Better center with rt35i fronts

olds97_lss

5 or 6 years ago, I picked up a CSiA4 to replace a JBL center I was using with all JBL smaller fronts/rears (JBL Northridge E20 front, EC25 center, E10 rear). It added a lot of brightness that the original JBL was lacking, however, it didn't add much mid-range for voices and whatnot in movies. I ended up keeping both wired and got an "ok" mid-range and clarity.

I primarily use my speakers for movies and I live in an apartment, so chest pounding bass is low on my needs. Dialog though, is something I'm still lacking.

I wanted to buy a set of RtiA3's for the fronts to replace my 4" JBL's, but never could pull the pin on the purchase. Recently, I found an old set of rt35i's that came with a set of rt25i's, a 12" polk sub and a matching center. So, I kind of got the RTiA3's old grandparents instead.

I ditched all my JBL and hooked up all polk with the CSiA4 center. The depth of sound the 35's added was remarkable. The 25's in the back made a big difference over what they replaced as well, but yet, the center is lacking. I then tried hooking in the center I got with the purchase that was a matched center, but it's basically like having two CSIA4's now. I'm missing the mid-range from the center I'd like to get back.

I'm looking at the CS400I, but I don't know when it was made or if it would match with the rt35i's I now have in the front. Since it's running dual 6.5" drivers (like the single in the 35's), I would venture to guess I'd get the mid-range I'm looking for out of it and looking at photo's of it, it appears to come from near the era the rt##i's did.

I know the sound I'm looking for is probably atypical, but this all started when I had an old school rear projection Hitachi 60" SD TV that had dual 8" drivers for speakers. I had wired those speakers directly into the center channel of my receiver and had the JBL on top of the TV wired in parallel to give me more high's than the internal speakers would give. Did the sound stage ever sound 100% right? No. Did the speakers match in timbre at all with the JBL's, not really. But it did sound very full, rich and surprisingly clear. I rarely found myself increasing the volume to hear dialog or turning it down when explosions or gunfire was happening. Now I'm using a 70" flat screen that I've never actually listened to the speakers on and I'm trying to get a sound back that I haven't had in 6+ years and would really like to stop wearing out volume buttons on my remote.

Just thought I'd ask to see if anyone had some insight for me.

Thanks for reading.

Nightfall

What receiver? In my Yamaha Aventage I have options for "Adaptive DRC" which tries to limit dynamic range, making voices and explosions closer to the same volume of each other and another option called "Dialog Adjust" which makes voices stand out more.

Maybe yours has something similar to those two settings?

olds97_lss

My yamaha RX-V473 has that, but it doesn't help much at all. I can't tell the difference with it on or off.

Nightfall

Really? Something seems amiss. If I turn the Dialog Adjust up to 3 there is a big difference. Are all the drivers and tweeter working on the CSiA4?

olds97_lss

I'm looking at the manual right now and I think I've adjusted the Dynamic Range control... I'll have to look again on my receiver as the manual lists both "Dynamic Range" (which I know I've adjusted without much result, max, standard, min/auto) and Adaptive DRC (on/off), which I thought I had adjusted, but now I'm not so sure.

Nightfall

What about Dialog Adjust and Dialog Lift options, that's what makes a big difference in night time watching for me. The Adaptive DRC helps a little but like you say, doesn't do a whole lot.

olds97_lss

I don't have either of those settings. Probably settings you get when you drop more $ on a receiver.

Nightfall

Last option would be to then raise the center channel level. On mine its the On Screen button (on the remote) > Settings > Manual Setup > Level > Center

olds97_lss

I have. My center is 2 or 3 higher than my fronts.

Thanks for the help though. I'll have to read and see what the lower end Aventage receivers have for adjustments.

olds97_lss

I found the Adaptive DRC setting and it was on. With someone talking on the screen, I shut it off and there was a noticeable drop in volume, but I didn't try it with anything else really. Now that I know where the setting is (options menu vs the normal menu), I'll try messing with it during an action flick or something.

On a side note, I've looked more into the CS400i and it appears it's a direct match to the RT35i's (same driver/tweeter). I do know adding those added a lot of depth (bass/midrange) I didn't have before, so odds are, it would do the same for the center. Problem is, it's so large that there's no way I could fit it along with either center I have in place now. So, either it will work, or it will be stored in a closet until I happen to pickup a 6.1 receiver and need a rear center channel. I found a couple pretty close to $100 on ebay, so may just buy one and give it a shot.

vmaxer

olds97_lss wrote: »

I found the Adaptive DRC setting and it was on. With someone talking on the screen, I shut it off and there was a noticeable drop in volume, but I didn't try it with anything else really. Now that I know where the setting is (options menu vs the normal menu), I'll try messing with it during an action flick or something.

On a side note, I've looked more into the CS400i and it appears it's a direct match to the RT35i's (same driver/tweeter). I do know adding those added a lot of depth (bass/midrange) I didn't have before, so odds are, it would do the same for the center. Problem is, it's so large that there's no way I could fit it along with either center I have in place now. So, either it will work, or it will be stored in a closet until I happen to pickup a 6.1 receiver and need a rear center channel. I found a couple pretty close to $100 on ebay, so may just buy one and give it a shot.

I have one and love it. It is in a bedroom system.

olds97_lss

I put my old TV in the bedroom (55" LG) and after about 2 minutes of listening to the speakers on it... I picked up a sony soundbar... after being annoyed at how tinny it sounded and boomy the sub was, I got lucky and won an old yamaha sound projector (YSP-1000) on ebay for $150 shipped. I pretty much expected it to show up not working or the PSU dead, but other than a little crack in the plastic on one corner, it sounds great. After letting it run through the YPAO process, it does a ridiculously good job of simulating 5 channel surround. It's old and doesn't have hdmi, but it had a coaxial and fiber, so was able to wire in my blu-ray and dvr easily (having a logitech fully programmable remote helped with switching inputs and whatnot).

I'm now hunting for another PS3 cheap for in there so I can quit fighting with my blu-ray to access my media pc on my network. The sony blu-ray works, but heaven forbid you pause or fast forward something while streaming via DLNA. The PS3 in my living room works far better with that.

olds97_lss

I ended up getting a new receiver (Yamaha RX-V677) that had dialog level adjust. It does a pretty good job of increasing only the dialog so far. Have watched a few movies, but still increase/decrease overall volume due to explosions and whatnot. Didn't have a whole lot of manual up/down when watching American Sniper though.

Ron Temple

late to an old thread, but a 400i is what you're looking for...there will be no question of timbre match and the midrange/bass easily outshines the A4/CSi3 model. The only issue is size...it's damn near 10" tall...a deal killer if you don't have the space.

olds97_lss

Yep, that's what I ended up with. Has worked out really well so far.