What's with my ears?

[blushiz]

Well, I now have an Onkyo 805 along with two Polk Monitor 50s for the right and left channel and a Polk CS1 for my center. When I got my speakers, I first plugged them in on another TV with a cheap $200 5.1 receiver and the sound amazed me! The acoustics and highs made it sound like I was actually there listening to the music from a stage set. Then, I moved my speaker setup to my REAL receiver, my Onkyo 805. I thought the sound would be breath taking, but it sounds kind of blunt. It's clear, but it doesn't have the acoustic and high ring affect I love so much. I remember when the drums tapped with tension and the cymbols clasped with a ringing high, crisp after affect, it was so damn nice. Now, it's blunt, and that's after Audyssey as well.

Is it my ears, my setup, or what? I had this problem when I first got my $159 Yuin PK1 earphones (rated #1 earphones, almost equal to the quality of high quality headphones). Everything went from acoustic to harsh. Now, My Yuins sound excellant and it makes all others sound like cheap garbage. I'm just wondering, is it my ears or what? Maybe it's my room? My room with the Onkyo 805 is a lot smaller then the one I originally tested it first with. My speaker cords? The receiver downstairs was using monster cords (big fat white ones), my Onkyo is using Walmart brand. Can speaker wire quality really have an affect on how the speakers render the music? I thought it was just more power. Argh, this is so annoying. To my ears, it hardly sounds like an uprade from my tin can Sonys. Maybe my ears aren't trained for surround. I find that hard to believe though considering I own a Macbook Pro, Yuin PK1s, iPhone, and an Alpine set for my car (all of which are known to render quality sound). I'm confused.

[naturephoto1]

There can be a lot of reasons. Room size and set up, associated electronic equipment, speakers, and most definitely cabling (speaker, interconnects, coax, even hdmi [many will argue]), power cords, feet (footers) for isolation, etc. You can even spend money to have your electronics upgraded (replacement parts) that can further tremendously improve sound by people like Dave Schulte of the Upgrade Company.

Rich

[cravnsn]

Yes, speaker wire can make a big impact - don‘t waste your money on something just because it‘s labeled “Monster“ and they make you think there marked up prices are worth it. You also want to give the speakers time to break in. Like your headphones, they will sound better with time.
Check the settings on your 805 & related equipment - is Dynamic Range Control set to on on anything? Is “night mode” turned on on the receiver?
You might also want to go into your speaker settings on the 805 and turn the equalizer to off. Perhaps the setup did something funky to the EQ setting for the speakers.

[BACsader]

Try using the flat EQ with your receivers calibration. I find that while the calibration can be accurate, it can also take away a lot from the sound. Just mess with some of the settings. Good luck.

[blushiz]

Hm, I've been playing around with it for the last couple hours and I think I've found a majority of what the issue was.

1. I lifted the speakers off the carpet and onto some 1" thick pieces of wood.

2. The speakers don't like low frequencies very much, and what's even worse is the Onkyo likes to place bass emphasis on the front speakers. I had increase the frequency of the speakers to 120Hz and increase the IntelliVolume to +6, so the subwoofer kicks in. Seems like the speakers sound acoustic once again, and the bass seems to make it stand out more.

I just ordered a 100ft premium cable from monoprice as well.

WHEW. Why is audio such a complicated thing? Oh, but how I love my audio.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by blushiz

2. The speakers don't like low frequencies very much, and what's even worse is the Onkyo likes to place bass emphasis on the front speakers.

set the crossover at 80Hz.

make sure you have the subwoofer enabled, the Onkyo should not be sending the LFE frequencies to the fronts, if it is then you have a setting incorrect somewhere.

Also, what listening mode are you using?

is Dynamic Range Control set to on on anything? Is “night mode” turned on on the receiver?

Definitely check for this.

Dynamic Range Control is found in the PS3 settings. Turn it OFF.

Night Mode is found in the Receiver settings, turn that off as well.

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by cravnsn

Yes, speaker wire can make a big impact - don‘t waste your money on something just because it‘s labeled “Monster“ and they make you think there marked up prices are worth it. You also want to give the speakers time to break in. Like your headphones, they will sound better with time. Check the settings on your 805 & related equipment - is Dynamic Range Control set to on on anything? Is “night mode” turned on on the receiver?
You might also want to go into your speaker settings on the 805 and turn the equalizer to off. Perhaps the setup did something funky to the EQ setting for the speakers.

surely you jest...break-in speakers...I've heard it all now

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

surely you jest...break-in speakers...I've heard it all now

Unfortunately you are very wrong to laugh. Speaker drivers and crossover components, as well as wires (speaker,ics, coax, hdmi), and all electronics, be they amps, pre amps, Pre/Pro, cd players, dvd players, blu-ray players, etc. take time to break in properly. Many wires are directional as are other parts. And by the way, it may take many hundreds of hours for everything to break in properly and to perform at their optimum.

Rich

[Got2LoveGadgets]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Unfortunately you are very wrong to laugh. Speaker drivers and crossover components, as well as wires (speaker,ics, coax, hdmi), and all electronics, be they amps, pre amps, Pre/Pro, cd players, dvd players, blu-ray players, etc. take time to break in properly. Many wires are directional as are other parts. And by the way, it may take many hundreds of hours for everything to break in properly and to perform at their optimum.

Rich

Very true

A quick way to break in speakers is to face them together and have them wired out of phase with each other. I have never done this but my local dealer does this to all new demo speakers

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Unfortunately you are very wrong to laugh. Speaker drivers and crossover components, as well as wires (speaker,ics, coax, hdmi), and all electronics, be they amps, pre amps, Pre/Pro, cd players, dvd players, blu-ray players, etc. take time to break in properly. Many wires are directional as are other parts. And by the way, it may take many hundreds of hours for everything to break in properly and to perform at their optimum.

Rich

absolute hogwash...complete rubbish.

[fronn]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

surely you jest...break-in speakers...I've heard it all now

Drivers actually change their T/S parameters after the spider gets stretched enough - on some drivers it's quite drastic (the resonant frequency of a driver can change by 20%+, for example). Speakers are designed based on the broken in T/S parameters, while the drivers/speakers you buy haven't been broken in yet.

I don't believe in hundreds of hours and nor do I believe cables and capacitors need to be broken in (I'd say 99% of people at this forum couldn't tell the difference between different brand capacitors, let alone a broken in one and not broken in one), but you'd be a fool to think a driver doesn't change after use. The difference between broken in electronic equipment, cables, capacitors are going to be microscopic at best, if at all (also, cables with directional arrows are hogwash and gorilla dust - theres no reason to bring that type of pixie dust audio myths into this thread), while a driver can change rather noticeably from before and after. It's very easy to test -- get a device that'll measure T/S parameters and buy a driver from any one of the various stores/websites that sell them (partsexpress, madisound, meniscus, etc.) and you'll see for yourself.

A quick search of google gives some real world tests

More on topic @ OP:

I doubt this is a case of break-in issues, as you tested the speakers in a different place beforehand. I'd say you have some room issues or are so used to over pumped highs that a more neutral sound sounds boring to you (which would be your ears).

[cravnsn]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

surely you jest...break-in speakers...I've heard it all now

Let me guess...you're a Bose owner, right?