Center Channel Volume: HTM 2D

[ray5]

HI! I noticed that with movies even with good volume the dialogue gets a bit less loud though the special effects are just fine and maybe on the loud side. For example, with The Dark Knight blu-ray the vocals can get hard to listen to but the sounds effects are just fine. How can I fix that? I have only the front three channels and they are all set to large. See my profile for the setup. Thanks,
Ray

[emig5m]

Maybe it's your processors fault. I notice when I let my Yamaha do decoding of HD lossless soundtracks the vocals are way down but when I let my Xonar HDAV1.3 soundcard do the decoding the dialog volume is back up. (which by the way other people with the same receiver has reported this and I don't have this problem with standard DVD and the Yamaha's decoding). So could be a processing problem? I highly doubt the speaker is at fault.

[georgev]

Check out the tweeter of the HTM2d. I was having a similar problem and it turned out to be the tweeter that was kaput. I have heard that there have been a few reported such.
Tweeter changed(much money later) and voila I can hear voices again.
Thought I was getting old.

[mjb]

Ray, I've also noticed it depends on the movie or mix. If you think it the center is generally low, you can lift it a few DB in the Test Tone menu. I'm usually about to adjust it, and then realise its about right (with another DVD) and end up leaving it.

[ray5]

Thanks. How do I check the tweeter? The speakers are only 6-8 weeks old. I do notice though that as mjb said that it is more pronounced with certain movies than others. Could you tell me how exactly to raise the ctr channel a few db's?
Ray

[mjb]

Check the tweeter by putting your ear next to it. Is it doing anything?
To raise the center level, on your 1570, press the menu key, press enter, moving the cursor keys and select "test tone", press enter. Arrow down to "center", use the opposite arrow keys to increase or decrease the level.
Incidently, you can do this properly (setting levels I mean) with an SPL meter. There are plenty of threads describing how, but basically you just adjust all the speakers for the same sound pressure at the listening position using the test tone in the "test tone" menu.

[ray5]

Check the tweeter by putting your ear next to it. Is it doing anything?
To raise the center level, on your 1570, press the menu key, press enter, moving the cursor keys and select "test tone", press enter. Arrow down to "center", use the opposite arrow keys to increase or decrease the level.
Incidently, you can do this properly (setting levels I mean) with an SPL meter. There are plenty of threads describing how, but basically you just adjust all the speakers for the same sound pressure at the listening position using the test tone in the "test tone" menu.

Ok thanks.
Ray

[htsteve]

Check the tweeter by putting your ear next to it. Is it doing anything?
To raise the center level, on your 1570, press the menu key, press enter, moving the cursor keys and select "test tone", press enter. Arrow down to "center", use the opposite arrow keys to increase or decrease the level.
Incidently, you can do this properly (setting levels I mean) with an SPL meter. There are plenty of threads describing how, but basically you just adjust all the speakers for the same sound pressure at the listening position using the test tone in the "test tone" menu.

Ray,

Totally agree. This will level the speaker in your 1570, and even out the center speaker performance. Some discs are simply mastered differently. I believe your rotel remote allows you to adjust on the fly the center volume. this is a nice feature if a movie is too low. Turning off the 1570 resets it back to the SPL calibrated level.


Hope this helps.

[ray5]

Ray,

Totally agree. This will level the speaker in your 1570, and even out the center speaker performance. Some discs are simply mastered differently. I believe your rotel remote allows you to adjust on the fly the center volume. this is a nice feature if a movie is too low. Turning off the 1570 resets it back to the SPL calibrated level.


Hope this helps.

Okay. I'll take a look at the remote to see how I can adjust the center volume. Any particular SPL meter you guys like which will help with speakers and sub both?
Ray

[htsteve]

Ray,

Many of us have the Radio Shack analog SPL meter. Works very well.

[Relentless]

Is the center's tweeter close to the same height as the mains? If not which is usually the case due to not blocking the display, try tilting the speaker so the tweeter aims at ear level. Besides calibrating the volume this can help also.

[ray5]

Thanks. The ctr tweeter is not at the same level. I would say about 3-4 inches below.
Ray

[Relentless]

If it is just a few inches it is most likely the calibration.

[ray5]

What kind of sound should I be hearing from the tweeters?
ray

[htsteve]

What kind of sound should I be hearing from the tweeters?
ray

Ray,

Smooth, detailed and seemless. Effortless. It just works so well, regardless of volume.


Steve

[ray5]

Ray,

Smooth, detailed and seemless. Effortless. It just works so well, regardless of volume.


Steve

Steve,
It's hard to be absolutely certain about the tweeters because of the marlan head. However I placed my ear right next to the tweeters and it did not sound like discreet sound. It sounded like bursts of sounds as if when an aircraft is lifting up and during dialogue it sounded like garbled speech thogh when I move away the speech is fine and comes from the "head" just fine. Is that what I am supposed to hear?
Ray

[georgev]

Hi Ray,
The Marlan heads are only on the HTM1D or were you comparing the 2d to the 802d's marlan heads.
It really does sound like the tweeter.
get your B&W dealer to come out and check it for you. He should do this as part of the service(you have spent quite a lot with him).
I also thought it was the settings on my system and perhaps the acoustics, but it wasn't.
For movies about 90% of the dialogue is from the centre and so is quite a lot of other sound.
Let us know.

[MikeFL52]

Steve,
It's hard to be absolutely certain about the tweeters because of the marlan head. However I placed my ear right next to the tweeters and it did not sound like discreet sound. It sounded like bursts of sounds as if when an aircraft is lifting up and during dialogue it sounded like garbled speech thogh when I move away the speech is fine and comes from the "head" just fine. Is that what I am supposed to hear?
Ray

It is probably worth you investing in one of the calibration DVDs. These have white noise panning and you can easily check if something is not quite right since the tone and level panning across the front will be very different if the tweeter is not working on your center.

If your center is working as it should these also help set up the calibrations for levels.

[mjb]

Ray, listen to each driver while the 1570 is in the test tone menu at reasonable level. Each driver should be radiating, but the colour, or pitch, of the "whoosh" will be low for the big driver, higher for the mid-range and highest for the tweeter. The overall sound, from a few feet back, should be a smooth whooshing noise.

When you switch in the test tone menu between left/center/right, the whooshing noise should only change very slightly between speakers, but between left/right and center the colour will always change a bit unless you are using 3 identicle speakers.

[Ken49r]

Ray,

I will bet you use 2 ch. listening more than 3? If so the center isn't breaking in as fast as the L/R. Only being a couple months old they are still fresh.

You really need an SPL to calibrate them and will probably be lifting the level on the center until it opens up more.

[ray5]

Thanks. I did try with 2 channel, I am not sure whether it improved or not, perhaps it did. I called the dealer and he thinks it might be the processor. I am having him come by and check it out along with a SPL meter. I'll let you know. Thanks again.
Ray

[georgev]

Hi Ray,
Any feedback from your dealer?

[ray5]

Hi Ray,
Any feedback from your dealer?

He's coming today. I'll let you know.
ray

[ray5]

Reporting back. Thankfully the tweeters are fine.It was the processor that needed some tweaking and then the speakers calibrated with a SPL meter. As Steve had mentioned a quick way to raise the center channel volume is to press the CTR button twice and then it brings up the ctr icon on the Rotel and then you can raise the volume of the ctr. Thanks for all the help.
Ray