polk onkyo new setup and need help!

mikeorama

Have CS10 center speaker, Tsi300's for fronts and R150's for surrounds with a PSW 108 sub and Onlyo TX-SR 309 receiver. The R150's I used to have for fronts before i got the Tsi 300 speakers and now that i have moved the 150's to the back for surrounds, they arent very loud at all. Is this just what you get with surrounds? Or should the volume be louder? They are waaaaay quieter than the front and center speakers..... New to all this and kind of lost. any help would be much appreciated! also, any sub settings for phase or any other recommended speaker settings??

tophatjohnny

I am new to this too, and I called Onkyo with a similar concern. They showed me ow to calibrate the speakers and whamo..louder than ever. Maybe you already did that?? Other than that, this forum is great, and someone will chime in to help. Your system sounds cool!

tophatjohnny

no one else??????????????????????????????/

EndersShadow

Surrounds should be quieter than your fronts and center. They play more ambient sound than anything and give you the feeling of dimension.

I would make sure you re-ran Audyssey and thats about it. If they are not loud enough for you try and see if you have a feature called "Dynamic EQ" and if so turn it on. That might help.

John K.

Mike, welcome to Club Polk. You didn't mention what type of material you were listening to, but as the previous reply pointed out, often the surrounds are intended to be much quieter than the mains. If the source material has no surround content at a particular moment in time, then of course the surrounds should be totally silent at that moment.

The 309 has no Audyssey or any other type of automatic calibration system to make the speakers equally loud at the listening position(only when they're sent equally loud content, though)so, the calibration has to be done manually(as described in the manual) and judged by ear if you don't have a sound level meter. Although our ears are great for enjoying music, for making fine judgments as to the quantity or quality of sound they suck, and a manual calibration isn't likely to be as accurate. Nevertheless, it can be reasonably close and should always be done.

One hint when playing 2-channel music CDs which have no separate surround channel is to use the DPLII mode, which takes surround ambience material which had to be mixed into the front channels, extracts it and sends it to the surrounds where it belongs(at a slightly lower level than in the mains).

transmaster

Go here for the info you need; http://www.avsforum.com/t/1322401/onkyo-tx-nr609-tx-nr509-tx-sr309-thread I have a TX-NR709 which I do not yet have a center channel hooked up, fortunately I do have Audyssey so the setup is automated you don't so you will have to drill into the setup menus. The above thread will give you all of the help you will need.

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

Yes, the 309 does have calibration at this point. All Onkyos do, since that's a fairly new model. Probably has HDMI 1.3a at least and also does HD Dolby, and HD DTS. Almost all recent models do.

As for having a bit less sound in the back. That's not unusual in movies. It depends on what's on the soundtrack. As said above.

50 percent of the sound in a movie track is through the CENTER channel. The bulk of the rest is L/R and SUB. And what's left over is distributed to the back usually in situations where the sound is TRULY all around one, or just to provide ambient sound for the front channels in many cases.

Of course if you run something like ALL STEREO (5.1 or more stereo formats) you should hear full sound from the back speakers!

Enjoy!

cnh

mikeorama

Thanks or all the advice and help! Much appreciated. Couple other things as well..... What should the speaker volume levelbe set at on the receiver for fronts, center, surrounds and sub? its between -12 and plus 12.... not to sure what i should set each one at, and the sub has a volume level on the back as well as a phase setting either 0 or 180. Im not sure what these should be set at either. and with the receiver, when watching a movie, how do you change the sound setting to get dolby digital or is it always playing with that? Is there and advice on best settings for movies? Ive used theater, and PL2, mostly. Not sure what other other ones are like?

rebuy

If you run the Audyssey set up it will set the levels or you can do it manually. I would think the front speakers you would want around zero on the levels, sometimes the center has to be adjusted. If you do not believe the rears are loud enough, you can turn them up to the levels you prefer, you do this on the remote with the set up button. Everyone has different ways to listen to a system.

mikeorama

I dont have Audyssey on my receiver

rebuy

I would have it set up and balanced by now. Did you git er done?

cnh

Well, it seems as if this Onkyo does not have Audyssey. Which comes as a surprise to me. I didn't think anyone sold any AVR without some auto-calibration. My bad!

Look at your Manual for setting up surround sound. On your remote you will find a button labeled test tone and one labeled channel select next to it. Press the test tone button, you will hear a noise signal. There are buttons or controls + and - to increase or reduce the volume levels for each speaker in the surround sequence. Using the channel select, go through each speaker and balance them (raising or lowering the level so that they match their neighbors until all speakers are at more or less the same volume, including the sub--it might also be a good idea if you have an SPL meter to just use that to SET each speaker--but if you don't this won't make much sense to you and that's OK).

Once you set your DVD or BDP to BITSTREAM output and run a digital cable (HDMI, Coax or Toslink) to the AVR for audio, the Onkyo should be able to "identify" what is coming into it and decode it into its appropriate surround format. If it does not--check your manual for further instructions.

Your sub should connect to the Sub OUT line on the Onkyo to the LFE in or (unfiltered in) on the sub. Turn the sub volume control to 12 o'clock before calibrating. When the sub level is adjusted, you will notice that there is also a phase switch on the back of the sub with 0 or 180 (or in more advanced subs: 0, 90, 180, 270). While listening to bass heavy material, have someone toggle back and forth until you have the setting where the bass sounds not only the strongest but also the "cleanest". That is your correct sub phasing.

Try some of this and come back and tell us how it went. Or if there is anything that is still not clear!

cnh

mikeorama

Got the speakers set up and goin! Did the test volumes on the receiver and the levels and it worked fine. I was wondering if theres any other ways to really fine tune it. I was thinking of getting a some test dvd ive read about?!?! Dont know if that would help anything? Regardless, its all working now and set up and thanks for the sub info! The phase setting poart had me the most confused as I had no idea what that is.

Remo

mikeorama wrote: »

Got the speakers set up and goin! Did the test volumes on the receiver and the levels and it worked fine. I was wondering if theres any other ways to really fine tune it. I was thinking of getting a some test dvd ive read about?!?! Dont know if that would help anything? Regardless, its all working now and set up and thanks for the sub info! The phase setting poart had me the most confused as I had no idea what that is.

Set speaker distance also, it is in the on screen menu under selection 5

On your Remote press

Reciever

the press

Setup

The on screen menu will show up , you will have these selections.

1. HDMI Input

2. Component

3. Digital Audio

4. Sp Config

5. Sp Distance

6. Level Cal

7. Audio Adjust

8. Source Setup

9. Hardware

10. HDMI Setup

select

5. Sp Distance

Measure the distance from speaker driver to your main listening position enter that value into the AVR for each speaker in your system (Left, Center, Right, Surround Right, Surround
Left, Subwoofer).

Its on page 31 in your AVR instuction manual.


For subwoofer phase its a switch or dial on the subwoofer amp (if your subwoofer has this feature), there should be atleast 2 positions 0? and 180? just play some material with bass content and have someone flip the switch or turn the dial to each position.... which ever sounds best keep it there.

whitecamaross

audessey does a fantastic job at setting the speaker levels. however, ive heard anthem's arc is much better