I have ran Audyssey with my Denon 3311. I have 2 M80's, VP 180, 2 QS8 and Hsu Sub. Even after taking the advice of many by changing the various crossover frequencies as well as setting the FRC to small, I still feel more sound/volume is coming from the QS8's and not from the FRC. The channel settings as well as crossover frequencies are as follows:

Front L: -3 db/80 hz
Center: -1.5 db/80hz
Front R: -3.5 db/80 hz
Rear R and L: -3.5 db/80 hz
Any thoughts or suggestions?

I'm not familiar with the Denon controls, but is there any chance you are adjusting the "rear" (speakers 6 and 7, ie only in a 7.1 system) levels rather than the "surround" or "side" (speakers 4 and 5 in a 5.1 system) levels ?

Id suggest that you turn of Audyssey and calibrate with and SPL meter.

Even if you use a SPL meter, there's no reason you can't bump up the FRC or lower the surrounds manually until it "sounds right'. Personally, I don't care for the Audyssey results, but it's a good place to start.

Or at least write down the measurements in audyssey, calculate manually with a tape measure and SPL meter and then compare the differences. That's what I always do. Usually end up with measures from them both, mostly manual.

Ortho, the numbers you show seem fairly typical and wouldn't indicate that the surrounds are too loud. Nevertheless, you have the option to set the surrounds 2-3dB lower manually and/or to check the calibration manually with the internal test tones and your ears or an SPL meter.

I used a SPL meter and all the speakers are producing 75 db with test pattern. The issue seems to be when playing back music which leads to me believe it has to do with which mode I have set on the receiver. If that is the case, any recommendatins by those who have a Denon receiver?

When you play back music in 5 channel stereo mode the front channels are copied to the side channels plus mixed and sent to the center channel.

The resultant volume sounds about twice as loud as just playing back in stereo mode because all the speakers are working together. That's a normal result.

Bill

Which mode does the reciever say it is in when you are playing music?

Sounds like you are in "simu" mode for 5 channel surround. Try changing to "stereo" or "direct" for two channel listening, or hit "std" and certain parts of the music will be sent to the center or surrounds.
That is how the modes are abbreviated on the remote for my 3808 so I assume yours is similar. I find the 5 channel "simu" mode to be the worst way to listen to music. Usually go with stereo or direct as the vocals sound much better out of my m80s than on my vp150 which is where they end up in the "std" mode.

As others said, if you hit simu, you'll be entering simulation modes and 5ch stereo is as the others mentioned. If you want to listen to 2ch music in surround, you should hit the music button. By keeping on pressing, you'll be alternating between PLIIx and NEO6, pick whichever sounds more natural to you (I usually prefer PLIIx)

Hi Ortho

Just to chime in as a fellow 3311 owner, I had an identical problem after running Audyssey. As others mention, the issue was specific to music played in multi channel stereo. I don't think I ever fixed the problem in that mode. Instead, I just started using PLIIx music. After that, I slightly adjusted the Audyssey volume assignments, but not very much. For the PLIIx music setting, I set center width to 7, in order to avoid using the center channel for music. I set dimension to 4 and panorama off. Not sure how this will work in your room, but now I really, really like how the 3311 integrates. These settings seem to provide an enveloping sound that I like, while primarily placing the M80s on center stage. I'm using M80s for my mains, QS4s for surrounds, and M3s for rears. I also found that dynamic EQ added a great deal of warmth to my music.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Brian

Brian, welcome. We've all been wondering when we'd get your first post! Seriously though, your thoughts certainly should be helpful. All channel(5/7)stereo isn't intended for general use with 2-channel music sources. As was pointed out, it simply duplicates the mains at equal loudness in the surrounds and is sometimes suggested for a "party" situation to give a more nearly equal listening experience to listeners scattered about the room. A more "natural" surround experience is provided by a mode such as DPLII, which doesn't duplicate the fronts in the surrounds, but instead extracts surround ambience from the fronts which is slightly lower in level, delayed in time and lower in treble, and directs it to the surrounds where it belongs, providing a bit more realistic listening experience. I use essentially the same settings that you do, except that on most material I set Dimension on 3.

Ortho, the calibration appears to be correct, and the problem may well be the mode(which you don't specify)which you're using for music. As indicated above, 5-channel stereo(or any simulated modes such as Jazz Club, Beer Garden, Sportin' House, etc.)shouldn't be used for general music listening. Instead use DPLII to send surround ambience to your side surrounds(not "rears").

Thanks for the warm greetings, John. Yeah, 5 years to get started is about consistent with other elements of my life. As always, looking forward to the unbelievable volume of useful advice on this forum.

B

Experiment with your receiver and see what you like the best. Don’t assume any one setting is “best” for everything. Try out all the different simulated modes available and you might be surprised at how much better some things sound. Likewise don’t assume because you have 5 speakers and a subwoofer that plain old 2ch stereo won’t sound best for some things. I’ve found what sounds best to me is very source specific. I’ll mention some things I’ve found as a reference, however they are not absolutes.

For well mastered music, 2 or multi-channel especially studio recordings I usually find that “direct” mode sounds the best. For poorly mastered music, usually 2ch, or “live,” well mic‘d recordings I find something like PLIIx or z can sound the best.

For certain TV shows, Star Trek: The Next Generation is the best example I find that multi-channel stereo sounds great. Although, each speaker is playing the same information as their counterparts the facing of the drivers on the QS8s seem to prioritize ambient sound, like the drone of the ships engines coming from all around while the front speaker’s drivers facing directly at me seem to prioritize dialogue.

My point is that if you want to get the most out of your system experiment. You’ll never know what you might be missing if you don’t try things out. After all you paid for all those features might as well give them a shot if you have the time. If your Denon is anything like my Onkyo you should have a huge number of presets to use with various sources so that if you find something you really like you can set it up to automatically default to that setting for a particular source.