polk rm5400, kenwood vr510 and thx

dr00l

My setup is listed in the subject line and my problem is this. When THX is activated on the receiver, speech from the center channel becomes much less distinct, almost in audible. Deactivating THX seems to remedy this. As far as I can tell (from the very poorly written kenwood manual) there seems no way to make adjustments to THX parameters, whatever those may be. Anyways I am a home theatre newbie and any advice would be much appreciated. as far as I can tell, all the speakers are in phase and according to my spl meter, speaker volumes are within 1 decibel.

Thanks in advance

Dr00l

trubluluc

I'm afraid you'll find few thx (which is short for
"thanks" for all the money you're paying me) devotees here.
Try changing your receivers setup for the center channel from large to small, or vice versa, and see if it helps at all.
If not I say ditch the thx and do whatever it takes to make it sound good to you.

-luc

dr00l

Thanks,I'm beginning to think I really wasted my money on the THX, I wish the kenwood had a better manual though. I'll try setting the center speaker to large, since I only have the option of normal and large center on this receiver..or I could just always turn thx off....ack what a shame

-Dr00l

eaadams

the thing with THX is it cuts up your frequency at 80hz to the sub. Problem is that you have those tiny speakers that need to have all the posible power possible and with **** little information coming to them as possible. You would not be having this problem with a CS400 but with the rm5400. You can say the kenwood was the mistake or the rm system. I assume you have read everything on the speaker specialist about this. Your satalites should be going through your sub not out of the reciever.

dr00l

I am running the speakers through the sub. I've found that setting the center channel to large seems to have corrected the problem somewhat. I can understand what used to be inaudible vocals. But my ears are telling me that something is still a little bit off. It's strange having sound from the stereo fronts so relatively full and lush, but have the center sound just a little choked, and not very big. Much more tinkering is required me thinks. My parents system suffers from a similar sound problem. The only thing our systems have in common is a Kenwood receiver though.

-J

ntculenuff

The only thing our systems have in common is a Kenwood receiver though.

not to snub your rcvr but if you and your parants have weak centers..sounds like it could be the kenwood.
my freind is running an adcom set up and has weak highs, he has the treble turned up all the way to compensate..this turned me away from adcom..no it is not the speakers . he has rt12's and the cs250
just my 02

eaadams

This is definetly a setup problem. We need a polk corp person to help you out.

Have you tried having all your speakers set to full? What do you have the sub x-overed at?

dr00l

I believe the problem was caused by the subwoofer being too loud. because the satelite speakers in the rm5400 share so much of the signal with the subwoofer, turning up the subwoofer also increases the volume of the stereo fronts. Of course this is all just mytheory, but it seems to have solved the center speaker volume inconsistently. This leads me to another question though, why not run the center through the subwoofer like the stereo fronts? Wouldn't that produce amore consistent sound?

Dr00l

goingganzo

try calabrateing your system
or try turning up your center chanel
the larg or small will not afect the center that much expct muddy up the sound