[danham]



I recently bought a set-up for my new home and I am still not totally impressed with it. The clarity is good, i'm just not getting the volume out of it as I expected. Nor am i getting the feel of being in a movie theatre when i am watching a movie.


I've tried doing all the right set-up suggestions. The center channel is angled up towards the listening area. My front speakers are spaced apart the right distance and toed in pointing at the center listening position. My surrounds are slightly behind and facing in at roughly 90*. My subwoofer is just left of the tv between the speaker and stand.


Floor is hardwood with an area rug. The two surrounds are placed on end tables facing inward. One is about 6" lower then the other.


I have ran audyssey numerous times and have not been totally happy with the results. I have tweaked it slightly after to have better results but i'm still not totally happy.


My set-up consists of kef iq9s up front, kef iq6 center, kef iq1s surrounds, and polk psw505 for subwoofer. My receiver is an onkyo tx-sr707.


I have my cable box hooked up thru the receiver. All my audio is piped through the system with hdmi cables. Listening level is around 50-55 and maxes out at 90. Audio is slightly louder from the ps3 compared to the cable box.



Any suggestions????




Thanks

 

[flickhtguru]

1. Get your surround speakers up (2 to 3' above ear level).

2. Room treatments (acoustic panels and bass traps).

 

[Espo77]



Quote:
Originally Posted by danham /forum/post/18115018

I recently bought a set-up for my new home and I am still not totally impressed with it. The clarity is good, i'm just not getting the volume out of it as I expected. Nor am i getting the feel of being in a movie theatre when i am watching a movie.


I've tried doing all the right set-up suggestions. The center channel is angled up towards the listening area. My front speakers are spaced apart the right distance and toed in pointing at the center listening position. My surrounds are slightly behind and facing in at roughly 90*. My subwoofer is just left of the tv between the speaker and stand.


Floor is hardwood with an area rug. The two surrounds are placed on end tables facing inward. One is about 6" lower then the other.


I have ran audyssey numerous times and have not been totally happy with the results. I have tweaked it slightly after to have better results but i'm still not totally happy.


My set-up consists of kef iq9s up front, kef iq6 center, kef iq1s surrounds, and polk psw505 for subwoofer. My receiver is an onkyo tx-sr707.


I have my cable box hooked up thru the receiver. All my audio is piped through the system with hdmi cables. Listening level is around 50-55 and maxes out at 90. Audio is slightly louder from the ps3 compared to the cable box.



Any suggestions????




Thanks

You said "the clarity is good"....so I'm thinking maybe the weakness is the bass response. Perhaps the sub needs to be moved to a premium location, one where it reacts with the room better. Do you know what the "crawl Test" is? Also, I see the doorways in the drawing, but can you try pulling the three front speakers out and away from the wall?

 

[danham]

Well i'm not too familiar with these items. I find the bass to be more then enough in this room. I actually have the subwoofer turned down alot. Not too sure if the bass traps enhance the bass or what but i will definatly do more research on that.


Acoustic panels. Is there any specific places you would reccommend them based on the room layout?


I'm looking at bringing the speakers up higher but the window on the leftside of the room goes almost to the edge of the backwall. No real room to be able to place a mount large enough for the iq1s. Should I maybe look at purchasing some smaller surrounds that can be mounted higher?

 

[danham]

I have not done the crawl test yet. I just placed it in the most convient place (girlfriend). The 2 fronts are toes in and roughly 10" from the front wall. The sub is maybe about 4-5 from the wall.

 

[wish]

The only suggestion I can make, since you mention that volume is the main issue, is to level match your speakers volume with an SPL meter. Maybe the audyssey program isn't doing a good job. I know with my Yamaha I ran YPAO while the results were close I still tweaked & improved with an SPL meter.

 

[stang323]

Maybe it needs to break in? Since it's new, same thing happened with my energy rc10s?

 

[danham]

Tried the SPL meter as well. I found that made the most improvments compared to audyssey but still something is lacking. It doesn't sound near what it should IMO.


