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Loud/Soft dialogue issue with Harmon Kardon AVR2600

post #1 of 7
1/29/13 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 
I was wondering if anyone could help me out with an issue I am having. I'm having problems getting clarity in the dialogue of movies or tv programs I am watching when using my surround setup. Even with the volume at a high level (85db base) the dialoge is audible but not easily understandable. My setup is as follows.

Harmon Kardon AVR 2600

Polk Monitor 50 L/R speakers
Polk CS1 Center
Polk pw10 sub
Polk T15 surrounds

*Front, surround, and sub speakers are all leveled to the same db level. Center channel is about 2db louder than other speakers.

I have tried the "Dolby Volume" setting on my receiver and have found it only muddies the sound and doesn't help bring dialoge out of the mix.


Does anyone know if replacing my receiver with say a Denon 1913 model would improve this issue? Or is my issue more of a "speaker" problem. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
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post #2 of 7
1/29/13 at 9:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jev55 View Post

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with an issue I am having. I'm having problems getting clarity in the dialogue of movies or tv programs I am watching when using my surround setup. Even with the volume at a high level (85db base) the dialoge is audible but not easily understandable. My setup is as follows.

Harmon Kardon AVR 2600

Polk Monitor 50 L/R speakers
Polk CS1 Center
Polk pw10 sub
Polk T15 surrounds

*Front, surround, and sub speakers are all leveled to the same db level. Center channel is about 2db louder than other speakers.

I have tried the "Dolby Volume" setting on my receiver and have found it only muddies the sound and doesn't help bring dialoge out of the mix.


Does anyone know if replacing my receiver with say a Denon 1913 model would improve this issue? Or is my issue more of a "speaker" problem. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

It does not sound like an AVR issue unless your room correction got borked... did you run EZSet/EQ?
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post #3 of 7
1/29/13 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 
I did run the calibration but wasn't very happy with the results. The calibration had the bass set way too high and still had issues with dialogue. Also it misjudged speaker distance and crossover size. The Polk center speaker is matched up with my fronts so I didn't think I was a speaker issue. Granted they are not "high" end speakers. I was wondering if I should look to try a different center channel or try a different receiver next.
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post #4 of 7
1/29/13 at 11:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jev55 View Post

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with an issue I am having. I'm having problems getting clarity in the dialogue of movies or tv programs I am watching when using my surround setup. Even with the volume at a high level (85db base) the dialoge is audible but not easily understandable. My setup is as follows.

Harmon Kardon AVR 2600

Polk Monitor 50 L/R speakers
Polk CS1 Center
Polk pw10 sub
Polk T15 surrounds

*Front, surround, and sub speakers are all leveled to the same db level. Center channel is about 2db louder than other speakers.

I have tried the "Dolby Volume" setting on my receiver and have found it only muddies the sound and doesn't help bring dialoge out of the mix.


Does anyone know if replacing my receiver with say a Denon 1913 model would improve this issue? Or is my issue more of a "speaker" problem. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I would love to see a picture of the room and the positioning of the front sound stage. My gut feeling says that you have acoustic room problems, and or speaker placement issues. Are all three front speakers tweeters at seated ear level? Where is the center speaker...on a shelf, pushed toward the rear of the shelf? If so bring it way forward to the edge. If it is on a stand, pull it forward into the room more, and angle the tweeter towards your ears. Is the sofa on the rear wall? What kind of floors...carpet...tile...hardwood?
A new receiver is not going to help with any of the above issues.
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post #5 of 7
1/29/13 at 11:17am
You can reset the volume levels for any channel - including bass in the setup menu. You can also manually run the speaker level control. I does sound like you have some reflection problems as Espo eluded to above.
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post #6 of 7
1/30/13 at 5:08am
Thread Starter 
I will post some pictures later today. I have played around with resetting all of the volumes on the different channels. The most acceptable results I have gotten has been by turning the center channel to +2db and lowering the Front L and R's to -1db. The surrounds positioned next to my couch are set to -2db.(This matches the volumes of the fronts.)

These settings allow dialog to be heard more clearly but the center channel definitely "pops" out of the mix. Almost so that the surround effect is lost.
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post #7 of 7
1/30/13 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jev55 View Post

I will post some pictures later today. I have played around with resetting all of the volumes on the different channels. The most acceptable results I have gotten has been by turning the center channel to +2db and lowering the Front L and R's to -1db. The surrounds positioned next to my couch are set to -2db.(This matches the volumes of the fronts.)

These settings allow dialog to be heard more clearly but the center channel definitely "pops" out of the mix. Almost so that the surround effect is lost.

Not sure what you mean by center channel "pops"out of the mix...but that might be exactly what the producer intended...dialog discretely coming from the center channel, and little or nothing coming from the surrounds.

I would like for you to describe the location of all of your speakers, and what decor you have in the room. You don't seem to want to answer those type of questions...???
Are you using a sound pressure level meter? With this tool you are balancing all speakers so that their volume at the seating area is equal. Just trying to help, but you're not providing enough information.
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