Another calibration question.

u8myufo

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Appreciating that all peoples rooms, speakers, accoustics and even the owners hearing will all be different, do most people go with what has been set in calibration as gospel so to speak? I ask because after doing a calibration for about the sixth time everything sounds good with regards to the front speakers, surrounds, sub and the atmos up-firing modules I have just added. But when it comes to the speech in most movies from Netflix etc, it`s fairly quiet. So is the answer just to up the volume level in the menu for the centre speaker to a level I find good enough?
 
I don't think it's uncommon to increase the centre speaker sound slightly above the calibrated level, after some reading about I upped mine touch.
 
The quiet perception of dialogue is a common issue and usually results from the lower volume levels most people set their setup at while at home. film content will have been mixed at a higher volume that what most people will be portraying it at when authored and as such you'd not attain the same dynamic range unless you too were portraying said soundtrack at the same reference volume it was mixed at. This especially effects the quieter aspects of a soundtrack such as dialogue, making them harder to discern.

Many AV receivers include processing that can be engaged to try compensate for this. Alternatively, you could simply try increasing the master volume? in order to portray the audio closer to the reference level it was mise at and as such, include more of the dynamic range the person who mixed it heard. Some suggest upping the centre speaker level a few db to try compensate.



 
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Far from it, often measure manually and check the sound level with a meter
 
Appreciating that all peoples rooms, speakers, accoustics and even the owners hearing will all be different, do most people go with what has been set in calibration as gospel so to speak? I ask because after doing a calibration for about the sixth time everything sounds good with regards to the front speakers, surrounds, sub and the atmos up-firing modules I have just added. But when it comes to the speech in most movies from Netflix etc, it`s fairly quiet. So is the answer just to up the volume level in the menu for the centre speaker to a level I find good enough?

The majority (but not necessarily all) of the dialog will come though your centre channel, conversely most (but not necessarily all) of the soundtrack/effects will come from your L&R and surrounds. You can test this by unplugging all but your centre channel and most of what you hear will be dialog, conversely if you unplug your centre your unlikely to hear much (if any) dialog.

So while you shouldn't (on paper) be raising or lowering channels manually post calibration (if you want to keep to how the movie was recorded) raising the centre channel will 'roughly, give or take' simply increase the level of the dialog above the rest of the soundtrack. Which in many situation is what is required esp. if you don't want to turn everything up louder.

As mentioned above many AVR's also include a dialog or late-night mode which will compress the peaks outside of the mid-range. By reducing the level of frequencies that aren't likely to contain dialog, you're in effect increasing the level of the frequencies which do. Which may result in a better overall response at everyday listening levels. Worth trying that as well and see what you prefer.

If it sounds better with the centre increased then go with it. No point in having a system that is (on paper) setup perfectly if you can't hear the dialog clearly.

Also due to the effects of the room (first / second reflections etc.) you may find that the dialog is getting muddied (our ears are very susceptible to dialog so it's the first hating we notice) and so a slight increase to the channel that deliver most of that dialog, above what your AVR has set, could prove useful. It's a trade off, as any content on the centre channel that isn't dialog will also get boosted — which isn't ideal, but life is full of compromises.
 
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