Help with overly "bassy" dialogue, please

[dwesson]

I've had my 5.1 system set up the same way since January, which is when I upgraded to Blu, and I have been generally happy with it. My speakers are hand-me-downs from my father, and the receiver I'm using is an Insignia NS-R5101. Nothing special, but good enough for where I'm using it right now.

Recently, I've begun to notice that dialogue, especially male dialogue, sounds bass heavy... if that's how I have to describe it. It gets sort of muffled and annoying to listen to. I notice it most when watching LOST on Blu, and haven't really had a major problem with it outside of that.

My question is, what settings do I need to adjust in order to eliminate that sound? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to audio, so any help would be great. Here are my current receiver settings in case it helps:

Subwoofer: On
Tone: Off
OSD: On (I'm not really sure what this even is)
Front Speakers: Small
Center Speaker: Small
Surround Speakers: Small
Subwoofer: Yes
Crossover: 80Hz

Then for my channel levels:
FL: 0dB
C: -4dB
FR: 0dB
SR: -2dB
SL: -2dB
SW: -2dB
DD: 0dB
DTS: 0dB

And finally, my PS3 audio settings:
Connection Type: Optical
Audio Output Format for Optical: Bitstream

Thank you to anyone who responds!

[mtbkr]

your entire sound stage has to much base? like your sub is over compensating or the base from your individual speaker is to much? i always recommend the subwoofer crawl if you have ever heard of it. OSD means on screen data, its so that you can see the receivers volume bar.

[dwesson]

It's not too much bass overall, because the bass sounds great when it's supposed to. It's that in a lot of scenes involving dialogue, especially between people with deeper voices, the dialogue itself sounds bassy. I dropped my center channel down a couple of dBs and it seemed to help, but I was wondering if there was some setting along the way that would improve this a lot more... or maybe it's just time to upgrade to new speakers.

[Buddy Christ]

Turn up the center channel! The Bass you hear is from the sides.

[Twitch9]

Just want to correct OSD is On Screen Display, but close enough

[garageinc2001]

Yeah just keep playing with the speaker settings. Raise the center back up to -1 or 0 and adjust the fronts a little.

[Hammie]

It could also just be that the speakers a bass heavy speakers. Do you know what brand or what size drivers are in them.

If there is a tweeter and only an 8 inch or larger driver, then I would assume the bass would be heavy on voices. If there is a nice 6 inch mid-range added to the speaker design, it may be a crossover issue. Otherwise, I'm clueless as to why is would sound too bass heavy.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by dwesson

It's not too much bass overall, because the bass sounds great when it's supposed to. It's that in a lot of scenes involving dialogue, especially between people with deeper voices, the dialogue itself sounds bassy. I dropped my center channel down a couple of dBs and it seemed to help, but I was wondering if there was some setting along the way that would improve this a lot more... or maybe it's just time to upgrade to new speakers.

Umm...perhaps it's intentional? Most male voices will sound deeper and with more bass. If it were happening to all the voices, you'd have a problem with your setup, but it sounds like it's just the deeper male voices in the programming.

Or not, I'm not sure. Just my two cents.

[dwesson]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Umm...perhaps it's intentional? Most male voices will sound deeper and with more bass. If it were happening to all the voices, you'd have a problem with your setup, but it sounds like it's just the deeper male voices in the programming.

Or not, I'm not sure. Just my two cents.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but it's not that they sound deep and natural, they sound "overblown" and it sometimes makes it hard to hear the dialogue. I can't imagine that it is the intended sound. I will play with my front and center channels a bit to see if I can correct it, but if anyone has any more ideas, let me know.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by Blu2U

Turn up the center channel! The Bass you hear is from the sides.

dwesson,

Dialog is largely center channel based. There are plenty of reasons why your center channel dialogue can sound muddy, hollow or "bassy."

The center channel speaker is regarded by many enthusiasts to be the most critical speaker in a home theater speaker setup. Accurate dialog is challenging to reproduce. Some spend hundreds or well over $1000 for a high-quality center channel speaker.

For those of us, including myself, working with more affordable center channel equipment, there are some things we can do.

Definitely increase the level of your center channel volume a bit, as Blu2U suggested. Maybe try around 0dB to match your front speakers. I am guessing, barring specific circumstances, that -4dB is a bit low.

Make sure your center channel speaker is not buried deep within a TV stand or shelf, but rather, make sure it is pushed forward so that there can be no sound reflections/resonances from a cabinet after the sound leaves the speaker.

Sometimes, adding flame-resistant polyfill to a center channel speaker enclosure can clean up "boxy" sounding dialog.

If your center channel speaker is sitting on the floor, move it higher.

Make sure the center channel speaker is aimed directly toward your listening area. If necessary, angle it so that the front of the center channel is pointing its sound straight to your ears.

I'm not sure if your Insignia receiver has a bass/treble/EQ control which affects the center channel, but you can certainly check for too much bass enhancement and turn it down, say 3dB to start, and experiment from there. If it causes your subwoofer's output to become too low for your tastes, you can simply turn up the sub's volume to compensate.

Good luck!

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by dwesson

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but it's not that they sound deep and natural, they sound "overblown" and it sometimes makes it hard to hear the dialogue. I can't imagine that it is the intended sound. I will play with my front and center channels a bit to see if I can correct it, but if anyone has any more ideas, let me know.

Sounds like it's time to get a new center speaker.

[picture_shooter]

Whats the crossover set at?

If its @ 50hz, please change it to 80hz