beef up the center

jcyfactor

quick question o wise ones, i recently hooked up a polk csi30 center it sounds great responds well in action scenes but sounds weak when normal dialouge with no music in the background iam running a harmon kardon225 reciver any advicewould be great

Dr. Spec

Calibrate all speakers with a SPL meter, and test tones or a DVD calibration disc. You might be surprised how off the volumes are.

Angle the center down towards ear level if you have a tall TV.

Doc

danger boy

this has been discussed here several times before. I think several factors could come into play here.

here are few things to check out.

1.do what the good Dr Spec recommends. This will def help with correct sound levels and will balance the sound better in your front stage.

2. check to see if your center is set to small and the other aren't set to large. this will overpower your center. set all to small or all to large.. go back and forth with the settings. and see which sounds best to you.

3. some DVD players have a "dialog enhancer" setting where you can increase the level for the center channel. I know mine has three such settings.

4. change the location of your center. you didn't mention where it is placed. Maybe like Dr said. it's not angled towards you. Place it as close to the bottom or the top of the screen.

5. not all DVD discs are produced equally. once you hear a huge special effects explosion that nearly shakes things off the way.. any dialog after that will seem like a whisper.

6. finally, i keep my remote in one hand. (and a beer in the other, ha ha ha) and sometimes have to raise the volume on my center too. it's not perfect... but it works.

7. is your center speaker bi-wired? it's not neccessary to bi wire it.. but did you by chance remove the jumpers? Removing the jumpers and only having one set of speaker wires running to it. will greatly decrease the sound it puts out. Just a thought on this one.

good luck. hope you find a solution

scottvamp

jcyfactor, First Off welcome to the forum!!!
This is a very common question that I have been reading on this forum since the start. You are not alone.
Even with my CS400 I had the same problems. Big sound on the effects - a narrow center front stage for my 8' screen - and very low dialouge on most movies. I recently fixed my problem and posted it. Of course not much responce for such a fix. Use to that. People acting like this was never a common question. But maybe this will help you. I have no problems with dialouge anymore and my center frontstage is simple amazing. It has a more "in your face" movietheater sound.
It was a pricey fix. A cheap fix is what I did earlyer - if you have a well blended frontstage simply crank up your center channel a couple db's. Good Luck!!

Center on steroids

johnnyamerika

Wow, that's pretty bad ****, Scott. One question: your reciever allows you to run a pre-amp out AND output it's channel at once? I had heard most recievers disable a channel when it's pre-amp out is used.

John

HBombToo

Originally posted by scottvamp
jcyfactor, First Off welcome to the forum!!!
I recently fixed my problem and posted it. Of course not much responce for such a fix. Use to that. People acting like this was never a common question.
Center on steroids

Sorry bud but I missed this post and I'm glad you attached it. You have a really cool settup and I bet it is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Great job.

I'm a firm believer in bi-amping and I resolved this very same dialog issue with my 400i.

HBomb

scottvamp

Wow, that's pretty bad ****, Scott. One question: your reciever allows you to run a pre-amp out AND output it's channel at once? I had heard most recievers disable a channel when it's pre-amp out is used.

Thanks, my 787 has pre-outs for all channels. The center is a "mono" preout so I used a Y adapter to the M282. Anyway I also had a consern that the channel would be disabled but nope it rocks along just fine.

Sorry bud but I missed this post and I'm glad you attached it. You have a really cool settup and I bet it is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Great job.

Thanks for the words HBomb, Bi-amping is something I can try now. But would not have gave my "center" the extra power I wanted.

jcyfactor

thanks for all the tips ive been reading all the old threads you guys are going to be a big help on fine tuning my new and ever improving home system ill let you know how the tips worked out seeeeee yaaaa

gidrah

I angled my front down in my case and use the "Midnight 1 or 2" settings on my receiver. Similar to the dialog enhancer suggested by dangerboy. At first I didn't want to use it as I wanted to be a purist, but at less than theater reference volumes it makes for quite an improvement.


Welcome to the forum!