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Noticing more bass output in Audyssey DSX than PLIIHeight?

post #1 of 8
5/29/12 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
I've since discovered that my system puts out more bass when in Audyssey DSX mode than it does in the PLIIHeight sound mode... Is there a reason behind this? Does PLII redirect low end frequencies to the sub more than the DSX mode? Or am I actually missing bass information.

Onky 608 with 2EQ calibration.
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post #2 of 8
5/30/12 at 4:03am
Those sound fields generated are done by complex mathematical algorithms implemented in the DSP-based firmware.
The algorithms are based on specific models of an acoustic environment and effects to be achieved.
Thus different decoding algorithms / matrices might sound different too, depending on what the developers wanted to create.
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post #3 of 8
5/30/12 at 5:26am
Neither creates more bass, rather simply simulating front height speaker audio from the input audio track. Perhaps what you are noticing is that a DTS audio track is a few db louder than a DD audio track with DialNorm.
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post #4 of 8
5/30/12 at 9:47am
Thread Starter 
This is with same source, same song, no matter what I am playing.

Switching between PLIIzHeight and DSX height movie mode, the DSX puts out much more bass through my front speakers, but when going to PLIIZHeight, there is much less and a thinner sound. You notice this mostly in the kick drum range.

It's very odd.
Both with Audyssey EQ engaged and dynamic volume off.

I also notice the same effect now that I think of it with the DTS6 mode, but that's also using DSX height.

I was listening to a song and switching between sound modes, and it was a moderate change in bass.

Now, when I go into the Audio quick menu on my AVR I can control the bass, treble, subwoofer, etc., In DSX adjusting the bass setting there will turn the bass down noticeably however doing the same thing in PLIIzH will show little change of bass output.

I should also mention that DSX mode has a very similar bass output compared to stereo mode, but the PLIIz is much thinner sounding than stereo.

It honestly sounds like to me, that PLIIz is passing ALL bass information to my subwoofer, but DSX mode is following a different crossover/bass redirection setting.

If your AVR has all 3 of these modes, could you try playing a 2.1 song over hdmi, then cycle between stereo, PLIIzHeight and DSX Height mode, and tell me if the bass output seems higher from the front speakers while in DSX mode compared to PLIIZHeight, then try turning off your subwoofer and doing it again.
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post #5 of 8
5/30/12 at 11:04am
On Denon and Marantz AVRs, DSX - Front Height can only be applied on multi channel audio signals and then only when the Front Height speakers are present. The Onkyo uses a combination of DD PLII + DSX when using the DSX mode on stereo signals.
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post #6 of 8
5/30/12 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
Aha! Did not know that.

The reason why I bring this up, is because with 2.1 and multi-channel audio, I love the spatial surround effect PLIIz height gives off, but it lacks the warmth and punch compared to the DSX Height mode, however, that is lacking the surround wideness.
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post #7 of 8
6/15/12 at 4:43pm
I saw your post over on the Official Onkyo 608 thread and wanted to find out if there was a difference. While doing some subwoofer sweeps with REW I measured the different listening modes and this is what the results where. The comparison is at 50Hz but the difference carried through the whole sweep.
DSX = 93db
THX = 90db
Stereo = 89db
NEO6 = 89db
PL II = 85db
So your ears are correct there is a difference.
Larry
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post #8 of 8
6/15/12 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Great, thanks much for doing this. At least I know my ears are still good biggrin.gif
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