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.

[cravnsn]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

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.

Yeah, 120 is far too high for these speakers. I think you may be getting caught up in the mids & highs and not considering what the speakers full range capabilities are, and what they can bring to the soundstage. Also, if you put carpet spikes on the mains, the bass & mids will tighten up, and sound much better.

[krazeyeyez]

Originally Posted by cravnsn

Yeah, 120 is far too high for these speakers. I think you may be getting caught up in the mids & highs and not considering what the speakers full range capabilities are, and what they can bring to the soundstage. Also, if you put carpet spikes on the mains, the bass & mids will tighten up, and sound much better.

thread hijack sorry

carpet spikes?, would using these or raising say a downfiring sub onto a piece of wood or thin rug rather then thick carpet also "tighten" bass?

[CasualKiller]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

thread hijack sorry

carpet spikes?, would using these or raising say a downfiring sub onto a piece of wood or thin rug rather then thick carpet also "tighten" bass?

Spikes would most definitely work, as for wood and carpet and whatnot, probably not.

Biggest problem would be finding a proper plinth for your sub to sit on <base with spikes>.

[petenad]

On the humorous side have you checked for ear wax build up?? It is possible

[TENSE]

Originally Posted by petenad

On the humorous side have you checked for ear wax build up?? It is possible

+10

[blushiz]

One thing I also noticed was that turning the receiver up to -20 dB made the sound VERY loud, any higher and it sounds like it's blaring at me. However, I read online that people usually keep it at 0dB ~ +10dB.

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

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?

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.

LFE frequencies?

Also, yeah Dynamic range was set to auto. I turned it off. Also, I tried looking for night mode, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the Onkyo menu. I don't even know how to adjust the Onkyo EQ.

Originally Posted by petenad

On the humorous side have you checked for ear wax build up?? It is possible

You really think that using cuetips would improve the acoustics and highs? Do you think they make floor spikes for ears?

EDIT: I used Ratatouille to test the difference between uncompressed and regular dolby. Er, it sounded `exactly` the same. Something's not right.

[crackinhedz]

LFE frequencies?

This is the subwoofer channel. Its the '.1' in 5.1 and 7.1

This channel is not intended to be playing through the front speakers unless you have extremely efficient/powerful fronts (which you don't and not many do). That is why you set the fronts to "small" or set a crossover such as 80Hz. Your Monitor 50's should handle 80Hz and higher just fine.

Also, what listening mode are you using?

[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

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

thread hijack sorry

carpet spikes?, would using these or raising say a downfiring sub onto a piece of wood or thin rug rather then thick carpet also "tighten" bass?

My JBL E60's came with spikes; metal spikes that thread into the footers on the speaker. Their intended use is to uncouple the speaker from the carpet flooring which eliminates resonance.

[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.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

absolute hogwash...complete rubbish.

I guess ignorance is bliss. I am speaking from over 30 years of experience. By the way, do you think that a brand new car does not need to break in?

Rich

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

I guess ignorance is bliss. I am speaking from over 30 years of experience. By the way, do you think that a brand new car does not need to break in?

Rich

Believe what you want, I'll laugh, you'll laugh, and we'll both move on with whatever our position is. Since you bring it up, no I don't believe car's need a break-in. But then I lease my cars so I don't give a rat's behind if they last > 36 months. But since you asked, I give all my cars a controlled beating from day one, and I've never had to add a drop of oil to any of my cars between oil changes, never a single issue with any of them.

Very subjective, subject.

Now if I BOUGHT one outright, I might treat it a bit differently.