Xbox 360 - surround speakers too loud during games

[MrTom]

Hi,

Bought an AV receiver (Onkyo TX-SR507) at the weekend and have been busy connecting my 360 to it via the optical cable.

I've noticed that when I'm playing games, the two surround speakers in my 5.1 setup are unecessarily loud. When I'm watching DVDs on the console or on my HDMI connected DVD player the surround speakers sound about right.

Examples of games where the sound in the surround speakers really annoys me:
- CoD 4, singleplayer - the bit where you crawl past the tanks. Long after they've gone past they're still thundering in my surround speakers. If I turn around in-game, I can barely hear them from the front.

- Splinter Cell DA: the Kinsasha level. The gun fire effects from outside the building are so loud I can hardly hear the speech from the front speakers.

- Mass Effect: On the Normandy if I walk away from a sliding door I can hear it swishing behind me. If I back away, I hardly hear it from the front speakers.

Any tips? I'm a bit reluctant to start altering the levels on the amp as the sound is fine for DVDs. I've run through the Onkyo setup with the external microphone, so the levels should all be ok. Is this something I just have to put up with? Are there some settings squirrelled away on the amp or console that might help? It's odd that I've only noticed it in games - anyone else have these games and can confirm or deny it for me!

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Dinky Dragon]

You may have your amp set so that your rear speakers are outputting more decibells!

 

[beasty54]

You may have your amp set so that your rear speakers are outputting more decibells!

But he said he's done the auto setup and its fine for movies so Its probably just the specific games.

 

[sdb123]

Examples of games where the sound in the surround speakers really annoys me:
- CoD 4, singleplayer - the bit where you crawl past the tanks. Long after they've gone past they're still thundering in my surround speakers. If I turn around in-game, I can barely hear them from the front.

- Splinter Cell DA: the Kinsasha level. The gun fire effects from outside the building are so loud I can hardly hear the speech from the front speakers.

- Mass Effect: On the Normandy if I walk away from a sliding door I can hear it swishing behind me. If I back away, I hardly hear it from the front speakers.

Any tips? I'm a bit reluctant to start altering the levels on the amp as the sound is fine for DVDs. I've run through the Onkyo setup with the external microphone, so the levels should all be ok. Is this something I just have to put up with? Are there some settings squirrelled away on the amp or console that might help? It's odd that I've only noticed it in games - anyone else have these games and can confirm or deny it for me!

The auto-calibration provided in amps is okay. To get the sound more accurate for your room the best thing to do is buy a digital SPL meter (about £13) and adjust the speaker levels manually using the AVR test-tone (you can make manual level adjustments following auto-EQ if you prefer). Quite often the surrounds are set a bit higher than they should be.

Read your three gaming examples again....they are all saying your surrounds are set higher than your front speakers. This isn't right.

 

[sdb123]

But he said he's done the auto setup and its fine for movies so Its probably just the specific games.

DVD's are output at a lesser level than most audio source material....also in films, surround sound is more subtle IME.

 

[beasty54]

DVD's are output at a lesser level than most audio source material....also in films, surround sound is more subtle IME.

For sure mate, my amp always needs to be at a lower volume when playing games but what i meant was that if the rears aren't too loud when watching DVDs then his speakers are clearly balanced, to his ears at least. I play a lot of games and ive not noticed increased volumes in the rears when playing on the 360 or PS3 so its certainly an odd one.

 

[quarry2006]

On a related note, is it just me or is the sound on Grand Theft Auto IV just too quiet? I rarely have my amp higher than 10 when playing games on the 360 but for GTA IV it's nearly up to 20 (I have it set to about 23 for DVDs). Just made me wonder, is all...

 

[sonysean]

Same here
Only ever need my amp's volume on around 7-10 for the Xbox 360.

Whenever watching movies though or normal TV i have it usually on around 15-20

 

[MrTom]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll have a go turning the rear speakers down, then watch a film and see if I mind. Does seem very odd though!

The amp itself has a pink noise test tone and sitting in my audioappreciationchair all speakers sounded at about the right level.

Nonetheless I'll give it a try.

Thanks,
Tom