Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater I am just not TOTALLY impressed....

This may sound stupid, and you probably checked it, but...

When watching the movie make sure you are in Dolby 5.1 or DTS. I felt the same way watching my first movie, only to realize later that I was listening in Pro Logic II. Once I realized my error, things were MUCH better.

Now you really have me worried zarak...that was one of my concerns. Every receiver I have used before made it very clear that it was either in DD or DTS....I am not 100% sure on this pioneer elite though. The display shows digital, and I have scoured the manual probably 20 times trying to verify this.

Any familiar w/ these receivers that can put my mind at ease?

Hi twopecker,

If you are feeding your DVD player's signal via a coaxial digital or optical output to your Pioneer, the digital "flag" in the DVD's output stream should cause your Pioneer to automatically go into the Dolby Digital 5.1 mode (if the soundtrack is 5.1; not all are. You can have DD 2.1).

Do you have a good alignment setup DVD, like the Sound&Vision Home Theater Tune-Up disc? If not, get it, and a Radio Shack SPL meter as well. How big a room are you using this system in?

Regards,

Not sure about the receiver; often they display a picture of all the active speakers, which should show 5 + a subwoofer.

I would try watching the movie in stereo mode, though. Set it to Surround off or Stereo or something similar, and see how it sounds. Are you aware that much of the front sound field is generated by the center speaker? This is particularly true with speech.

When I've gone from stereo to surround sound, I've sometimes felt disappointed by the lack of stereo imaging, simply because I was not used to so much coming from the middle. Maybe what is bothering you is either a) not hearing enough of the main speakers, or b) the volume on the center speaker is too low. If a) is the issue, you can try running a "phantom" center channel, which simply sends all the center channel sound to the mains. Most still prefer using the center, though.

Try bumping the volume on the center channel (now both the mains and center should be at positive volume). Maybe lower the volume of the surrounds as well. You may simply be describing a home theater setup with way too much bias to the rear. This makes the rear "sound great" while leaving the front "dull" and without impact. Properly balancing your channels is essential to good home theater sound.

-Cooper

Alan,

I am using digital coax for the signal from the dvd player, and I verified that it is set to output a DD signal. So I *think* that is playing in DD 5.1, just an assurance would be nice.

I have a copy of video essentials arriving shortly I assume. I have seen many people on this board reccomend the Sound&Vision disk though...any huge difference?

My listening room is 12ftx14ft.

Thanks for you help!

Just another note here....

my complaint is definitely not with the speakers here anymore....I am sure it is a setup issue for home theatre.

I have caught myself throwing in one of my Pink Floyd or James Taylor CD's and not moving until the entire thing has played. The last time I did that was with my Magnepan setup.

The home theatre side of it is just not there yet, and since this will probalby be used 80%ht/20%stereo, I am just askign a ton of questions to get as much help as possible to get it to where it needs to be.

Oh, good, I'm glad it's not just memory coloring things for me; I thought that the M22s were right up there with the Maggies, although it was months between the times I heard them. The Maggies, of course, had a "taller" soundstage, but I think that's sort of an effect of them being, oh, I don't know, 5 1/2 ft tall!