My center channel needs to be louder!!

ken brydson

tonyb wrote: »

woman, can't live with them, can't kill them, can't send them back.

New sig material right there, love it.

Quick note to the OP, Dark Knight although a great flick the dialogue is pretty muted. Almost like mumbling on a lot of scenes, especially with Bale. Some movies you may just need to boost your center level. YMMV.

SpiderMan1

maybe I'll wait or check out ebay.

20hz

if you are looking to upgrade a center speaker and want more volume look at the speakers sensitivity ratings , one with 3 db more makes a large differance .

hochpt21

Thanks to everyone's advice here I am getting much better quality out of my center...however...Newegg (damn them) has the CS2 for $99 shipped. Sooooo...order placed and I'll be rocking a new center soon.

Lietuvis91

Cool, well, let us know what you think about the difference.

Thomasjclark45

Another thing I just thought of. Something that I used to have turned off but have since changed my mind. The dynamic compression. On my 12 year old Sony ES I left it off becuase I felt that it just muted the explosions and other huge volume jumps within movies. With my Onkyo it not only mutes the higher end volumes but it increases the lower end, like with voices. I set mine to light compression, and I feel it dramatically improves speach. May not work for all, but I found this setting extremly useful on the onkyo. Also you might want to see if your DVD player has an speach enhancement setting.

williamgauci

I've had a couple different receivers and it's been my experience that you should use the auto calibration for your base settings and distances. If you're serious about setting up your system and having it sound as best as you can, invest a few dollars and get a SPL meter. I have always found that after running an auto setup and then running the test tones with my SPL meter, the speaker levels have always needed adjustment with levels across all speakers being off as much as 5db and more.

I've noticed that certain movies are difficult to hear the dialogue through the center and I just adjust the center level up a little.

hochpt21

After listening to the advice on this thread, I was able to improve the overall experience from my CS1. But then the CS2 came along at $99 shipped so I had to go for it. I know its a relatively small jump in the grand scheme of things, but just to complete the thread...I wanted to share my thoughts.

To get the CS1 to sound its best I chose the Digital Cinema Studio option on the AVR, I positioned the speaker just below the wall-mounted plasma at about 4 feet, ran the auto-cal, set all speakers to small and turned the center up to between +6 and +10 depending on what I was listening to. With these settings, the CS1 would have been fine.

The switch...
I started watching a movie with a significant amount of dialogue, not much action. The center was set at 0, but the AVR was turned up because I didn't have to worry about explosions etc... After about a half-hour, I turned the AVR off, and made the switch. I turned everything back on with the same settings and started the movie where I left off.

I immediately noticed a significant difference. The sound was louder and fuller, it was like it was coming from a way bigger speaker. (btw, the CS2 is bigger, but not 'as bigger' as some other reviews I read)

I put Dark Knight on again (since that was the source of my discontentment). Ken is right. The dialogue sounds like crap on that movie. However, I turned the center up to +5 and it sounded almost perfect. It was like my system clicked and started working together. No straining to hear dialogue and no overpowering when the surrounds kicked in.

I also tried the jazz channel on my cable and turned the center to -2 to blend perfectly with the setup.

I then turned on the Clippers game and put it back to 0, and it sounded great.

Overall, I am very happy. Of course there are better systems and centers, but for my setup...no question that the $ was worth the upgrade.

I am planning to switch the M70's to my other setup and bring the M50's as the fronts for this one, which I think should make the CS2's job (and the AVR's) even easier. (Only reason switching is because I listen to a lot of music upstairs and want the 70's over the 50's for that)

Thanks to Lietuvis for helping me with speaker placement.
Thanks to Loud & Clear for recommending the CS2.
Thanks to Bobsauto for the AVR setting help.
Thanks to TonyB for the great quote as well as planting the idea in my head for an AVR upgrade.(wife also thanks you).

As always, I am open to all opinions and suggestions.

Lietuvis91

Very cool that you got back to us and of course I'm glad everything worked out well! It's really fun when you get everything setup just right, now kick back & enjoy!

Loud & Clear

Awesome. The CS2 was a stud when I ran it with the 70s in my theater setup.

WagBoss

Generally movies have quiet dialogue and loud action scenes intentionally. Not much you can do about it.

Also when listening to music you should change your receiver to 2 ch or 2.1, you don't want your center or surrounds playing music.

dewey79

I didn't think it was your receiver either, I have that same receiver, and it quite powerful and puts out some beautiful sound. It is also capable of doing 4 ohm. I have the CS1 and monitor 50s for fronts and surrounds on it and it runs them with authority. I have everything crossed over to 80. The EQ is turned off and I run a full flat calibration.

dewey79

Also, if you are using banana plugs, make sure the terminal is screwed as tight as possible before plugging them into the back of the receiver.

bobsauto49

Awesome! Along my journey of pure sound,sometimes upgrades are so well worth,that you just sit back,listen,and smile!
Its a great feeling! And the help from great guys around here just make things a little easier! Enjoy!!!!

MajorC

I just set up my first home theater system and I had the same issues as the original poster. The center speaker needs to be ear level as is recommended. Also by changing the crossover on my center to 120hz and turning down the R and L fronts, a notch, made all the difference in the world.

Since I'm fairly satisfied with my front Monitor 30's I'm now wondering if my RM8 Center Channel is the proper match for the M-30's. Should I go with a Monitor C-1 or C-2 for center? I went with RM-8 due to its smaller size. I now see that its frequency range is less than the C-1's. (they are basically the same price range) Any advice?

flyfisher

Pick yourself a CS2.Matches any of the monitor lines.Look at Polk direct on eBay.$112 and free shipping.

hochpt21

The CS1 will be fine for the 30's as your fronts. Pick up the CS2 if you ever would consider upgrading your fronts to maybe 50's, 60's or 70's. Also depends what you're driving them with. If you're patient, you can get the CS1 for $70 and the CS2 for $100 on newegg.