Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions VP 150 Poor Sound

Im a novice user and could use a little help in setting up my center channel. I have a Denon AVR-3805 receiver with a VP 150
center channel and it doesnt have a crisp sound to it. My Mitsu. 65" tv speakers have a better sound to them. The problem seems to be that there is not enough treble and I have
turned the general treble to +6.

Im guessing that it is not the center channel that is the problem, rather my lack of skill to adjust it. I have accesed the manual eq with alot of different freq. I could turn up or down, but have no idea which ones to adjust. ex. 63 hz, 125 hz, 500 hz, etc..

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
daj

Where do you have the VP150? If it's stuck back on a shelf or pointed towards the ceiling or something, then that could be the problem. Have you verified that all the drivers are working?

I have the VP dead center on top of the tv and as close to the
front as possible. How would I go about testing the drivers?

Are you getting any output from your VP150's tweeters? Careful about testing this - improper procedure may result in permanent hearing loss.

In reply to:

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How would I go about testing the drivers

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physically take the speaker, and place your fingers on the woofers, and make sure thay are moving when there is sound.. also, you might even try placing your ears on the tweeters, and see if you have sound coming from them..

***NOTE TO SELF***

make sure and turn the volume DOWN.. all you need is enough volume to see if the speakers are actually working. no need to blow your ear drums out..

EDIT- 2x6, get outta my head!!

bigjohn

After a quick test every speaker and tweeter is playing. Would
adjusting the freq. levels possibly help?

It could, but you shouldn't have to. Is everything flat right now?

Everything is flat and I also used the mic and auto setup feature to tune it. Also, im about 15' back from the center channel if it matters.

My first thought would be to take out that auto setup tuning. Run the thing fully flat, and see what that sounds like.

I will try that next and see how it turns out. I apprecite the help and hopefully I can get it sounding good.

You could also try swapping the VP150 with one of your mains temporarily to see if the treble cutoff moves with the speaker or not. That would certainy narrow things down! If it moves with the speaker, I'd say you've got a problem with it and should give Axiom a call. My understanding is that they're really good with this sort of stuff.

Hey! I just did something different; I turned ON the speakers in MY 65" Mits and they sound pretty good-Wow, not bad for a TV! May even be a viable alternative for late nite viewing!

But not as good as my M3 center.

Not to make light of your difficulties, but the Mits speakers don't sound too bad, do they? I haven't heard the VP150s, but they've got a heck of a good reputation, so, keep trying, and good luck!

Rich.

daj,

First, turn OFF all the Denon's auto-EQ and manual EQ. These circuits are crude at best, and may degrade overall fidelity of linear speakers like your Axioms. I suspect that is what's happened. Try to get your center and mains sounding smooth, neutral and agreeable before you fool around with EQ adjustments. Using a pink-noise test signal, the center will never absolutely match the left and right mains, but when it's carefully placed, it should be close enough that there will be an integrated front soundstage with movies or music and no distracting coloration on dialog or vocalists.

The center placement is very critical in lots of rooms (most). The less it is encumbered by cabinetry, including your TV as well as other furniture and surfaces in the room, the better. Try putting it below your Mitsubishi screen on a temporary stand. That in fact is where I use my own center and where it sounds most neutral.

Do not bury it at the back of your Mitsubishi. You may want to try wall-mounting it behind the set but you shouldn't have to.

The internal speakers of some large screen sets have improved, but they are no match for a well designed and placed dedicated center channel speaker. The speakers in my Samsung are decent and adequate for casual viewing of shows when I don't want to fire up the whole 5.1 system, but by comparison to the Axioms, the Samsung speakers are quite colored.

Regards,

Some thoughts... How tall is your TV? The center channel should be placed at ear level if at all possible and if not it should be pointed at ear level if you catch my drift. In other words if there were a laser beam coming directly out of the speakers it should burn a hole in your nose. The dialog coming out of a center is very directional and if the speaker is not pointed or positioned to ear level, you will not be maximizing its capabilities.

Auto setup cannot match a good ear or a good SPL meter setup.

I respectively disagree with Alan on disabling the Auto Setup, however, I do turn OFF the room EQ option. I have found the Auto Setup to be very accurate, and I've tried it on various occasions after changing speaker locations or adjusting my room furniture. I would not call it crude, by any stretch of the imagination. The Auto Setup part, only sets your delay (distance) for each speaker, checks for any polarity/hook up issues, and sets the dB level for each speaker in accordance to the primary listening position. When you use an SPL meter you do the same thing when adjusting the levels. I have found my Denon 2805 to be dead nuts accurate for the AutoSetup portion.

Now the Room EQ is another issue. I have decided not to use this feature. Basically it adjusts the sound of each speakers frequency by using the internal 8 band Parametric EQ. I found it to make my speakers sound to strong in the midrange frequencies, so I don't use that anymore.

Daj, when you say you have turned up the treble, are you talking the Tone adjustment, or the actual dB level for that speaker? When listening to music try pushing the Round "CH Select Enter" button near the bottom of your remote. This will cycle through each speaker and tell you what the Auto Setup set for each speaker. You can also check this for Surround modes, and the other DSP modes of your Denon, as it will be different. For example, when I watch Dolby Digital movies, my VP150 is at +5dB's.

Also, have you tried pushing the Test Tone button to cycle pink noise through the speakers, or when you ran the Auto Setup, did you hear pink noise coming from the Center?

My VP150 is very noticable for movies, 6.1 music, or even if I use the 5 or 7 channel Stereo Mode.

Good Luck

Randy

60's 150 350 4-Qs8's
denon 2805
sanyo z2 WXGA proj.
toshiba dvd
samsung HD Tuner

>>however, I do turn OFF the room EQ option

I think that's the part Alan doesn't like...