Well i've been using them for about 4 months now. Everything that we watch on tv goes through them so i'm sure we've used them for enough hours for them to break in (i would hope). Its a mix between television, movies, and music which is normally played louder. I have maxed the receiver out and the volume still isn't what i'm looking for. The speakers stay clear with no distortion and are not "moving" a whole lot.

 

[danham]

I've heard that bi-amping usually doesn't do much (when using the same receiver) but would this maybe help? I'm willing to try anything at this point.


Maybe a seperate amp for the fronts? i don't really want to spend more money but if thats the cheaper alternative to get these sounding like i want them to rather than having to replace the whole system

 

[IcemanDallas]

How big is the room? How far away do you sit?

 

[danham]

The room is roughly 14' x 14' with 9' ceiling. We're sitting about 12' from the TV

 

[Espo77]



Quote:
Originally Posted by danham /forum/post/18115813


Well i'm not too familiar with these items. I find the bass to be more then enough in this room. I actually have the subwoofer turned down alot. Not too sure if the bass traps enhance the bass or what but i will definatly do more research on that.


Acoustic panels. Is there any specific places you would reccommend them based on the room layout?


I'm looking at bringing the speakers up higher but the window on the leftside of the room goes almost to the edge of the backwall. No real room to be able to place a mount large enough for the iq1s. Should I maybe look at purchasing some smaller surrounds that can be mounted higher?

Well I'm just a bit confused.... you say the "clarity is good" and the bass is "more then enough"...

 

[danham]

If I turn the volume up on the subwoofer the bass can over power the highs/mids so I turn the volume down on the subwoofer for it to blend. At higher volumes (max on the receiver) the highs/mids are clear but the volume isn't what I am expecting. I can still hear myself talking when i'm 5' from the speakers. I would expect more volume than that from this set-up. My old soundstage set-up was alot louder.

 

[IcemanDallas]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Espo77 /forum/post/18116038


Well I'm just a bit confused.... you say the "clarity is good" and the bass is "more then enough"...

He says it's not loud enough. That's not a huge room although the Onkyo is only rated at 100 wpc. You mentioned an SPL meter, what levels are you measuring at the seating position and where do you think you want to be?

 

[racineboxer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by IcemanDallas /forum/post/18116118


He says it's not loud enough. That's not a huge room although the Onkyo is only rated at 100 wpc. You mentioned an SPL meter, what levels are you measuring at the seating position and where do you think you want to be?

He also said his listening level is 50-55 which I crank up my Onkyo (605) louder than that all the time. If I want to crank a movie or music I go to about 80.

 

[danham]

I can't remember the level but for some reason 75db is coming to mind.


Where I would want it to be is a good question. My old system would allow me to turn up the volume to where I would want to back it off because it was too loud. The new system has better sound quality but when I want to turn it up I can max it out and it leaves me wanting more

 

[danham]

Maybe its the receiver then?


When your watching a movie (80 level) can you still talk and have a conversation with somebody right next to you? My receiver maxes out at 90 or 92 i believe. Don't you think you shouldn't have to push it to over 85% of the capabilities just to enjoy a movie?


My older system was an onkyo as well. Can't remember the model but it was 90w ch

 

[craig john]



Quote:
Originally Posted by danham /forum/post/18115938


Tried the SPL meter as well. I found that made the most improvments compared to audyssey but still something is lacking. It doesn't sound near what it should IMO.


Well i've been using them for about 4 months now. Everything that we watch on tv goes through them so i'm sure we've used them for enough hours for them to break in (i would hope). Its a mix between television, movies, and music which is normally played louder. I have maxed the receiver out and the volume still isn't what i'm looking for. The speakers stay clear with no distortion and are not "moving" a whole lot.

Since you have an SPL meter, set the Master Volume Control at 55 and measure the SPL's on some of the more dynamic movies. Then set it higher, closer to where you had it set when you ran Audyssey. What SPL's do you measure there?


Craig

 

[BowerR64]

What seems to be lacking?

 

[schroedk]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the room dimensions are far from ideal. He's got his setup in a square room, with open doorways on either side of the front soundstage. Short of acoustic treatments for the entryways and heavy treatment of multiple reflection points, there may not be a lot that can be done to treat the harmonics in that room. It may be a tough room to get any speakers sounding "right".