How to get better sound out of your Home Theater?

Eugene Zekai

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Hi everyone. A couple of months ago I have dwelled in the realm of HT. Although separate speakers are a step in the right direction than my Samsung K950, i still feel like something is missing. Sounds in not so engaging and bass feels just OK.

I am currently running Marantz SR6013, Tannoy Revolution XT6F, Tannoy Rev Center and BK12SB-PR. Rears are missing as I cannot find a pair at a reasonable price. But I will likely stick to 3.1 until 2021.

I do suspect my room is the culprit here, hence I have chosen to go for Marantz/Audyssey, but no matter what I do it just doesn't sound "exciting". It is a 5m x 5.5m open plan room with kitchen, 5m x 2.8m part of it is the living room area. The room has hard floors. Listening space is appx, 4m from TV. Front speakers are 50cm off the wall.

Only 'filters' that are on are Mdax on light and Cinema EQ. Front speakers are Bi-amped. Crossover settings are: 80HZ for fronts and center, 120hz for Subwoofer.

I might get a small carpet but other than that i can't do much for the room treatment.

I also don't have the Audyssey phone app, will that improve things a bit?

Any tips, help are appreciated. I will take photos of the room later today.
 
There could be 101 reasons why your setup doesn’t sound the way you’d want it to, but you’re right, generally the room is the biggest culprit, then followed by a number of other things.

your marantz should be fine, can’t really comment on your speakers or sub though I’m afraid.

In your instance, I don’t think the app will make much difference unless you know what you’re doing with it, even then, you’re limited by what you can do whilst in it.

have you tried any of the audyssey settings, I don’t know what sort of listening levels you are listening too and usually I would not recommend Dynamic EQ but in your instance, that’s probably where I would start.

Generally movie tracks are mixed to be played at reference level (0db on your receiver), but more often than not, people can’t play at these sort of the levels. Dynamic EQ compensates for these by adding bass when you are listening to lower levels, giving you much more feedback than you normally would do.
 
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Also turn off cinema EQ.

you could also try changing audyssey to flat instead of reference.
 
There could be 101 reasons why your setup doesn’t sound the way you’d want it to, but you’re right, generally the room is the biggest culprit, then followed by a number of other things.

your marantz should be fine, can’t really comment on your speakers or sub though I’m afraid.

In your instance, I don’t think the app will make much difference unless you know what you’re doing with it, even then, you’re limited by what you can do whilst in it.

have you tried any of the audyssey settings, I don’t know what sort of listening levels you are listening too and usually I would so don’t use Dynamic EQ but in your instance, that’s probably where I would start.

Generally movie tracks are mixed to be played at reference level (0db on your receiver), but more often than not, people can’t play at these sort of the levels. Dynamic EQ compensates for these by adding bass when you are listening to lower levels, giving you much more feedback than you normally would do.

I will give Dynamic EQ another go. When i tried using it, doors were shaking from too much bass (-8db and still too much at times)

As for the levels, i usually set the volume to 60, but i am not sure what it translates to in db levels. Fairly decent volume level but not close to 0db.

Cinema EQ made sounds less harsh but i think it took away the excitement with is as well.

Thanks for all the tips mate. Every bit helps

Any recommendations for crossover settings?
 
I will give Dynamic EQ another go. When i tried using it, doors were shaking from too much bass (-8db and still too much at times)

As for the levels, i usually set the volume to 60, but i am not sure what it translates to in db levels. Fairly decent volume level but not close to 0db.

Cinema EQ made sounds less harsh but i think it took away the excitement with is as well.

Thanks for all the tips mate. Every bit helps

Any recommendations for crossover settings?

change your settings for the volume indicator so it show -xxdB. This give a better indication to anyone else what volume levels you are listening to, as 60 doesn’t mean anything, whereas -20db does.

Crossover is dependent on a few things, room, speakers, etc. Don’t mess with your sub 120hz setting as that is the default that shouldn’t really be changed. Your individual crossovers you can change to what sounds best. I run mine at 90, but that’s because I was getting too much bass from my centre speaker when running it at 80.
 
Hi everyone. A couple of months ago I have dwelled in the realm of HT. Although separate speakers are a step in the right direction than my Samsung K950, i still feel like something is missing. Sounds in not so engaging and bass feels just OK.

I am currently running Marantz SR6013, Tannoy Revolution XT6F, Tannoy Rev Center and BK12SB-PR. Rears are missing as I cannot find a pair at a reasonable price. But I will likely stick to 3.1 until 2021.

I do suspect my room is the culprit here, hence I have chosen to go for Marantz/Audyssey, but no matter what I do it just doesn't sound "exciting". It is a 5m x 5.5m open plan room with kitchen, 5m x 2.8m part of it is the living room area. The room has hard floors. Listening space is appx, 4m from TV. Front speakers are 50cm off the wall.

Only 'filters' that are on are Mdax on light and Cinema EQ. Front speakers are Bi-amped. Crossover settings are: 80HZ for fronts and center, 120hz for Subwoofer.

I might get a small carpet but other than that i can't do much for the room treatment.

I also don't have the Audyssey phone app, will that improve things a bit?

Any tips, help are appreciated. I will take photos of the room later today.
What content are you unhappy with? Music or movies?
From files? CD? DVD? Blu-ray? or UHD?

