Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions It just doen't sound right

I recently purchased a set of Axiom speakers.I have the M60v2's, VP150, and QS8 surrounds. Now when watching movies, something just doesn't sound right. During action scenes, all the sounds from the speakers seem to be all muffled together if that makes sense. So, the different sounds aren't separated very well. The dialog doesn't sound right either. It's kind of muffled and their is an exaggeration of the "s" sounds. During high impact action scenes, it is very apparent.For example, in Revenge of the Sith, the scene where the ship splits in half and they have to try to land it. Well, this is a loud scene and all the sounds just sound congested and you really can't tell what's what, just alot of noise. Now, I will say that I am currently running all speakers as large with no sub currently. I'm shopping for one currently. I have semi- callibrated the system. I went through all the settings, but haven't used an SPL meter yet. But I would think it would at least sound descent with what I've done so far. I can tell that something just isn't right. Any ideas? Please let me know.

Get the SPL meter, first off.

Secondly, get a sub.

What surround mode are you using? (Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II, etc.)

Hi,

Can you post a picture and tell us how far away your fronts and center are separated and how far away you are sitting from the speakers?

I definitely concur that you need to calibrate. The final calibration should always be done with your ears particularly if you have a space that is not symmetrical.

Also what type of receiver are you using and how do you have it setup. There could be a problem in your receivers setup settings and equalization.

Agreed on the calibration.

You might also check that all the speakers are 'in phase'. That is to say that your speaker wire, being actually two wires, needs to match the positive on the amp side to the positive on the speaker side.

Another way to say it (assuming everything conforms to normal color standards,) is that the wire on the amp's red colored post always goes to the red post on the speaker. Same for black. Usually, speaker wire has some writing or a stripe on one side so you can keep track of which is the wire running from red vs. black.

Speakers will still work even if you wire one or more backwards but when your left speaker is wired 'out of phase' from your right speaker, it can produce a reduced sound quality. I'm not sure if it would be as blatant as the issue you describe but it is still something worth double checking.

Out of phase speakers can be surprisingly blatant.

Might also check to see if your receiver is not stuck in some 5 channel stereo mode. In this mode, all your speakers would be sent sound to play but they would equally get all the same sounds. There would be no separation between whats supposed to be surround sounds and what was supposed to stay up front. Would definitely take the fun out of a movie but some like it for music.

Also, you might experiment with setting your surrounds to small instead of large. Definitely leave your mains set to large until you get a sub, but it can't hurt just to experiment with the others.

Good ideas, Murph.

Thanks for all the input everyone. Yes, I definitely need to get an SPL meter. As far as the receiver goes, I am using the Emotiva combo LMC-1 LPA-1. I don't have a picture with me, but I can take one and post it later. I would say my mains are about 8ft apart and my center is pretty dead center of that. My seating position is about 12 ft away. I'll have to check the equalization. As far as DPS mode, it defaults to the mode the DVD uses, but I have played with the different modes and haven't noticed a big difference. I will say that this is most noticable for movies. two channel music sounds much cleaner. As far as the speakers being out of phase, i'll double check, but I doubt it. I took my time setting it up so it should be right. It definitely can't hurt to check though. Well, I'll reply back with what I find out later. Any other suggestions are welcome and I can check those too. Thanks everyone.

Soundman,

You may be too far away or your speakers too close together (whichever way you want to look at it). Try sitting 8 feet away and see what happens. Alternatively, move them 4 feet apart. Experiment with this but start off by making an equilateral triangle between you and the speakers. This won't help with the sibilance but it should help with the soundstage.