Best XE1 Audio Settings?

[calibradtm]

having just conquered the bass problem i'd be interested to hear what works best for most people.i have the XE1 connected by 5.1 out to my Denon A1SE amp.do i have the settings on PCM or Bitstream? Speakers big or small? in my A1SE manual it says choose speakers as 'BIG' if they can handle low frequencies but read posts on the forum with peeps saying change speakers to small in both the amp and XE1 set up.?

 

[city fan]

Hi

Have another look at the link I posted yesterday. I read through the whole thread

It has helped my understanding of how this operates though.

Firstly for analogue you must select PCM, this seems a quirk of the Tosh that may be rectified with a future FW update.

By leaving speakers on the Tosh on large you are selecting no base management. IE you'll get the full frequency range to your speakers. If they're not too hot at handling base it may be lacking. So it maybe prudent to select small in ALL speakers in order to route to the sub. I do and select x/over at 80. You'll also need to ensure you boost your LFE/sub by 10db.

As suggested by Mauney (respect) also trim all your levels by -5 which should help to boost the LFE to +15db as mentioned.

I've also set my speaker distances to the relevant distances and run test tones to check the levels.

This applies only to analogue, you should be able to listen to all discs inc SD through this. But if you want S/PDIF you'll need to change to Bitstream and run BM through your amp. Ensure you change the speakers back to large otherwise you'll have double BM (ie setting your speakers to small) and thats not good apparently.

Hope this helps...

 

[Jase]

The EXT In's on the A1SE bypass all bass management so set everything in the Toshiba (Speaker Size, Distances, Levels etc). The only control you have for the EXT In's on the Denon is the Channel Level controls which you can adjust from -12db thru to +12db.

 

[calibradtm]

Hi

Have another look at the link I posted yesterday. I read through the whole thread

It has helped my understanding of how this operates though.

Firstly for analogue you must select PCM, this seems a quirk of the Tosh that may be rectified with a future FW update.

By leaving speakers on the Tosh on large you are selecting no base management. IE you'll get the full frequency range to your speakers. If they're not too hot at handling base it may be lacking. So it maybe prudent to select small in ALL speakers in order to route to the sub. I do and select x/over at 80. You'll also need to ensure you boost your LFE/sub by 10db.

As suggested by Mauney (respect) also trim all your levels by -5 which should help to boost the LFE to +15db as mentioned.

I've also set my speaker distances to the relevant distances and run test tones to check the levels.

This applies only to analogue, you should be able to listen to all discs inc SD through this. But if you want S/PDIF you'll need to change to Bitstream and run BM through your amp. Ensure you change the speakers back to large otherwise you'll have double BM (ie setting your speakers to small) and thats not good apparently.

Hope this helps...

when you say trim all levels by -5 do you mean in the XE1 settings,amp or both?

 

[city fan]

when you say trim all levels by -5 do you mean in the XE1 settings,amp or both?

In both, if you can change the levels for you analogues. I've done this and matched levels

 

[klnc]

The EXT In's on the A1SE bypass all bass management so set everything in the Toshiba (Speaker Size, Distances, Levels etc). The only control you have for the EXT In's on the Denon is the Channel Level controls which you can adjust from -12db thru to +12db.

I have the A1SR (the version after the one you have), and you can either, as Jase says set everything in the Toshiba, or, at least on the A1SR, change the EXT-1 settings to DSP, which converts the analogue signal to a digital signal where it then undergoes DSP processing hence applying all the settings (speaker config, level, delay etc) that are applied to all other settings. There is a further, irrespective of whether you select analogue or DSP, setting for the subwoofer, where the default is +15 dB, which is what i have stuck with - anything less and there was a noticeable lack of bass.

