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Home Theater. Loud music, quiet voices.

47903 Views 27 Replies 21 Participants Last post by DaBuzzard, Feb 13, 2008

casino187

Discussion Starter · Dec 27, 2005

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Does anyone else have the problem while watching a movie? During the music/action scenes the speakers will be real loud, but when people are talking I always have to turn it up to hear them. I've also noticed this on other people's setup.

I'm not sure if it is the DVD, DVD player, speakers, or it's normal.

1 - 20 of 28 Posts

whoaru99

· #2 · Dec 27, 2005

Have you calibrated the speaker levels?

Do you have the DVD player set to bitstream output and not PCM output?

Do you have a center channel speaker or a phantom center channel?

mikecazzx

· #3 · Dec 27, 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by casino187 /forum/post/0

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Does anyone else have the problem while watching a movie? During the music/action scenes the speakers will be real loud, but when people are talking I always have to turn it up to hear them. I've also noticed this on other people's setup.

I'm not sure if it is the DVD, DVD player, speakers, or it's normal.

Sounds like your software or receiver are not sending out 5.1 correctly.

Something is off - try new software as well as settings on the receiver.

casino187

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 27, 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by whoaru99 /forum/post/0

Have you calibrated the speaker levels?

Do you have the DVD player set to bitstream output and not PCM output?

Do you have a center channel speaker or a phantom center channel?

I have a center channel speaker. I guess, if all the vocals were coming out of the center channel, I could turn it up some. I'm not at home to see about the pcm or bitstream.

whoaru99

· #5 · Dec 27, 2005

On your way home you should pick up a Radio Shack sound level meter...

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g_bartman

· #6 · Dec 28, 2005

See if your receiver has a "dynamic range compression" mode of some sort. I have also see it refered to as "midnight theater." It decreases the sound effects and increases the dialogue. A lot of movies have wide dynamic range, too much sometimes.

cneely8

· #7 · Dec 28, 2005

>On your way home you should pick up a Radio Shack sound level meter...

I second this. I held off for a long time, thinking it would be overkill, but when I did my Denon auto set-up, then tweaked the channel levels a little "by ear" (because I must know best) I had occasional difficulty in action packed scenes that included dialogue. A great test scene is the opening of Saving Private Ryan, because there is some dialogue about 5 minutes into it that can be very hard to hear if your system isn't set-up right.

I got the meter, set everything to 75 db at volume=0, and realized to my shame and surprise that I was VERY close to the original Denon-chosen sound levels. Not exact, and I think it souonds better than what the Denon chose, but it's way closer to what the Denon chose than to what I changed it to in my "all-knowing" adjustments. Now the dialogue is completely clear, yet the surround noises are still dizzying, explosive, loud, and hectic in the scene.

Get the SPL meter. GREAT tool.

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whphel

· #8 · Dec 29, 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by cneely8 /forum/post/0

>On your way home you should pick up a Radio Shack sound level meter...

I second this. I held off for a long time, thinking it would be overkill, but when I did my Denon auto set-up, then tweaked the channel levels a little "by ear" (because I must know best) I had occasional difficulty in action packed scenes that included dialogue. A great test scene is the opening of Saving Private Ryan, because there is some dialogue about 5 minutes into it that can be very hard to hear if your system isn't set-up right.

I got the meter, set everything to 75 db at volume=0, and realized to my shame and surprise that I was VERY close to the original Denon-chosen sound levels. Not exact, and I think it souonds better than what the Denon chose, but it's way closer to what the Denon chose than to what I changed it to in my "all-knowing" adjustments. Now the dialogue is completely clear, yet the surround noises are still dizzying, explosive, loud, and hectic in the scene.

Get the SPL meter. GREAT tool.

There are also some movies out there where the dialog is not recorded worth a **** so now when you have the problem in the future it will more than likely be the dvd in error.

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casino187

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 29, 2005

I think it may be the DVD. I'm about to watch The Grizzly Man, so we'll see if it happens. Although, this is a documentary so it may be all vocals.

Thanks for all of your replies.

Napoleon D

· #10 · Jan 3, 2006

Casino187 ->

I am 95% positive that the "Dynamic Range Compresion" feature will solve your problem. I don't think this is an issue of calibrating your speakers. Simply speaking, all sound meters aside, they should all be at equal volume levels.

I had the exact same issue as you did. It seemed i had to always be at guard with the audio remote - turning up with dialogue, but having to turn down explosions and such. This is obviously not the way to relax and enjoy a movie.

Your receiver should have a "D. Range Compression" setting. As someone mentioned above. It may also be referred to as "night watching" etc. If the receiver doesn't have this setting, your dvd player might. My receiver's "D. Range Comp." settings are Medium and High. Medium setting was perfectly sufficient.

