|   I am looking for audio upgrade advice. | chimiler
Oct 22, 2002 10:18 AM | | I have a modest home theater set up: Denon 3300 5.1/DTS receiver that puts out a fairly clean 105 wpc, a new inexpensive Sony NC655 progressive scan DVD player, 10 year old Energy 5.1e dual 7" towers with 1" dome tweeter (aluminum I think), 5 year old Energy EC100 dual 4" center (don't know much about this one), Energy A90 12" 100w sub and new Mirage AVS200 surrounds. Overall it sounds pretty good. I really like the sound of the 5.1s and the picture from the progressive scan is great (although the Sony's transport is noisy and clunky). I do find however that the dialog in movies is what I'd consider lifelike -- a little dull perhaps. I find myself turning the center up 2dB after all the channels are balanced using test tones so I can hear dialog better. What is the best upgrade to solve this -- buy a power amp for the 3 fronts to improve overall clarity and dynamic range? Get new center channel that might give me clearer dialog? Or would a better/more expensive DVD player give me improved audio/video? Sell everything and go to the movie theater? |
| re: I am looking for audio upgrade advice. | AVMASTER
Oct 22, 2002 11:37 AM | | there's a bunch of things you could do but the simplest(and most cost effective) would be to upgrade the center channel. I'm not familiar with Energy but the Pinnacle Classic Gold center(price and performance) is a good match with almost any front towers. |
| re: I am looking for audio upgrade advice. | Woochifer
Oct 22, 2002 1:39 PM | | I think generally speaking, you're better off keeping the front three speakers a voice matched set. It's possible that the center speaker you currently use does not match the mains very well, in which case you should look to upgrade. Also, you might want to grab a test disc and SPL meter to rebalance the speaker levels. The internal tone generators in receivers are typically wideband tones, and those might give you less accurate readings on the SPL meter than the narrow band tones that come with test discs like the S&V Home Theater Setup DVD. On my receiver, the center speaker setting is +4.0 dB, and the sound got a lot more seamless after I placed some acoustic panels behind the speakers. Try these tweaks and adjustments before you resort to more expensive hardware investments. |
| Dont think you would experience that much difference... | Debbi
Oct 23, 2002 3:06 PM | | if you replaced everything. Center dialog is a problem period. Your receiver is fine...you might lower the dynamic range while increasing the center volume, as you have been doing. I agree with Woochifer to keep the 3 fronts consistent if you do decide on new speakers. |
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