I'd think adding another two speakers to allow 5.1 could give improvement to the overall effect.
If you want to match them to the Tannoy dual concentric drivers your XT6F has there are a load of older speakers using them usually available on ebay fairly cheap. Tannoy 609's go for around £150 for a pair.

I use Tannoy Eyris DC3/Eyris DCC (multiple 6.5 inch drivers, one dual concentric) for front LCR and Tannoy Saturn S8C (single 8 inch dual concentric, same as in the 609) for surrounds. They seem to match OK. Rears are some non dual concentric Tannoys (something like a mercury or equivalent).

The Multi Eq editor app would allow you to play with the tone curves for the speakers and help if you were to use non Tannoy speakers to try and match the higher frequency roll offs.

Your BK sub should be more than OK. I had one BK XLS-200 (now 2) and it produced loads of bass (albeit in a slightly smaller room size than yours). What has Audyssey set its levels at?

I always use DEQ as I find without that the sound is lacking at the -20dB level I listen at. You mention DEQ produces too much bass. You can alter how much bass is produced with DEQ: ON by using the Channel Level Adjustment popup and dropping/increasing the sub output level as needed on the fly.
 
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Take a look at this thread.

 
Thank you all for your comments. Over the weekend, I have tried for different settings and modes and it got a little bit better. You can find a sketch of my room below.

I am mostly streaming Netflix/Prime nowadays. I am usually using the TV apps, occasionally xbox, but i wonder if a fire stick/cube or Nvidia shield will sound better than just the tv app. I have a Samsung Q9fn

Using Movie / Virtual X mode to make it sound bit more exciting but it also sounds a little 'thinner' than Dolby digital. Mdax medium, Dynamic volume light, -10db offset.

Daytime listening is around -20db and -28db for night time.

Bass is still either getting too boomy or just okay. I dont get that feeling in your stomach when you hear super lower bass notes.

I have seen the acoustic panels before. Definitely, my next purchase along with rear speakers in 2021 but my first reflection points are either windows or kitchen counter.
 

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Is that your sub top left corner? If so, try this, move it along the long left wall, so its quarter the length down and move it out one quarter the width of the back wall, might nit like it there but if it sounds better, you can always move it in a bit width wise. Don't forget to recalibrate.
 
Is that your sub top left corner? If so, try this, move it along the long left wall, so its quarter the length down and move it out one quarter the width of the back wall, might nit like it there but if it sounds better, you can always move it in a bit width wise. Don't forget to recalibrate.

It is sub indeed, not so much tucked to corner as it seems from the sketch. I originally thought of moving it either back of the room or close to the location you have suggested but radiator being in the middle of the room scared me a bit due to possible damage from heat.

Furniture is offset towards the right side of the room as radiator + 2. couch pushes too much towards the centre and blocks tv if not done so. I can always move a plant instead of sub to balance it aesthetically i guess.

Moving the sub is also a bit hard as it is very heavy and wooden floor doesn't help when you got spikes/caps. If being close to the radiator is no problem i shall try moving it tonight.

It is funny because main reason i went to Marantz SR 6013 was Audsyses XT32 but in all honesty, it doesn't seem like "game-changer" or "super-advanced" people made it out to be online. I could have got a Yamaha A3070 for the same price.
 
It is sub indeed, not so much tucked to corner as it seems from the sketch. I originally thought of moving it either back of the room or close to the location you have suggested but radiator being in the middle of the room scared me a bit due to possible damage from heat.

Furniture is offset towards the right side of the room as radiator + 2. couch pushes too much towards the centre and blocks tv if not done so. I can always move a plant instead of sub to balance it aesthetically i guess.

Moving the sub is also a bit hard as it is very heavy and wooden floor doesn't help when you got spikes/caps. If being close to the radiator is no problem i shall try moving it tonight.

It is funny because main reason i went to Marantz SR 6013 was Audsyses XT32 but in all honesty, it doesn't seem like "game-changer" or "super-advanced" people made it out to be online. I could have got a Yamaha A3070 for the same price.

Once i have set up with the Audsyses XT32 on my Marantz,i alway used to switch it of,didn't like the sound it gave.
Are you using the Marantz to turn the sub volume or on the back of the sub,i alway use the controls on the back of the sub.

:)
 
Once i have set up with the Audsyses XT32 on my Marantz,i alway used to switch it of,didn't like the sound it gave.
Are you using the Marantz to turn the sub volume or on the back of the sub,i alway use the controls on the back of the sub.

:)

I would play with the controls of the sub very subtlely but usually i up the volume of center and sub from marantz a db or 2. Will try to leave marantz alone and just play with sub controls this time
 
Hmmm, having the sub reflecting against a rad wouldn't be good. Try my suggestion if you can, just to check you can get good bass. Then you can work out from there what to do. You can try the same in other corners, its basically 1/4 length/width out and place the sub there
 
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Will try to leave marantz alone and just play with sub controls this time

I wouldn't do that either. Your calibration on the marantz should check the sub first. If not set the BK volume to around 9 o'clock and calibrate. Your aiming for calibration to have in its setting a sub vol below -6db and no more than 0db ideally. You can then tweak the vol by a couple of dbs I.e set at -4.5 db and then change to -2.5db. Also, check your phase and try it at 180 but do it before calibrating. Will probably have to do a couple of cals
 

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