Help Selection Speakers for Voice

cmorn

I have a Dish 500, a Sony Receiver, and am using a set of 1970's Polk Audio Model 7 Bookshelf speakers. The room is large, has no carpet and an 18 foot catherdral ceiling. While music is great, voices can be difficult to hear. Adjusting the tone does some good, but it is still a problem. I do plan to put in carpet, but in the meantime, is there an inexpensive solution to this problem?

PolkWannabie

Welcome to the club ...

I would assume ?! from the phrasing of your question that you are referring to voices on TV programs, yes ?

Do you have NO center speaker ? and if that's the case do you have the receiver set up with no center speaker ?

cmorn

Correct, I am refering to TV voices.

I have two speakers which are usually in use. They are very old Polk Audios.

Honestly, I don't really know what a center speaker is, or how to wire one. I have a Sony receiver that has A and B speaker connections. The A are connected to the Polks, and the B are connected to a set of very poor wall speakers which were in the house when I bought it. I rarely use them - never for TV.

warlocks1

Welcome to the forum. You are about to get addicted to home theater. You need to do some reading up on Home Theater. In a nut shell, you need a new receiver that provides discrete channels for the fronts, center, rears and subwoofer. The monitor 7's are very nice speakers and you can work around those to build the rest of your system for now. Your stereo receiver is the first piece you need to replace. Start reading up on HT. You can start with the FAQ's o the Polk website here.
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/questions.php

After you decide your budget and what you are looking for, the nice people here will guide you through the process. It is a lot of fun and very addictive.

Airplay355

bigger speakers maybe? thats a pretty big room you are trying to fill up. bigger speakers would be able to fill it with sound better.

nadams

I don't understand how a full discreet 5.1 HT would be any better at TV than a 2 channel system. I mean, TVs only have 2 speakers and they don't have voice drop offs. The satellite is likely hooked up in stereo, which means that the sound would be downmixed anyway (if it was in surround to begin with). I know my satellite sounds just dandy through two (dare I say it) TV speakers. I've also hooked them up to my dad's stereo down in the living room and it sound acceptable there, too. It sounds more like a size issue, or maybe speaker placement?

scottvamp

I know my satellite sounds just dandy through two (dare I say it) TV speakers.

TV's have speakers.
If TV speakers sound DANDY - one of us is in the wrong hobbie.;)
Actually a center channel and a starter reciever would solve this fellows problems.............
cmorn, welcome to the forum - you have alot of catching up to do.:)

madmax

Sounds to me like you have a very live room. If that is true the more speakers and channels you add the more uninteligable the voices will become. Clap your hands in the room and see if the sound takes a long time to go away. Compare it to the sound of clapping your hands in your car. If it takes a long time for the sound to decay then it is most likely bouncing back and forth between the front and back of the room. You could try a soft sound absorbent material like drapes or foam on either the front or back wall. It could just be in front or behind the seating area. (not necessarily the whole wall). This way the sound is absorbed rather than reflected.
madmax

scottvamp

I could have clapped my hands and bought drapes and just used my TV speakers.
Dam YOU - madmax dam u!!!!!!!!!

madmax

I know you were kidding around but the absolute best electronics with SRT's or SDA's or whatever you feel are the best loudspeakers in the world doesn't sound any better than a decent pair of TV speakers if you put them in a really live room. Live rooms take all the good stuff and eliminate it.

madmax

F1nut

Cmorn,

Welcome to the forum.

Madmax hit the nail on the head. The real problem is room acoustics, not your gear. As he stated, more speakers will make it worse. You need to soften the room.

F1

fgr41

As you can see there are so many different things you can do/try it is silly. I would recomend reading up on things first. Once you understand what a HT (home theater) does and how it works you will be better able to diagnose and fix the issue.

There are plenty of people here that will have the equipment you will need if you decide to try a new receiver or speakers or speaker wire.

The important part is to understand what you want and then try and figure out how to get it.

best of luck

cmorn

Thanks for the help. I did some research. My receiver has stereo input only, but it does emulate surround sound. My priorities are:

1.Get some carpet and perhaps curtains!!

2.I will look into adding a center channel speaker, which I can use for theater.

3.Check out a theater receiver.

jefft1314

For entry level receivers I'd check out the Onkyo txsr502. It's a lot of reciever for 300 bones and both the preamp and amplifier sections of it are pretty good for three hundred dollars.

cmorn

Thanks - in fact, I saw it last night for $284 at Circuit City.