More bass than others - What do I do?

[EAmin]

Sorry for the newbie quesiton. I don't know if the question is appropriate in the forum or not, but here goes. I am very happy with the way my HT/home audio system sounds. Many of the DVDs like Master and Commander, LOTR, and the Star Wars movies sound awesome. Surround music sounds great too, although I listen to mainly 2-channel. I'm noticing there are many movies with more bass than others. Case in point is Top Gun SE, the newest version. This DVD has unbelievable bass in DTS and DD 5.1 --- to the point that I feel I have to turn down the settings. Do you guys have similar experiences with movies, and what have you done to resolve this? As mentioned earlier, I really do like the way the sub sounds with other movies but not with this movie in particular. It's really too bad cuz I love this movie.

I hope I'm making sense. Would love to get your advice.

Tweaks I've made in the past:

1. Moved the sub away from the corner I had it in.
2. Switched the EQ from B to A (using a B&W ASW750)
3. Re-calibrated the sub using a Radio Shack SP meter.
4. Pointed the woofer diagonally towards the sweet spot.
5. Changed the sub settings in my Rotel 1098 processor. I increased level +2 DB when using DD and DTS to give it the extra punch it sometimes needs. I'm wondering if this what I have to turn down with bass heavy movies.

[Andrew Pratt]

Its just the different mixs that they are releasing now. I have to wonder if maybe the DVD mixes aren't not going to turn into the same problem we have with the radio versions of songs that are optomized for peoples cars vs a true stereo system. As HTs become more and more popular will the guys mixing the DVD's cater to the masses with bloated LFE levels or will they still try to create a realistic level to all channels? Its a question I don't have the answer for but I for one hope they don't start messing with the more natural levels so that we don't have to keep adjusting the LFE level for every movie.

[Kevin P]

I hope they don't start doing that. One benny of Dolby Digital is the compression (night mode) feature, which can be used to make movies more listenable on el cheapo systems without wrecking the dynamics us HTGuiders enjoy on our quality systems.

If CD player manufacturers had added a compression feature, especially on car/boombox/walkman CD players, the record companies would have no need to over-compress CDs to the point of being worse sounding than cassette tapes 15 years ago. :roll:

[EAmin]

Thanks to both of you for your responses, and your insight on this. Glad to hear that I'm not alone on this one.

Its just the different mixs that they are releasing now. I have to wonder if maybe the DVD mixes aren't not going to turn into the same problem we have with the radio versions of songs that are optomized for peoples cars vs a true stereo system. As HTs become more and more popular will the guys mixing the DVD's cater to the masses with bloated LFE levels or will they still try to create a realistic level to all channels? Its a question I don't have the answer for but I for one hope they don't start messing with the more natural levels so that we don't have to keep adjusting the LFE level for every movie.

Andrew: I know you have a Rotel 1098 processor just like I do. What menu items do you go to change the sound? I would like to experiment with the same. I know about the SUBWOOFER SETUP menu --- I would think I need to go there and turn out down a few dBs. Where else should I go. Feel free to PM me if the question is too Rotel specific for this forum.

[Aussie Geoff]

EAmin,

If you want to temporarily change the subwoofer level for just a single movies (e.g. the ones you mentioned) then the Rotel RSP-1098 / 1068 /1067 /1056 can help!...

On the Remote Control there us a SUB button on the bottom left of the UP and DOWN arrow buttons. Press the SUB button an you will see a display showing (say) SUB +2 dB if your sub is set to + 2 dB. You can then use the UP and DOWN keys to vary the subwoofer level. The processor will remember this for this input until you change inputs.

Geoff

[RobP]

I am afraid that the the high bass levels are going to stay and probably get worse, your average person is mesmorized by bloated boomy bass, I seen it in the car audio world when I used to compete in th IASCA events years ago, there were alot of SQ cars, but the majority were bass machines with multiple subs and tons of power, now the SQ part of the whole thing is almost gone and all that is left are the high SPL bassmobiles. Bass sells and the market will go where the money is.

Robert P