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Newbie questions on DSP and sound

1258 Views 9 Replies 3 Participants Last post by daMaster, Feb 13, 2006

kevin79

Discussion Starter · Feb 20, 2005

I own a Yamaha HTR-5560 reciever that has various DSP modes. There are 5 modes that are geared towards movies, Spectacle, Sci-Fi, Adventure, General and Enhanced. How do I know which one I should use?

Here are the descriptions of each according to Yamaha's manual:

Spectacle: This program creates the extremely wide sound field of a 70-mm movie theater. It precisely reproduces the source sound in detail, making both the video and the sound field incredibly real. This is ideal for any kind of video source encoded with Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital or DTS (especially large-scale movie productions).

Sci-Fi: This program clearly reproduces dialog and sound effects in the latest sound form of science fiction films, thus creating a broad and expansive cinematic space amid the silence. You can enjoy science fiction films in a virtual-space sound field that includes Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital and DTS-encoded software employing the most advanced techniques.

Adventure: This program is ideal for precisely reproducing the sound design of the newest 70-mm and multichannel soundtrack films. The sound field is made to be similar to that of the newest movie theaters, so the reverberations of the sound field itself are restrained as much as possible.

General: This program is for reproducing sounds from 70-mm and multichannel soundtrack films, and is characterized by a soft and extensive sound field. The presence sound field is relatively narrow. It spatially spreads all around and toward the screen, restraining the echo effect of conversations without losing clarity.

Enhanced Mode: This program ideally simulates the multi-surround speaker systems of the 35-mm film theaters. Dolby Pro Logic decoding, Dolby Digital decoding or DTS decoding and digital sound field processing create precise effects without altering the original sound orientation.

The surround effects produced by this sound field wrap around the viewer naturally from the back to the left and right, and toward the screen.

Also, how do I make it so that the actual audio (people speaking, main dialog) is easier to hear? I've noticed that if I have my receiver at a level to where I can hear people speaking well, it is too loud when action or music starts to play. Don't get me wrong, I love to listen to movies at good levels like the theaters do, but I can't really do that without pissing my neighbors off, especially in the middle of the night.

Thanks for any help you can give this newbie. This forum is an awesome resource!

-Kevin

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sdurani

· #2 · Feb 20, 2005

Kevin,
Quote:

There are 5 modes that are geared towards movies...How do I know which one I should use?

By listening and choosing what sounds best to you. Pick short passages from a movie you're familiar with; find a scene that's dialogue heavy as well as one that has lots of loud action. Play the scenes multiple times using the various DSP modes (you're not going to hurt anything by doing this) and listen for which you think sounds best. Simple as that.

Personally, I don't like using those types of DSP modes because I find they muddy up the clarity of the soundtrack by adding reverb and early reflections.
Quote:

Also, how do I make it so that the actual audio (people speaking, main dialog) is easier to hear? I've noticed that if I have my receiver at a level to where I can hear people speaking well, it is too loud when action or music starts to play.

First, make sure you've calibrated your set-up using a SPL meter ($40 from RadioShack) and your receiver's test tones. Also make sure you've dialed in the correct time-alignment (speaker distances) in the set-up menu. If, after proper calibration, the dialogue is still a little too soft compared to the rest of the action and music (which can happen with certain soundtracks), then there are a couple of things you can try:

Your receiver should have a 'night' mode, which will reduce the dynamic range of the soundtrack. This makes the loud explosions a bit softer and quiet whispers a bit louder. End result: you don't have to ride the volume control throughout the movie.

You can also try raising the volume level of the centre channel, so that dialogue is slightly louder than the other channels. The front soundstage may sound a tad unbalanced (centre heavy) but you'll be able to follow the film better.

Finally, careful application of room treatments (absorbers and/or diffusers) can tame your room and do wonders for dialogue intelligibility, allowing you to listen to movies at reasonable levels and keeping you from being a bad neighbour.

Best,

Sanjay

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kevin79

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 20, 2005

Thanks. I'll get a SPL meter and calibrate my speakers. How do you correctly time-align speakers?