Beware - I have yet to see a piece of equipment I've owned that can compress DTS, so far it ONLY works for Dolby Digital. While I think DTS is better sounding - my speakers, my room, and my ears cannot handle the overpowering range of its volume/sound. Dolby Digital can be controlled nicely from this end.

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Glennt

· #11 · Jan 3, 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Napoleon D /forum/post/0

Casino187 ->

I am 95% positive that the "Dynamic Range Compresion" feature will solve your problem. I don't think this is an issue of calibrating your speakers. Simply speaking, all sound meters aside, they should all be at equal volume levels.

I agree that this is at least part of the issue. During casual listening, especially with guests over, the volume is often turned down in our home, and dialog can be difficult to hear. My in-laws were over just days after our son was born and stayed with us and they are used to high TV volumes but not overwhelming HT effects. While watching LOTR, I was often asked to turn it down during action sequences, but when Gandalf was whispering, it had to go back up.

Without an SPL meter, maybe try erroring on the side of having the center marginally louder than the rest, and see if that helps. It helped a bit until my inlaws left.

(Well, I turned down the sub a tad bit as well)

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Latin-Man

· #12 · Jan 3, 2006

some DVD players have a "voice attenuation" or enhancer feature you can try using. or crank up your center speaker and make sure they are all set to either small or large. Make sure you got Dolby Digital 5.1 and not Pro-Logic sound going through.

bpape

· #13 · Jan 4, 2006

It's your room. The uncontrolled bass is muddying up the dialog to the point of unintelligibility. This is a very common problem and a very normal symptom.

You should not have to put compression into the equation unless you are listening at low levels late at night and you need to keep it down. Otherwise, you're robbing yourself of what your system is capable of and what the movie has recorded.

NCDave

· #14 · Jan 4, 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Latin-Man /forum/post/0

some DVD players have a "voice attenuation" or enhancer feature you can try using. or crank up your center speaker and make sure they are all set to either small or large. Make sure you got Dolby Digital 5.1 and not Pro-Logic sound going through.

Yep, I have an el-cheapo Panasonic DVD player which has a "Dialog Enhancer" button right on the front panel. It works great, though I have not found a need to use it now that all the speakers are set to the right level. In fact, when I turn it on now, the voices seem too loud.

blackroses

· #15 · Sep 17, 2006

Hi. I'm new here yet have a question about the whole 'quiet voices' thing.

I've got Windows Media Centre and my dvd player is pretty much a dvd drive.

Logitech speakers and surround sound.

So, when the volume's at full blast, it's IMPOSSIBLE to hear the voices of those on dvds. I have the centre volume on full and the surround and sub really low but they still speak quieter than a whisper.

I tried pressing multiple combinations of buttons on the remote. Direct, Optical, Coax.. I'm really no expert on this.

And it's SOOOO annoying!

Help pleeease !

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mderka

· #16 · Sep 17, 2006

I agree with bpape. I had a similar thing in my room untill I added several acoustic panels and a couple of bass traps. After recalibration, DVD's that I had trouble hearing soft voices on prviously were now clear and easy to hear.

Sure you can probably mask this by jacking up the center channel level, but if you have the means to improve the acoustics, its the first step in the right direction.

nina73078

· #17 · Jan 13, 2007

hi guys, what exactly does a sound level meter do? i read the question about controlling volume so it doesnt jump up in action scenes...this is exactly what ive been looking for. so i went to radio shack and asked about the meter, the guy said it only MEASURES the sound? so i guess to actually set a level i would have to do it on my audio reciever? i dont think my reciever can do that

i was so excited, i thought i finally found what i needed. but i was also disappointed because i thought i invented it, i was just getting ready to call that patent service you see on tv all the time.

thanks for your help, nina.

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hometheaterguy

· #18 · Jan 13, 2007

Everyone here has some great suggestions, I just wanted to add that "home theater", (and even commercial theater) has quiet passages of dialog, soft sound effects, then sudden transient bursts of sound effects. Surround comes and goes, bass comes and goes, this is processing. But, in his case it may be about calibration and, or settings and even room acoustic help.

mderka

· #19 · Jan 14, 2007

nina, you may want to start a new thread to get more responses, but generally yes, you need to set speaker levels through your receiver. the SPL meter only registers how loud something is playing. Post what type of receiver you are using and someone should know if you can adjust individual speaker levels.

happyhomaker

· #20 · Feb 2, 2008

I have had this problem for the past couple of weeks with my laptop. It has driven me CRAZY!! But I finally figured it out tonight after reading several posts on this and several forums.

The problem was with the 3D depth volume. I went into Control Panel, chose Sounds & Audio Devices, under the Volume tab, in the Volume section I clicked on the Advanced button and moved the sliders till I came to the 3D Depth, As soon as I lowered the volume here the voices came up to a normal level. After adjusting some of the adjoining sliders I had the music level and the voiced at normal levels and was ecstatic!!!

Hope this helps lower some blood pressures.

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1 - 20 of 28 Posts

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