Center Speaker help

[ludawg23]

Just needed some clarification on a few questions that I had and was hoping you some of you guys could help.

I currently run a 2.1 setup at home with 2 floorstanding speakers and a sub, note that my receiver is capable of 5.1

Now, my gf recently complained that she couldn't hear the dialogue and that it was very low while we were watching Transformers on blu-ray

I have my ps3 set on PCM, receiver on Direct and I'm currently getting uncompressed audio but only in 2 channel.

Now, I have found a matching center for my speakers.

1) Do I have to be in a 5.1 channel mode on my receiver in order for the dialogue to come straight out of my center channel?
2) Since the PS3 cannot send multi-channel PCM audio, i'll have to set my PS3 on bitsream right?

I apologize if this doesn't make sense but just trying to see if I'll benefit from a center speaker and what settings I need to have my gear on for ideal performance.

Thanks.

[PSB_Paradigm_HSU]

Originally Posted by ludawg23

Just needed some clarification on a few questions that I had and was hoping you some of you guys could help.

I currently run a 2.1 setup at home with 2 floorstanding speakers and a sub, note that my receiver is capable of 5.1

Now, my gf recently complained that she couldn't hear the dialogue and that it was very low while we were watching Transformers on blu-ray

I have my ps3 set on PCM, receiver on Direct and I'm currently getting uncompressed audio but only in 2 channel.

Now, I have found a matching center for my speakers.

1) Do I have to be in a 5.1 channel mode on my receiver in order for the dialogue to come straight out of my center channel?
2) Since the PS3 cannot send multi-channel PCM audio, i'll have to set my PS3 on bitsream right?

I apologize if this doesn't make sense but just trying to see if I'll benefit from a center speaker and what settings I need to have my gear on for ideal performance.

Thanks.

What receiver do you have?

[Steve]

Originally Posted by ludawg23

Just needed some clarification on a few questions that I had and was hoping you some of you guys could help.

I currently run a 2.1 setup at home with 2 floorstanding speakers and a sub, note that my receiver is capable of 5.1

Now, my gf recently complained that she couldn't hear the dialogue and that it was very low while we were watching Transformers on blu-ray

I have my ps3 set on PCM, receiver on Direct and I'm currently getting uncompressed audio but only in 2 channel.

Now, I have found a matching center for my speakers.

1) Do I have to be in a 5.1 channel mode on my receiver in order for the dialogue to come straight out of my center channel?
2) Since the PS3 cannot send multi-channel PCM audio, i'll have to set my PS3 on bitsream right?

I apologize if this doesn't make sense but just trying to see if I'll benefit from a center speaker and what settings I need to have my gear on for ideal performance.

Thanks.

This may be part of your problem. With the receiver on direct mode, you usually don't reap any of the benefits of the automatic setup. You should change it to PCM or multichannel or something so that the auto setup settings are applied (I'm assuming your receiver has an auto setup feature). In direct mode, it may just be sending the left/right channel information to the left/right speakers and not accounting for the fact that there is no center speaker. Adding a matching center speaker will make a tremendous improvement, but I would still take the receiver out of direct mode.

Oh...and the PS3 can send multi-channel PCM audio over HDMI.

[ludawg23]

Originally Posted by PSB_Paradigm_HSU

What receiver do you have?

Denon AVR 587

[ludawg23]

Originally Posted by fireman325

This may be part of your problem. With the receiver on direct mode, you usually don't reap any of the benefits of the automatic setup. You should change it to PCM or multichannel or something so that the auto setup settings are applied (I'm assuming your receiver has an auto setup feature). In direct mode, it may just be sending the left/right channel information to the left/right speakers and not accounting for the fact that there is no center speaker. Adding a matching center speaker will make a tremendous improvement, but I would still take the receiver out of direct mode.

Oh...and the PS3 can send multi-channel PCM audio over HDMI.

Thank you for your reply. I'll try to set it up using the receiver's auto function.

I forgot to mention that I'm running an optical cable from my PS3 to my avr, not HDMI. Sorry...

[PSB_Paradigm_HSU]

Originally Posted by ludawg23

Thank you for your reply. I'll try to set it up using the receiver's auto function.

I forgot to mention that I'm running an optical cable from my PS3 to my avr, not HDMI. Sorry...

You cant get uncompressed audio via Optical, only hdmi

[ludawg23]

Originally Posted by PSB_Paradigm_HSU

You cant get uncompressed audio via Optical, only hdmi

You can, as I mentioned above...it's only in 2 channel via optical.

If I were to add a center channel, I assume I'll have to go bitstream with my PS3...just trying to get confirmation.

[Odin75]

Originally Posted by ludawg23

You can, as I mentioned above...it's only in 2 channel via optical.

If I were to add a center channel, I assume I'll have to go bitstream with my PS3...just trying to get confirmation.

That is correct, bit-streaming is the only way for you to squeeze that center channel using Optical.

I actually have a 3.1 setup in the living room, using my old logitech z-5500, connected with optical. I normally just bit-stream from the DVD player to the Z-5500. It really is a BIG improvement (for movies) adding that center channel. Not only for making the dialogue clear, but for your LEFT and RIGHT as well. Running 2.1 sounds very compressed compared to 3.1, where each speaker has it's own dedicated soundtrack channel.