Seany70363
Novice Member
Hi all, I am a new member just looking for some help with my recent home cinema setup...
I purchased my first AVR a few months ago - a Denon AVR-X1700H along with some Elac Debut B5.2 bookshelf speakers and an Elac Debut S10.2 sub.
I was previously using a Panasonic SC-BTT755 blu-ray/theatre system - and have kept the surround and centre speakers from this, with the intent to purchase additional Elacs further down the line.
My room is a fairly small 15ft square. The speakers are placed in a 7ft equilateral triangle, around 1.5ft from the rear wall.
My experience with this setup has mostly been good - a definite upgrade.
However there does seem to be a slight lack of clarity in the sound. Not noticeable with movies - but usually whilst watching TV or listening to music in stereo (without the sub), particularly at lower volume levels the sound comes across as being dull - the best way I can describe it is as if someone is holding a piece of cardboard in front of the speakers.
Listening to music at louder volumes does seem better, particularly with well mastered tracks - but I do find myself constantly adjusting the bass/treble controls for other tracks in order to brighten them up.
Setting the AVR to direct mode is practically unusable - very muddy and the bass is overwhelming.
So I have Audyssey enabled and set to flat all the time - this decreases the bass and increases the high end trebles.
I have both dynamic EQ and dynamic volume turned off - dynamic EQ just re-introduces the bass at any reference level. Dynamic volume just makes things louder/more compressed.
Whilst watching TV or listening to music in stereo I have the Elacs set as "large" with the sub disabled in the speaker setup. Setting them to "small" does seem to help somewhat - with the sub powered off the crossover (80hz) essentially then acts as a high pass filter.
I find my experience somewhat surprising - as the Elacs are highly praised online and are known to be a well balanced speaker for the price. If anything they should have a little too much treble...
So I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar issue and/or has any advice they can give me?
I am contemplating either trying a stereo amp (maybe Cambridge Audio AXA35) in place of the AVR for music/TV - or trying some different speakers with the AVR (maybe Klipsch R-40M) but I am not sure if I'd just be wasting my time!
I purchased my first AVR a few months ago - a Denon AVR-X1700H along with some Elac Debut B5.2 bookshelf speakers and an Elac Debut S10.2 sub.
I was previously using a Panasonic SC-BTT755 blu-ray/theatre system - and have kept the surround and centre speakers from this, with the intent to purchase additional Elacs further down the line.
My room is a fairly small 15ft square. The speakers are placed in a 7ft equilateral triangle, around 1.5ft from the rear wall.
My experience with this setup has mostly been good - a definite upgrade.
However there does seem to be a slight lack of clarity in the sound. Not noticeable with movies - but usually whilst watching TV or listening to music in stereo (without the sub), particularly at lower volume levels the sound comes across as being dull - the best way I can describe it is as if someone is holding a piece of cardboard in front of the speakers.
Listening to music at louder volumes does seem better, particularly with well mastered tracks - but I do find myself constantly adjusting the bass/treble controls for other tracks in order to brighten them up.
Setting the AVR to direct mode is practically unusable - very muddy and the bass is overwhelming.
So I have Audyssey enabled and set to flat all the time - this decreases the bass and increases the high end trebles.
I have both dynamic EQ and dynamic volume turned off - dynamic EQ just re-introduces the bass at any reference level. Dynamic volume just makes things louder/more compressed.
Whilst watching TV or listening to music in stereo I have the Elacs set as "large" with the sub disabled in the speaker setup. Setting them to "small" does seem to help somewhat - with the sub powered off the crossover (80hz) essentially then acts as a high pass filter.
I find my experience somewhat surprising - as the Elacs are highly praised online and are known to be a well balanced speaker for the price. If anything they should have a little too much treble...
So I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar issue and/or has any advice they can give me?
I am contemplating either trying a stereo amp (maybe Cambridge Audio AXA35) in place of the AVR for music/TV - or trying some different speakers with the AVR (maybe Klipsch R-40M) but I am not sure if I'd just be wasting my time!
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