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Pioneer Midnight/Loudness feature ?

24869 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Timoxx4, Dec 29, 2005

Timoxx4

Discussion Starter · Dec 28, 2005

Hey guys,

I have a Pioneer AV receiver ( VSX-D811S to be exact) and it has this Midnight/Loudness feature that i don't really understand.

Do any of you have this sort of feature and do you use it for watching movies?

I have found when it is on the sound is rich, full and impressive sounding. But when it is off it sounds very thin, empty and hollow.

Now heres the problem.

When it is off i get MUCH BETTER surround sound separation and can more clearly hear the surround effects.

Turn it on and though it might sound good with more bass and a more pleasing sound, but it lacks the surround sound effect. It becomes almost non existent.

Is this just a Pioneer thing and i should buy a new better AV receiver? Or do they all do this and i am forever doomed to choose between good sound or surround sound?

What do you all do?

Thanks,

Tim.

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gohd

· #2 · Dec 28, 2005

Things calibrated properly? I only use midnight mode at night when the baby's sleeping. AFAIK, it's only intended to keep the SPLs in check (e.g. a loud explosion), not to enhance the sound in any way. I'd rerun MCACC or manually check with and SPL meter, cuz sounds like things aren't quite dialed-in with your system.

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Timoxx4

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 28, 2005

Quote:

I'd rerun MCACC or manually check with and SPL meter

I don't quite understand what you mean? What dose MCACC mean ? I have set all the speaker SPL levels the same with a quality SPL mic.

I have had this thing for a good 4 years and have tried many different setups in that time. I still get the same results as i am having now.

Quote:

I only use midnight mode at night when the baby's sleeping. AFAIK, it's only intended to keep the SPLs in check (e.g. a loud explosion), not to enhance the sound in any way.

Yes i thought so too but in my case it changes the tone and EQ of the sound as well. The instructions say on Loudness mode it boosts the bass and treble. Where as Midnight mode is just supposed to allow you to hear surround sound better at low volume. They both sound the same. That is Midnight mode sounds the same as Loudness mode.

So do ALL A/V receivers have this feature? I think i need a new one that has no features at all and is just straight out a quality receiver.

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squeezee

· #4 · Dec 28, 2005

ghod probally thought you had the VSX-815 which is the newer reciever with MCACC (Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration) which uses a mic to let the reciever automatically perform speaker setup and equalization.

Loudness mode is supposed to be more for stereo sources and midnight for multichannel, not sure how different they are really. Most receivers have a midnight/night mode, i believe some dolby digital tracks include extra information that the reciever can use when running in night mode to boost dialog levels.

I haven't found the loudness mode to be good for anything but making a boomy mess of the sound.

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LeeLee

· #5 · Dec 28, 2005

The midnight feature performs dynamic range compression so that even at low to moderate volumes you will be able to hear low sounds clearly and loud sounds will be slightly muted. I use it when others in the house are resting, setting the volume to -30dB.

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Tom Grooms

· #6 · Dec 28, 2005

Dynamic range compression (midnight mode) is used to hear dialog without waking up the whole house in the event of a plane crash. As you turn the volume up, the midnight mode goes away. At 20 db down there is no compression, at 30 db down there is minium compression and at 40db down you can still hear dialog. It a nice feature and gets plenty of use in my home.

$0.02

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Timoxx4

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 29, 2005

Quote:

As you turn the volume up, the midnight mode goes away. At 20 db down there is no compression, at 30 db down there is minium compression and at 40db down you can still hear dialog.

Hmm, Well that's odd

Mine doesn't seem to change with the volume? I think i got 2 Loudness modes and Pioneer forgot to put in the Midnight one ?

I set the master volume to -30db which is REALLY LOUD

like 109db... I couldn't imagine others would be able to sleep at this volume setting.... My volume goes from -99db ( quiet) to -0db ( loudest)

Quote:

The midnight feature performs dynamic range compression so that even at low to moderate volumes you will be able to hear low sounds clearly and loud sounds will be slightly muted.

I find that most sounds get LOUDER and the quiet special effects get muted

It sounds just like Loudness mode, at any volume setting. Bass gets REAL BIG and impressive sounding which i like, but i am loosing ALL the surround sound from my rear speakers. Its almost like the speakers are going out of phase and the sound seems to blur about the room....

Ok, that's it. I officially don't like Pioneer anymore

I'm getting a different receiver.

Hmm, now what's a good quality no bull S*#T receiver i wonder? NAD ?

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