Trying to set up my Monitor system

seeburt

I am the proud new owner of a pair of Monitor 60's and 30's, with a CS 2 in the middle. No sub or anything else until I pay off everything with my returns. I'm running a Onkyo TX-SR 707. I do have Directv but not HD. I also have a standard Sony DVD player. I am obviously a work in progress, but I love my new toys.

I just need to figure out how to make it all the speakers work together. I ballanced them with the help of Audyssey calibration system. Now the system sounds terrific in some of the audio settings, but my surrounds don't seem to work in the surroung modes, but they do in stereo. So I know that they're working. I think that I need some help tweaking, but I don't have a clue as to where to start. So, I am humbly asking for any help.

My listening area (family room) is 16 x 16 and there is no wall on the left.

The caliibration set upl my speakers to work like this:

Fronts: full band width

Center: 40hz

Surrounds: 50hz

(once again...no sub yet)

I am a total newbie so if you are willing to share your thought or ideas, please keep that in mind.

Thanks,

seeburt

adabro

Blind leading blind, but I'll try (also kids driving me crazy so I'll be quick

Almost sounds like you might have connected the surrounds wrong (surround back instead of surround right etc...) I did this on my 503, but I would have thought Audyssey would have picked that up - did it run normally?

Which modes work normally? Is it all channel stereo?

MANSKITO

Ya its not really clear what you are asking, In True stereo there should be NO sound what so ever from the surrounds. It sounds like you are using 5/6/7 channel stereo, Which IMO is only good for Higher SPL not better quality, in fact there are arguments for the opposite to be true. But thats not really what you are asking.

As to DTS or Dolby digital modes or there higher resolution counter parts (which IMO are the only ones you really should be using outside of 2 channel stereo) Very little information actually gos to surrounds and its not likely that you will notice them unless something in a movie actually occurs behind you, for example cars/plains racing in from behind.

I m not really sure as to what you are asking. My advice is to leave your AVR in pure/direct mode and let the what ever the audio is natively coded in shine through you will get the best sound that way don't mess with the settings that much because beyond the cross over points and maybe some extra Dbs to the center, not much actually needs to be done.

IMO audio effects or "enhancements" do more harm then good.

Also on those cross over points there is not much of a point in doing so yet because you don't have a sub, and even if you did monitor 30s start to roll off LONG before 50hz. If i had to guess I would say they start dropping Dbs at something like 90-120hz or higher. But that shouldn't matter much seeing as they are surrounds, they have a very easy job to do in the surround sound space.

seeburt

adabro wrote: »

Blind leading blind, but I'll try (also kids driving me crazy so I'll be quick

Almost sounds like you might have connected the surrounds wrong (surround back instead of surround right etc...) I did this on my 503, but I would have thought Audyssey would have picked that up - did it run normally?

Which modes work normally? Is it all channel stereo?

Yes that's where all the speakers work: All Ch Stereo. The Audyssey picked them up correctly.

I guess I was trying to say that I get sound out of all speakers, I just don't get that "surround sound" I'm looking for.

seeburt

cnh

First I suggest you crossover everything at 80hz...neither the center nor the surrounds are rated at less than 60hz...so that setting is just 'wrong'.

Secondly, do you get surround from your back speakers from a DVD? How does that sound?
IF that sounds OK then you will want to check your other sources...and you may need to adjust the surrounds...boost them manually? That can be down through menus and your remote!

You would naturally hear the most sound from ALL speakers in All Ch Stereo because that sends the same volume to all speakers....whereas surround effects do not always emphasize rears and they are sometimes 'soft' sometimes 'loud' depending on the program material being translated!

cnh

seeburt

MANSKITO wrote: »

Ya its not really clear what you are asking, In True stereo there should be NO sound what so ever from the surrounds. It sounds like you are using 5/6/7 channel stereo, Which IMO is only good for Higher SPL not better quality, in fact there are arguments for the opposite to be true. But thats not really what you are asking.