Unfortunately, my reciever doesn't have a night mode, at least there isn't one that I can find in the manual. I may end up having to crank the volume on the center channel up if I can't find a night mode or anything.

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sdurani

· #4 · Feb 21, 2005

Kevin,
Quote:

How do you correctly time-align speakers?

Look on page 43 of the manual. There is a parameter that allows you to adjust the centre channel delay. Each ms (millisecond) of delay makes the speaker sound like it's roughly one foot further away. Measure the distance from the sweet spot to each of the front three speakers. If the centre speaker is 2 feet closer than the front left/right speakers, delay the centre by 2 ms. Or you can do it by ear; try different delay settings and see which one makes dialogue sound the most clear.

BTW, your receiver doesn't have the typical time alignment feature, where you measure the distance to each speaker and enter those numbers in the receiver. The receiver then appropriately delays the signal to each channel so that all your speakers sound like they are the exact same distance away from you.
Quote:

Unfortunately, my reciever doesn't have a night mode, at least there isn't one that I can find in the manual.

Look on next page (44) of the manual. It's not called 'night mode' but it does the same thing: compress the dynamic range of the soundtrack. The MIN setting gives you the smallest dynamic range (loud and soft sounds aren't that far apart in level).

Good Luck,

Sanjay

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kevin79

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 21, 2005

Hey thanks. I don't know how I missed that. Any idea's what the SP and HP stand for in the Dynamic Range menu?

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sdurani

· #6 · Feb 21, 2005

Kevin,
Quote:

Any idea's what the SP and HP stand for in the Dynamic Range menu?

If you look around those pages in the manual, you'll notice that they use SP to refer to speakers and HP to refer to headphone. I'm assuming that the dynamic range control affects the sound of both.

Sanjay

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kevin79

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 21, 2005

Thanks. I feel stupid now. I read it earlier in the manual but it just never really "clicked".

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daMaster

· #8 · Feb 13, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdurani
Personally, I don't like using those types of DSP modes because I find they muddy up the clarity of the soundtrack by adding reverb and early reflections.

I've also always been a firm believer of this and always leave my Yamaha RX-V2400 in STRAIGHT mode. However, I've recently been playing around with the DSP modes and listening to passages from LotR: FotR Extended DTS ES and noticed that the Yamaha's Cinema DSP modes really do seem to improve the surround stage. For example, when Gandalf is asking Bilbo to leave the ring behind, he starts to yell "Frodo Baggins, I am no conjurer of cheap tricks..." and his voice moves from the front sound stage to the surround sound stage. With STRAIGHT mode, you mostly hear his voice directionally from the left surround and right surround speakers, however with Enhanced or Movie Theater: Sci-Fi/Adventure modes his voice really engulfs you and also ends up in the surround back speaker.

I know it adds to what the director intended and I've always been against that, but if it's more involving, engulfing and sounds better overall, then why not? I think I'm gonna start watching movies in Enhanced mode and then gradually moving towards the Movie Theater modes (excluding Spectacle which is just too much additional audio information for my tastes).

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sdurani

· #9 · Feb 13, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by daMaster
With STRAIGHT mode, you mostly hear his voice directionally from the left surround and right surround speakers, however with Enhanced or Movie Theater: Sci-Fi/Adventure modes his voice really engulfs you and also ends up in the surround back speaker.

You can get similar results (sound steered to the surround-back channels) by using Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing. But unlike the Enhanced and Sci-Fi/Adventure modes, PLIIx does not add any generated ambience or reverb.

Sanjay

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daMaster

· #10 · Feb 13, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdurani
You can get similar results (sound steered to the surround-back channels) by using Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing. But unlike the Enhanced and Sci-Fi/Adventure modes, PLIIx does not add any generated ambience or reverb.

Sanjay

You can only apply PLIIx Movie in a 7.1 configuration on top of a 6.1 DTS ES source. With a 6.1 configuration like mine, only PLIIx Music can be overlayed, which is not exactly what I want.

The point of my post was that the Cinema DSP modes the Yamaha provides improve the overall surround stage (front and rear), and although I've always been against using them, I'm actually starting to like them now.

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