Rambo: First Blood Sound quality

[Pirendeus]

I just watched First Blood for the first time tonight, and the non-center speaker sound was practically mute. The blu-ray.com review gave the sound a high rating (including bass and surround), but even when I maxed the volume, I had to stand a couple feet from the rest of my speakers to hear anything. Even the explosions seemed to emanate almost entirely from the center speaker, with the subwoofer output very minimal.
I tried using both available audio outputs (DD 5.1 and DTS HD 5.1), but nothing changed. I've never had this problem with any other movie. My receiver (onkyo HT-S9100THX) should be able to handle any audio with ease, especially a blu-ray thats been out for years, and I just can't figure out what is wrong.
Thoughts?

[FendersRule]

Originally Posted by Pirendeus

I just watched First Blood for the first time tonight, and the non-center speaker sound was practically mute. The blu-ray.com review gave the sound a high rating (including bass and surround), but even when I maxed the volume, I had to stand a couple feet from the rest of my speakers to hear anything. Even the explosions seemed to emanate almost entirely from the center speaker, with the subwoofer output very minimal.
I tried using both available audio outputs (DD 5.1 and DTS HD 5.1), but nothing changed. I've never had this problem with any other movie. My receiver (onkyo HT-S9100THX) should be able to handle any audio with ease, especially a blu-ray thats been out for years, and I just can't figure out what is wrong.
Thoughts?

You're absolutely correct. First Blood is a very centered oriented mix. I seem to remember many environmental effects, explosions, etc solely dominating from the center, while the rest of the speakers remained stale. I actually remembered stopping the Blu-ray in confusion, and have done a little testing with this myself. I felt that this mix was very mono-orientated. The thunder was probably the best sound effect in the entire movie (as I remembered it using all channels). However, most everything else is just dead and stale.

First Blood should NOT receive a high audio rating. Sure, the audio is clear and fine, but the channel mixing is atrocious and it really lacks a surround feel and depth.

It's probably better to use the stereo mix with this title.

[Pirendeus]

Originally Posted by Riddler95

Did u try another Blu-Ray to see if the center speaker is working?

Most likely it has to be the Mastering of the Blu-Ray, which is very odd because as soon as I read this article I popped in the Special Edition DVD of First Blood and selected DTS Audio and the center mix was getting many sounds.

They could have remixed the sound for Blu-Ray.

Perhaps I wasn't clear--the center speaker was basically the only speaker working. The others were quiet. And, yes, I played other movies. I tried every combination I could think of, and the problem is only with Rambo FB, with all non-center speakers.

Originally Posted by FendersRule

You're absolutely correct. First Blood is a very centered oriented mix. I seem to remember many environmental effects, explosions, etc solely dominating from the center, while the rest of the speakers remained stale. I actually remembered stopping the Blu-ray in confusion, and have done a little testing with this myself. I felt that this mix was very mono-orientated. The thunder was probably the best sound effect in the entire movie (as I remembered it using all channels). However, most everything else is just dead and stale.

First Blood should NOT receive a high audio rating. Sure, the audio is clear and fine, but the channel mixing is atrocious and it really lacks a surround feel and depth.

It's probably better to use the stereo mix with this title.

Well, I'm glad I'm not going crazy. It just seems strange that the reviewer would be so positive (4/5), yet the audio would be so bad (cranking my sub to the max does nothing). Even First Blood part 2, which received 3/5, sounded much better than FB part 1.

[STARSCREAM]

How do you like the Onkyo ht-s9100THX? Have you ever had other speakers before this to compare it to? Sorry for being off topic but I'm thinking of buying this HTIB and was wondering how it is. I'm worried because of the sensitivity ratings on it, fronts are 83db's and surrounds are 81dbs, that the speakers might clip or sound distorted from having to crank the sound way up and on blu-rays where there are loud dynamic peaks in the audio such as explosions. Most say you should get speakers that are rated atleast 90db's.

[Pirendeus]

I honestly don't know that much about speaker specifications, but I have owned a few other HTiB recently, so I can compare them. First, I had an Onkyo 6100 a couple of years ago, and it sounded ok, but there wasn't nearly enough power/bass. I returned that and got a Samsung BD1250, and was actually pretty impressed with it. It had enough power for my small living room, but I'd been really impressed with the 6100's clarity and wanted a 7.1 system anyway, so I returned the Samsung and got what I really wanted. In a dollar-to-dollar comparison, the Samsung was probably the better value, but I like Onkyo quality and prefer the extra speakers (even though they don't really do anything for my small living room other than add to the clutter.)

[Pirendeus]

bump

[Kryptonic]

It's a low budget 1982 movie that was originally mixed with a mono sound mix. The DTS-HD HR track is accurate to the original presentation.

[PsychoSploosh69]

Good, I'm not crazy! lol I have all Sony stuff, 46" Bravia, BD player and I think the surround is 1000 watts, so it's not the system. The lightning in the woods I found they sounded muffled, same with gunfire and explosions. It's as if they took the mono track, left it as is and just shifted some sounds to other speakers. No remastering, no nothing.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by PsychoSploosh69

Good, I'm not crazy! lol I have all Sony stuff, 46" Bravia, BD player and I think the surround is 1000 watts, so it's not the system. The lightning in the woods I found they sounded muffled, same with gunfire and explosions. It's as if they took the mono track, left it as is and just shifted some sounds to other speakers. No remastering, no nothing.

Well, the track is lossy (DTS-HD HR 5.1) as well so I am sure that has something to do with it.