybe I will find that Dynamic EQ helps with the problem and not need the Dynamic Volume. Either way it would be nice to have some options in these situations, right now I really have nothing to work with, it just kinda is what it is.

Ken, I'm sorry that the Audyssey features didn't work out to your liking.... I know that those features were something that you were looking forward to.

I haven't heard of anyone noting the bloated bass..... I wonder if it's particular to your setup/room or if it's tweakable?

I'm sure it was the calibration or my room, but for my taste, I'd rather just bump the sub up a few db and call it a day. If I get some time alone at home, I'll rerun the calibration and see what happens. To be honest, I just haven't had the inclination to mess with the AV stuff lately. I need to put the H/K back into production in the second room, switch DVD players, move the Roku, test the HDMI inputs on the Onk, redo my Harmony, rewire the surrounds, rerun the calibration... and it all sounds more like work than fun.

Yeah, I never got back to finishing my setup either. Just no time at the moment.

Mike, another thing that you should also play with is the DRC (Dynamic Range Compression) mode of the AVR. This from my experience when I tried it, gave me better results (more natural sound) than dynamic volume. From what I remember, there was still dynamic in the sound but attenuated so it wasn't as crazy so it might be a better option for you.

If fully implemented by the AVR manufacturer Audyssey Dynamic Volume should have Light, Medium, Heavy and Off settings. The light setting is relatively benign and tends to cut down on the "please turn it down" requests(demands?)from the wife. But if you want the full impact of what is on the disc then, obviously, Off is the way to go.

Dynamic EQ - Good
Dynamic volume - Evil

IMHO....

Thanks for all the great advice. I just pushed the button on the 1712 at accessories4less. For $229 how can I go wrong? And I think its connectivity options will make things easier for everyone in the fam, including me. Right now my setup is too complicated, the UR helps a lot but when the UR dosent get used right I get text messages at work asking me how to turn the TV on. Dropped off the HK 645 at the doc today and awaiting the diagnosis, but either way I'm just going to try to sell it on ebay.

That's why I got the harmony one, I just answer: "press HELP"