Anyone notice how much of an unbelievable range there is between dialogue and effects on this particular dvd?

For years i've always used a "medium" setting for dynamic range compression on every movie i've watched, and it has been perfect for my room, and for every dvd with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. With this setting, dialogue is quite loud and clear, while effects are just loud enough to demonstrate some range, but quiet enough not to blow the roof off.

Now i understand that many have challenges similar to this while playing soundtracks at full range (applying no DRC), and that there's always the "dialogue too soft, effects too loud" concerns. Playing soundtracks full range in my room get like this, but since there are treatments here and there, the peaks aren't quite so loud. Applying a little DRC balances it for me perfectly.

The Prestige has an awful soundtrack in my opinion. My 6 speakers are as evenly calibrated as i can get in my room. I usually listen around 60db's and most dvd's are perfect, dialogue is loud and clear without the effects being too out of control. With"The Prestige" dvd at this volume, the dialogue is barely audible and even still the effects almost blow the room up. In particular, the Tesla machine demonstration scene is a good example of this. The effects are impressive sounding no doubt, but the range is just too profound.

As i said i use Dynamic Range Compression, and even still this is a problem. The only way to listen is to listen this dvd without your trigger finger on the volume is to keep it 10 db's lower. At this volume, the effects are even still loud, but the dialogue is almost a whisper. I have used DRC alomost as a way to make up for my minimal room treatments, and it has worked wonders for me for years, never a complaint! Even if my room were perfectly treated i'm convinced this dvd (even with DRC off) would still sound unbalanced.

They really messed this dvd up in my opinion - in giving it an ungodly amount of range between dialogue and effects This is truly a wonderful movie, possibly my favorite of 2006, but it is the most challenging dvd i've ever had to watch.

Anyone else notice this about "The Prestige" dvd?

I used to have this problem when my sub was uncalibrated. Turned out there was a spike in my sub frequency response at around 50Hz. After I used a BFD (actually a DEQ2496 but same principle) to smoothen out the 50Hz spike, it definitely helped considerably. Movie soundtracks became more normalized and I didn't have to reach for the remote during big action sequences.

Not saying this is exactly the same problem as the one you face, but it could be that your room is emphasizing a particular frequency, and the Prestige happens to share such a peak.

Am ordering the BR version.

Will post update soon :)

I have a few sound panels up around the room, which have helped control things a little. Yes, I do have a small spike around 50Hz, but that's pretty much it. That particular freq. peak never calls much attention to itself in a negative way. There was an annoying large spike in the 7-9KHz range, which i since adjusted with the equalizer. Other than that, for a room of my size and shape, things are actually reasonably flat under the circumstances.

While there are still things out there i'm not aware of in the audio world, i think this particular case relates to the soundtrack recording. I base this merely because I do not have challenges with any of my other dvd's in this respect, and that the range seems unreasonably strong between the level of the dialogue and some of the effects on this particular dvd.