Help! My cs20 sounds....wrong

NightPiper

So I just upgraded to a pair of Monitor 70's as front channels and a cs20 as my center. (using my old klipsch 300's as surround and front high) with an Onkyp HT-RC160 receiver.

Since putting in the cs20 I've noticed the vocals on most television programs sounds "hot". Sometimes even a little distorted. The highs are way too bright and it just seems that there's something wrong.

I used the Onkyo Audessy equalizer set-up and everything else sounds great. And during BLU-RAY playback the cs20 sounds fine. I realize this is probably just a tv broadcasting issue, but does anyone have any advice as to how I could minimize the amount of "noise" coming from my cs20?

I tried adjusting the output on my Direct TV receiver so it wouldn't sound so "hot", but that doesn't seem to help. I've also taken out some of the high Freq going to the cs20.

Any advice?

mak99

In our system, I have the Onkyo 805 set to the THX Cinema listening mode for HDTV watching. I liked this mode better than the straight Dolby Digital mode (or whatever the correct Onkyo term is), the THX Cinema mode just sounded a bit more natural.

For BD and HD DVD watching, we just use the straight decoding mode for whatever the disc is encoded with - DTS-MA, Dolby TrueHD, etc., with no additional processing.

FYI, the above info was with a Polk CSi40 up until yesterday, when it was replaced with a CSi A6. So far, the CSi A6 also sounds great watching HDTV using the THX Cinema mode...

NightPiper

Ya the Blu Ray discs and player sounds fine, its mainly TV watching. Maybe its a Direct TV receiver issue....? Has anyone else experienced the same SQ issues with Direct TV or cable?

flyfisher

Have you tried different listening modes like Mak does?Also it never hurts to double check to make sure all connections are secure,direct tv,center speaker.

NightPiper

flyfisher wrote: »

Have you tried different listening modes like Mak does?Also it never hurts to double check to make sure all connections are secure,direct tv,center speaker.

Yes, I constantly have to switch listening modes in order to minimize the distortion.

Now Im not much of an audiophile but know enough that the only way I can describe it is that the signal seems "hot". But if I minimize my input level to the point where I lose most of the distortion, i end up at almost max volume just to get a decent listening level.

The only thing I can wrap my head around is line level..

cwilliams

How are you connecting your DirecTV box to your receiver? If you are taking it from the output of the tv, make sure you are not feeding it a signal that is effected by the TV's internal volume. If you have an HD box and taking it from there, check in the menu settings and make sure you have it set to "Digital" (if using a coax, optical, or HDMI output). Beyond that - cables, problem with the box, or input on your receiver.

cnh

WELCOME TO CLUB POLK!

Like Mak99 above I run an Onkyo TX-SR 805, but I also use a CS2 center which is pretty much like your CS20. When I first set the system up the CS2 was a bit bright and hollow. So I tweaked a bit. What I'm going to give you are my settings....but because of the room, treatments, furniture and the extra power of the 805 these may or may not help you. But they work for me.....

Speaker level 0 db.....the fronts M70s are also at 0 so the center is just a bit louder than the L/R. The L/R are egualized on a curve....63hz +4, 160 at +3, 400 at +2, 1000 at +1, 2500 at -3db, 6300 at -2db, -16000 at -1 db. center equalization everything at 0db.

Bass Adjustment L/R +2db, Treble L/R 0db. LFE crossover at 50 Hz

Center Bass +4db, Treble -2db. LFE crossover at 60 Hz. Surrounds at a standard 80 hz cut-off.

Sub is at about +6 db for film and TV I dial back to about 2.5 db for music.

I doubt that this will be a fix for your situation. But it might help suggest other tweaking possibilities.

Good Luck. You also might want to check the center by hooking it to another channel and see what it sounds like?

cnh

mak99

NightPiper wrote: »

Ya the Blu Ray discs and player sounds fine, its mainly TV watching. Maybe its a Direct TV receiver issue....? Has anyone else experienced the same SQ issues with Direct TV or cable?

Our system is with Comcast/Motorola HDTV digital cable box. If there are any adjustments in it's menu system, I've never touched them.

Similar to cnh's tweaks, I'll clarify that I have the center set to 76dB using the Onkyo's internal test tones, with the front L+R set to 75 dB, surrounds at 76-77 dB. I have yet to rerun Audyssey with the day-old CSi A6 (I always use all eight measurements), and have never done the manual EQ like cnh has. So far the A6 sounds great, but a bit more "present" than the CSi40 so I'll probably lower it to 75dB to match the fronts.

IIRC, the Onkyo's crossover is set to 80hZ for all five speakers, but will be experimenting with this setting soon, lowering the L/C/R setting to 60Hz or lower, to see how well the new fronts sound...plus it should take a wee bit of load off the sub...