Question Centre channel distortion with vocals

nugget2014

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Recently I've noticed my Dali sensor centre speaker has started to distort with some vocals. Watching war for the planet of the apes and noticed it for the first time. First time seen the issue so what could the problem be? Does having the centre channel speaker level much higher than the others make this problem more common? I have it set 8db over my fronts as it's hard to hear dialogue sometimes. Any ideas? My amp is the Denon 2200w
 
8db more than the fronts is quite a bit. If it's also starting to distort are you sure the speaker itself is actually working properly?
 
Could it be the amp clipping? Does it still distort if you turn the volume down very low?
 
Doesn`t sound normal, 8db jeez. Have you hide the center channel in closet? :rolleyes: Really is it placed poorly in first place? Usually after Audussey most of people won`t touch the speaker levels.

When you run Audussey with 3-8 mic placement, AFTER setup did you change the crossover from (probably) 40hz to higher let`s say 80hz minium? Keeping it like Denon many times set`s it, it might sound muddy and hard to understand speech as too much bass comes from it and that is not ideal. And that might lead you to change the level then.. Just a thought.

Definitely check the SHADO`s point first tho.
 
8db is far too high normally my centre is 2db lower.
 
it doesnt sound normal if it's not boosted by around 6-8db..i'm going to try angle it upwards which should help but i didn't hear anymore clipping after i turned the centre down back to normal setting. not sure if that was at fault then turning it up earlier.

i bought some absorption pads to angle my speaker upwards so it fires more towards ear level. does this help make the voices easier to hear? if so i can turn the level down more
 
it doesnt sound normal if it's not boosted by around 6-8db..i'm going to try angle it upwards which should help but i didn't hear anymore clipping after i turned the centre down back to normal setting. not sure if that was at fault then turning it up earlier.

i bought some absorption pads to angle my speaker upwards so it fires more towards ear level. does this help make the voices easier to hear? if so i can turn the level down more

Ideally, yes, aiming it directly at you should make it easier to hear. Not just voices but everything that comes out of it.

I'd also suggest re-running Audyssey as well.
 
it doesnt sound normal if it's not boosted by around 6-8db..i'm going to try angle it upwards which should help but i didn't hear anymore clipping after i turned the centre down back to normal setting. not sure if that was at fault then turning it up earlier.

i bought some absorption pads to angle my speaker upwards so it fires more towards ear level. does this help make the voices easier to hear? if so i can turn the level down more

Is it possible to swap that centre speaker with the left one for example. Have a listen to dialogue again. And also try some 2 channel stuff to see if it still shows a problem while it’s connected to the left channel.

Make sure the Amp is Off before disconnecting anything ;)
 
I've got a zensor vokal and have it running 3db higher than my fronts. My onkyo amp allows me to easily increase centre channel volume and I've found this is the best for me. after a 6 point audessey run and 0db I can't really hear vocals properly. So I understand u need to raise it but 8db as others have said is way to high. Best case it may be the wiring is at fault recheck the connections. Do u have any breaks in the cables and are u using banana plugs.
 
i returned my centre for a new one (god bless richer sounds), set it up and calibrated etc. it's weird how voices still sound a tad quiet even when the speaker is calibrated to a spl a few db above my fronts. must be the source material i guess. but it's all fine and working now, the distortion has gone.
 
I have had this problem with tannoy front 3 and a denon avr. In fact my tannoy 6c has gone in for repairs! I ran it 3dB hot so can't see this being the reason? In the future I will be dropping the l+r a few dB and increase the centre by perhaps 1dB. I'll recheck the results with my spl meter.

Only reason I can see for the centre to be too quiet is the source material designed to be played at reference level...where it all sounds correct?
 

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