surrounds are very soft

cowboybebop

I have these sony center and surrounds, fairly cheap speakers. link

no matter what setting i use on my 100x6 reciever, the surrounds are so queit i have to put my ear to them to make sure anything is coming out.

is it the speakers or is this how surrounds are supposed to be? my comparison the center channel is loud as hell, maybe the loudest of all the speakers im using. again is the center supposed to be so aggresive and the surrounds so weak?

Ricardo

I understand you have only three speakers?

Where do you have them connected ? I guess the center with center outputs from your receiver.....where do you have the other two...front L + R or surround L+R?

Depending on the connection you might be hearing exactly what is supposed to go to those speakers...what source are you using (CD/DVD/Cable)?

I would try 6 channel stereo just to see if the outputs from the receiver are ok; on this setting you should hear the three of them at the same level.

cowboybebop

doh ok i have a 5.1 setup, 2 jbl g300 bookshelfs for my front, these sonys for center and surround and a polk psw202 sub connected to a panasonic hase 70 500 watt receiver link

the surrounds are connected to the surround outputs on the reciever, everything is wired/configured right i believe.

anyways, surrounds are weak as hell regardless of source(tv,cd,dvd,dolby prologic,dts). is that normal?

Ricardo

-Try the 5 channel stereo just to check all your speakers have similar levels
-Have you calibrated? I would try that next.

PolkThug

You have to go into SETUP on the receiver and LEVEL CAL and adjust your channel levels.

cowboybebop

ok but i think all the speakers are at the default, 0 I think it is. how 'loud' or present should surround speakers be? the problem with my physical arrangment is i have the surrounds on top of the bookshelf front left and right cuz i have no place to mount them.

but anyways, how high should i turn the surrounds up?

Ron Temple

Mileage will vary depending on your room and what you want it to sound like. You can set them as high as your receiver will allow.

My setup
Fronts +1 Polk R50s
Center +4 Onkyo 770 center
Surrounds +2 Polk R152
Sub 0

My surrounds are about 5' behind the listening area. My fronts and center are 9', sub is 11. You need to set speaker distance, sit in the sweet spot, then set level calibration until the test tone sounds equal all the way around.

That's if you are doing it ear. You (and I) need to do a calibration w/SPL and Avia to get it really dialed right.

danger boy

although everyones set up is different.. the best way to properly set up speakers is with a SPL meter available from Radio Shack for about $40.

SPL = Sound Level Meter.. analog or digital are both equally good.

then you put a set up DVD in your DVD player and using white noise... from each speaker.. you set up the tone to be at 85db. set up the fronts. the center, surrounds, and subwoofer.

that will tell you exactly where and how loud your rear speakers should be.

my rears are left is set at -3 and right is set at -2 when i'm setting in my sweet spot. your milage may vary.

you can not set all your speakers to say... -4 or +2. some speakers require more volume.. like centers and surrounds. so a SPL meter is essential to correct levels.

michael_w

the 5 ch stereo htrookie was talking about would be the sfc (sound field control) - party.

a better way to check levels would be to use the test feature. just press test on the remote and it will cycle through the channels.

welcome to the forum.

Mjr7531

Slighty off topic, did anybody notice that the "sale" price was higher than the regular price?

Regular price: $64.92
ElectronicEbuys Price: $85.99

VR3

Your mains should -NEVER- be above 0. At that point, you are driving them "hot."

Set your mains to -5, take the reading, write it down, then set the OTHER, less important speakers to that level.

This also helps if your center/surrounds are smaller than your mains.

Ron Temple

Sid,

Driving the "hot" is a bad thing? Please explain. I have no problem changing them to the minus side. Are you suggesting I might be more susceptible to clipping damage?

VR3

Correct.

0 on the speaker delays is like 12 oclock, putting it at +1 and such is past "12 oclock" - it is more septable to clipping at higher volumes/peaks in the music, -5 on the delay should allow for a cleaner signal to reach the speakers at similar volumes as it isnt pushing the amp so hard to get the speakers to the right volume...

Same applies to the subwoofer. It isnt so bad with the surrounds. The center probally shouldnt go beyond 0 though...

Another tip, make your surrounds +2 over the other speakers, much better movie presentation.

pills6175

When calibrating in this manner what should the master volume be set at.I have been using the Avia disc,setting the master volume to zero and calibrating to 85 db.My speaker level settings come out to anywhere from + 2 to + 4. Am I doing something wrong.

Ron Temple

Originally posted by Vr3MxStyler2k3
Your mains should -NEVER- be above 0. At that point, you are driving them "hot."

Thanks for the tip. I reset the levels last night. There were subtle differences in the soundstage. Actually, I think there is a bit more definition.