movie dialog seems muffled with 683's..do i need a center or better receiver

[capall]

Hi all,
I have just got a pair of 683's and while music is great, movie dialog seems a bit muffled or unclear and I keep turning up the volume. Is it my cheap receiver (yamaha Rx V475) or do i need a center speaker

thanks
derek

[BWLover]

I have 683S1's and have never had that problem with movies/TV...

Maybe someone with more experience can help you out


Sent from my iPhone using the Tapatalk app

[windshear]

Since you are only using 2 loudspeakers I suspect something is going amiss in the down conversion from multi channel to stereo. Is it not possible to borrow a center channel speaker from a friend and see if this solves the problem. How have you got the receiver set up, have you configured it to only use two channels via its internal set up?

[madmac]

Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks utilize 5 discrete channels of audio (.1 with for the sub channel....hence 5.1). When you tell and program your receiver that you only have 2 speakers (I HOPE you did that!) then it has to process all those 5 channels into two. I did that initially when I bought my first surround sound receiver and the results were marginal. In other words, A 5.1 dolby digital signal should be played with 5 speakers to sound proper. The center channel speaker in a home theater setup is far and away THE MOST important speaker in the system. Buy the best and biggest center that you can afford and one that hopefully matches your left and right speakers (ie....same brand....same drivers).

So to answer your question, Yes....you are having problems hearing the dialog in movies because you do not have a center channel speaker.

[capall]

Thanks guys,
so, firstly i didn't tell the receiver anything, my boo boo, I was just setting it to '2ch stereo' mode via the remote, which does (and obviously) make a huge difference than if it was in the 'movie' mode, which I suspect its expecting a center. So let me look the setup instructions. None of my friends have "music" or "HT" setups, so I'm on my own.

If using 2x floorstanders for music and HT, sounds like it's far from optimal and possibly not even recommended, that I do this without adding a center...ie a center is actually required?

I've read poor reviews of the center in the 600s1 series (htm61), and its possibly a far better option to use a 685 as a center, does anyone agree, or is there a better suggestion?

I'll review my settings tonight

thanks

[capall]

Just to clarify here , I only have (2) 683 speakers, no center, surrounds or sub, in case this skews any of your responses
I do have a feeling the receiver thinks I have a center though, so will check this tonight

thanks
derek

[capall]

well, guess what. My receiver thought I had not just a center bit a subwoofer and a rear surrounds. Didn't get a chance to run the YPAO, but fixing the speaker config certainly made the difference. Thaks fopr the help.


thanks
derek

[madmac]

well, guess what. My receiver thought I had not just a center bit a subwoofer and a rear surrounds. Didn't get a chance to run the YPAO, but fixing the speaker config certainly made the difference. Thaks fopr the help.


thanks
derek

There there it is! If your receiver 'thought' that you had a center, it's actually shocking that you were able to hear any dialogue at all! You need to set front speakers to 'Large' and tell the receiver that you have no center, sub, or surrounds. After that, you should be fine with Dolby Digital stuff but as I mentioned earlier, It won't be optimal.

If I was you (Until you get 5 speakers going), I would try sending the analog signal from your DVD/BD player using the 2ch stereo analog out's (RCA out's) to your receiver set to 2ch mode. There's a chance you might get better results that way.

[donkimizer]

I had the similar issue. Two things helped. Aim speakers more precisely towards your listening position, and put them a bit closer to each other. Since you don't have center this way you will narrow your soundstage and make dialogue more clear. And later if you decide to buy one you can spread them wider. Also, given what you are saying about your avr setup, you most likely didn't listen to any 5.1 channel audio, since at least from what I heard, most dialogue is placed exclusively on center channel.