I have everything set on the Toshiba to LARGE, with no distance or level adjustment. I also select "Don't Use" on the subwoofer to avoid applying 2 cross over adjustments - once in the toshiba and again in the amp. Following earlier advice, i have also selected SPDIF to PCM, and DRC and DE to OFF. Crossover is set at 120 Hz, but i am assuming it has no effect if the sub is set to off(?) There is certainly no shortage of bass when i play dvds, whether SD or HD-DVD, through the analogue outputs of the toshiba, and the sound is fantastic - as comparable and tight as from my Denon A1 dvd player over Denon Link.

As an unrelated point, and I've seen other posts on this, I have to say i can't tell the difference between DD+ and True HD. Irrespective of the settings I've mentioned above, I have pretty much tried every combo including applying all the base management settings in the player and setting the amp to analogue for straight pass, althrough I still cannot tell the difference when i switch between the 2. For reference, i have version 1.3 software, which i have never updated since i got the player. This last part is the only niggle in an otherwise near perfect set-up.

Certainly welcome any comments on the above

 

[city fan]

I have the A1SR (the version after the one you have), and you can either, as Jase says set everything in the Toshiba, or, at least on the A1SR, change the EXT-1 settings to DSP, which converts the analogue signal to a digital signal where it then undergoes DSP processing hence applying all the settings (speaker config, level, delay etc) that are applied to all other settings. There is a further, irrespective of whether you select analogue or DSP, setting for the subwoofer, where the default is +15 dB, which is what i have stuck with - anything less and there was a noticeable lack of bass.

I have everything set on the Toshiba to LARGE, with no distance or level adjustment. I also select "Don't Use" on the subwoofer to avoid applying 2 cross over adjustments - once in the toshiba and again in the amp. Following earlier advice, i have also selected SPDIF to PCM, and DRC and DE to OFF. Crossover is set at 120 Hz, but i am assuming it has no effect if the sub is set to off(?) There is certainly no shortage of bass when i play dvds, whether SD or HD-DVD, through the analogue outputs of the toshiba, and the sound is fantastic - as comparable and tight as from my Denon A1 dvd player over Denon Link.

As an unrelated point, and I've seen other posts on this, I have to say i can't tell the difference between DD+ and True HD. Irrespective of the settings I've mentioned above, I have pretty much tried every combo including applying all the base management settings in the player and setting the amp to analogue for straight pass, althrough I still cannot tell the difference when i switch between the 2. For reference, i have version 1.3 software, which i have never updated since i got the player. This last part is the only niggle in an otherwise near perfect set-up.

Certainly welcome any comments on the above

It would seem make sense to do the BM in the receiver if it can do what you say it can. My receiver cannot do BM though the analogues, only change the levels.

I would think you'd get a better result that way, I don't think the Tosh's BM is 100%

Re the DD+ & TrueHD issue I don't think the firmware update would make any difference. We're on 2.0 now IIRC, it may be prudent to get the latest version though.

You obviously listen to DD+ and TrueHD though the analogues so you are getting good sound from both anyway. I think I can tell a difference but its subtle. I know what you are saying we all expected True HD to be totally different but in reality its perhaps not. There's a link on this forum re a test for this, I'll post the link..

Here we go-

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=604275

 

[klnc]

Thanks for the feedback and for the link to DD/true HD thread. I remain convinced any difference is very marginal - i, like others, perhaps, may have been expecting it to sound comparable to DVD Audio vs CD (which is very much chalk and cheese!), when it clearly doesn't, although we'll see if it becomes more obvious as the sound formats develop and particularly what DTS MA brings to the party, although we may need new hardware to decode it! As an aside, I also prefer DD to DTS on my setup, which is at odds to what a lot of people do.

 

[city fan]

As an aside, I also prefer DD to DTS on my setup, which is at odds to what a lot of people do.

Interesting that. I always find DTS to be much fuller and more poweful.

I'm always happy when I can select DTS on a discs menu

I suppose it does depend on peoples set up, but I would have thought that at least sometime you would find a DTS track superior (not wanting to get into DD v DTS war )