Would This Be A Worthy Upgrade?

[HAMP]

I am reading your manual and trying to see any setting I can think of that might help..

This from a section I downloaded


Night Mode

Night mode is available with some Dolby Digital programs, if it has been
encoded in the material. It compresses the peak sound levels, maintaining
the intelligibility of the dialogue and quieter passages, while reducing
the loudness of special effects and louder passages to avoid disturbing
others. Night Mode is accessed from the Audio Effects menu. Press
the Audio Effects Button and scroll down to the Night Mode line. Three
levels of compression are available:
Off: At this setting, there is no compression, as the Night mode is
deactivated.
Half: A mild compression is applied.
Full: More compression is applied.

[HAMP]

Measure Speaker Distances

Ideally, all of your speakers would be placed in a circle, each at the
same distance from the listening position. However, your room may not
be ideal, and you may have had to place some speakers a little further
away than others. This could affect the overall sound of the receiver,
as sounds that are supposed to arrive simultaneously from different
speakers blur due to different arrival times.
The AVR 254 has a delay adjustment that enables the receiver to
compensate for real-world speaker placements.
Before you begin making adjustments, measure the distance from each
speaker to the listening position, and note it in the Table A4 worksheet
in the appendix. Even if all of your speakers are the same distance from
the listening position, you should enter your speaker distances as
described in Step Three.

[HAMP]

Step Four – Setting Channel Output Levels
ManuallyFor a conventional 2-channel receiver, the balance control enables the
user to control the stereo imaging by adjusting the relative loudness of
the left and right channels, as heard at the listening position.
With up to seven main channels plus a subwoofer, imaging becomes
both more critical and more complex. Unlike the rotary balance control,
the goal of the AVR 254’s channel output adjustment process is to
examine the output level of each channel independently and ensure
that each is heard at the listening position with equal loudness.
If you followed the instructions in the Initial Setup section, then you
let EzSet/EQ calibration handle this critical task for you, simply and
automatically.
However, if you prefer to make these adjustments manually, the
AVR 254’s Adjust Speaker Levels menu allows you to do so, either
using the system’s test tone or while playing source material. In addition,
this is the only method for adjusting the level of the subwoofer.
If you use a handheld SPL meter (available at many electronics stores),
set it to the C-Weighting, Slow scale.
1. Make sure all speakers have been connected correctly.
2. Adjust the number of speakers, crossover, distance and sub mode
for each speaker in your system as described in Step Three.
3. If you are using a handheld SPL meter with source material, such
as a test disc or another audio selection, play it now and adjust the
AVR’s master volume control until the meter measures 75dB.
4. There are several methods of adjusting the channel output levels,
using either the test tone or source materials. In all cases, you may
measure the channel levels in one of two ways:
a) By ear. Try to adjust the levels so that all channels sound equally loud.
b) Using a handheld SPL meter set to the C-Weighting, Slow scale.
Try to adjust each channel so that the meter reads 75dB.

GOTO PAGE 48 TO FINISH READING

[Scott_Summers]

Thanks!

I guess this thread should really be changed to "probelms with dialogues" instead of an upgrade

[Scott_Summers]

Originally Posted by HAMP

I am reading your manual and trying to see any setting I can think of that might help..

This from a section I downloaded


Night Mode

Night mode is available with some Dolby Digital programs, if it has been
encoded in the material. It compresses the peak sound levels, maintaining
the intelligibility of the dialogue and quieter passages, while reducing
the loudness of special effects and louder passages to avoid disturbing
others. Night Mode is accessed from the Audio Effects menu. Press
the Audio Effects Button and scroll down to the Night Mode line. Three
levels of compression are available:
Off: At this setting, there is no compression, as the Night mode is
deactivated.
Half: A mild compression is applied.
Full: More compression is applied.

So basically I want this to be OFF obviously. But I seriously doubt I have this on since I believe all receivers' original settings have this off unless I'm wrong. But I'll check it out tonight.

Thanks for everyone's help!