Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater DTS vs. Dolby 5.1

Hey all,

I just recently got a pair of QS4's, and my wife and I are loving the whole surround thing! The only problem is we're having trouble hearing the dialogue in DTS mode, though it seems to come through loud and clear in Dolby. The thing is we like DTS a lot more than Dolby. It's much more enveloping, airy, and natural sounding. To us, Dolby sounds more congested. We'll be getting the VP100 in a few months so hopefully that'll help, but until then I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions.

Thanks as always!
-JT

So do you have a Center channel now, or are you simulating it with your mains? With my VP150, DTS and Dolby tracks sound both good via the center channel. What receiver are you using?

If you don't have a dedicated center channel yet, you will notice this more with DTS than Dolby Digital. DTS does, in my opinion, a much better mix of the audio, and in that process, they make the 6 channels of 5.1 more descrete than DD (again, in my opinion)...

I LOVE DTS. I hunt for movies in DTS over just DD versions, but without all of the speakers, you will be missing some of the descretely mixed channels (like the center channel)...

Get the center, and you should be fine.

It seems that some of amps won't do the full processing with DTS that they do with DD5.1, so your amp may not be trying to redirect the center channel in DTS mode.

We've got the Onkyo TXSR601. Yeah, I'm thinking that when we get the center channel, it'll all be fine. Just trying to figure out if there's another way to get more dialogue in DTS mode until then.

Do you have any old bookshelf speakers laying around you could use temporarily? At one point, before I got my Axioms, I used some old Infinity 2-way bookshelfs, and even some old Realistic (Radio Shack) Optimus bookshelfs in combination for my Centers/Surrounds, sounded pretty good until I got my Ax's

I have one movie that I have watched using DTS...Saving Private Ryan. Until last week, I didn't have a center channel and dialogue was always terrible....especially during the opening and ending scenes.

Last night, a friend and I were hanging out and I decided to watch the beginning and ending scenes using DTS...this time with a center channel (VP150). For the first time, I didn't have to struggle to hear the dialogue in those scenes.

jt- not having a center channel is your main prob on that. i have the onkyo 701, and i have no problems at all. in fact, when calibrating my system, i actually have the center channel up 1-2 dbs, cause my wife has problems hearing the dialogue. and thats not a speaker or receiver problem, thats a hearing problem. luckily, the 701 allows for me to adjust the individual volume on each speaker, which is a great help in getting the sound to a volume that she can hear.

and if you really like the DTS format, and how it sounds, go rent the 'open range' DTS dvd.. it is a pretty good movie, for a western, but there are several scenes that really show off the surrounds.. particularly the opening thunder storm scene.. oh, and the gun fight at the end.. those scenes alone are worth the rental fee.

bigjohn

DTS is much stricter in their sound placement. So, absolutely, get a center channel.

Also as a note, there's another forum going on about small vs large speaker settings. It a touchy subject. Personally I think things sound better in Large. With Dolby Digital you get away with Large and not miss much, but with DTS, they still send some pretty low end info to the center and surrounds (lower than Axiom speakers go), so setting them to Small is recommended in this case (if you're all about the bass).