As to DTS or Dolby digital modes or there higher resolution counter parts (which IMO are the only ones you really should be using outside of 2 channel stereo) Very little information actually gos to surrounds and its not likely that you will notice them unless something in a movie actually occurs behind you, for example cars/plains racing in from behind.

I m not really sure as to what you are asking. My advice is to leave your AVR in pure/direct mode and let the what ever the audio is natively coded in shine through you will get the best sound that way don't mess with the settings that much because beyond the cross over points and maybe some extra Dbs to the center, not much actually needs to be done.

IMO audio effects or "enhancements" do more harm then good.

Also on those cross over points there is not much of a point in doing so yet because you don't have a sub, and even if you did monitor 30s start to roll off LONG before 50hz. If i had to guess I would say they start dropping Dbs at something like 90-120hz or higher. But that shouldn't matter much seeing as they are surrounds, they have a very easy job to do in the surround sound space.

What I would like to accomplish is:

To get the "surround sound" stuff that makes you hear/feel the movement. When I watch a battle, I don't want to feel like I'm watching it from up on hill, but like I'm sitting in the middle of it.

I'm not quite sure of what crossover points are or how they interact with each other, but I'm working on getting the whole enchilada. So...I don't get what you mean when you say the "monitor 30's start to roll off Long before 50hz" or "If i had to guess I would say they start dropping Dbs at something like 90-120hz or higher".

I'll be honest and say I do like some of the "enhancements".

Thanks for your post and time

seeburt

seeburt

cnh wrote: »

First I suggest you crossover everything at 80hz...neither the center nor the surrounds are rated at less than 60hz...so that setting is just 'wrong'.

Secondly, do you get surround from your back speakers from a DVD? How does that sound?
IF that sounds OK then you will want to check your other sources...and you may need to adjust the surrounds...boost them manually? That can be down through menus and your remote!

You would naturally hear the most sound from ALL speakers in All Ch Stereo because that sends the same volume to all speakers....whereas surround effects do not always emphasize rears and they are sometimes 'soft' sometimes 'loud' depending on the program material being translated!

cnh

I'll have to look at my book to see how to change the crossover points manually, but what we're talking about is those seetings I posted earlier right?:

Fronts: full band width

Center: 40hz

Surrounds: 50hz

The fronts are what they are correct?

I have yet to get any " surround sound" off a DVD, but I've only tried one for a little while. Right now were in the middle of getting ready for carpet cleaning and of course everything is going in the family room where the speakers are.

Thanks for your time and post

seeburt

cnh

Keep your fronts at Full band, fine...cross everything else over at 80hz. Read your manual...select AUTO for DIGITAL out for your DVD player and that should automatically detect Dobly Digital or DTS and decode them and provide surround to all the speakers.

There are menus for everything on that Onkyo and they are not that difficult to negotiate compared to other AVRs....

On your remote you will find Test Tone keys that will send a signal to each individual speaker and to its right there should be +/- buttons that will raise of lower the volume of any individual channel manually!

Good luck!

cnh

adabro

seeburt wrote: »

I'll have to look at my book to see how to change the crossover points manually, but what we're talking about is those seetings I posted earlier right?:

Fronts: full band width

Center: 40hz

Surrounds: 50hz

The fronts are what they are correct?

I have yet to get any " surround sound" off a DVD, but I've only tried one for a little while. Right now were in the middle of getting ready for carpet cleaning and of course everything is going in the family room where the speakers are.

Thanks for your time and post

seeburt

If the 707 is the same as the 807 then hit the Setup button on the remote, select Speaker Setup, then select Speaker Configuration - you should see the speaker settings there...

seeburt

CNH-

Thanks for the quick reply...all the way from Bejing...the internet is a beautiful thing!

I'll give your input a go as soon as I can put my family room back in order.

Thanks again for your time.

seeburt

cnh

seeburt wrote: »

CNH-

Thanks for the quick reply...all the way from Bejing...the internet is a beautiful thing!

I'll give your input a go as soon as I can put my family room back in order.

Thanks again for your time.

seeburt

You're welcome! Now if only I had some real sound equipment over here! I'm off to Taiwan tomorrow for a bit!

cnh

MANSKITO

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