Narnia LFE / Overall Clarity Issue

[Croweyes1121]

Hi there. Anyone a bit underwhelmed by the PCM track on Narnia? I rented this last night and felt that the LFE channel was a tad lacking for some reason. There were a couple of scenes (the avalanche, Aslan's roar) that really seemed to kick in the bass, but overall, I just didn't feel that it packed that "omph" that I have associated with my brief experience with lossless audio. Also, I just found the entire mix a slight bit plugged up in comparison to others I've heard, sounding closer to a lossy mix to my ears. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Don't get me wrong. This track doesn't sound *bad* per se, but given the 5.0 star rating this track got at hidefdigest.com, I was just a bit surprised I wasn't more blown away than I was. Other titles sound terrific in this regard (the PCM tracks on The Fifth Element and Saawariya, the TrueHD tracks on Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Cloverfield and - especially - Blade Runner being standouts for me so far). Has anyone else had this same experience with Narnia or am I nuts? Could I already be getting so used to lossless that it doesn't blow my hair back anymore? lol

[crackinhedz]

what kind of setup do you have?

[richterbon23]

i thought the narnia track was amazing. probably one of my top 5 audio tracks so far.

[Croweyes1121]

PS3 and Onkyo 605. As I said, the other titles I mentioned sounded amazing to me. I don't get it. :-\

I'm using Sony SS-U6030 speakers as my fronts and surrounds, a smaller Pioneer center speaker (not sure of the model number on that, but I can update this post later with it), and a Definitive Technology Pro Series 10" sub (which looks just like the sub pictured here: http://www.homecinemachoice.com/revi...yProseries.jpg). I'm running the receiver with Audessey settings on (multi-channel mode), I've got my speakers set to a 60kHz crossover in the receiver settings (I tried an 80kHz crossover as instructed, but this had the effect of making the bass overwhelming on virtually everything), and the crossover on my sub turned all the way up as I was told that this would allow for the receiver's settings to take precedence. Here's a pic of my setup (this was taken before I even got my Onkyo, but it'll give you a good idea of my layout and room size):

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/...3717/Setup.jpg

[bkbluray]

The Narnia soundtrack sounded fantastic on my system.

I have Klipsch Quintet III 5-speaker system, Infinity 8" sub, and Onkyo 605 receiver.

[Beta Man]

I watched this two days ago, and had to turn down the sub a little... seemed over-powering. I can't say I experienced the lacking/muddled sound you did.

I also have a PS3, running to my Marantz sr7001 so my player is doing the decoding obviously.... My speaker set up is

Front B&W 703 L/R
Center B&W HTM7
Rear Surrounds B&W 705
Surrounds B&W Ds7
SUB Def. Tech 14" Ref. Series.


Like I said... I didn't notice the lacking LFE, that's for sure... I turned it DOWN... not much, but I turned it down nonetheless. I thought some of the "Nature" sounds, action from the rears for instance, were very crisp/clear.....

I've never heard of a "Bad pressing" because I think the audio is so detailed, it'd probably just flat-out not-play if it were flawed.

Not sure what your experience was??


Very clean set-up by the way.... what are the wires running down the middle of the floor though? if they're the surrounds, why not run them both behind the sofa to the left ????? If they aren't long enough, that'd be money well spent!

[Croweyes1121]

Hehe, yeah, as I said, it's a pretty old picture. I have all of those wires running along the wall now. I don't know. I'll double-check those titles I mentioned again and make sure nothing got thrown out of alignment. I have a two-year-old who just loves to mess with things. lol Of course that statement is redundant. Anyway, who knows...wasn't a huge fan of that film anyway, it just struck me as strange...especially when so many other titles have floored me. That said, I have found the sub settings to be extremely hard to resolve to personal taste once I switched to lossless and I don't know why. Sometimes I think it's too much, other times not enough...seems to vary almost by title, which can be a bit frustrating. So maybe I should have just turned to sub up for that one in particular if it seemed too low, I dunno...odd for sure.

PS: It's probably also worth noting that this was the very first time I've listened to a lossless track while NOT sitting in the sweet spot (which is the middle of the couch farthest from the TV). I was sitting in the middle of the couch along the wall in that picture. Maybe that was enough for the change in aural perception.