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How much would i have to pay for decent 5.1 surround sound?

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With the non-slim PS3, you'll never get the receiver to say Dolby TrueHD. I think you've figured all this out though based on your latest postings.
 
haha, yeah.

the manual was confusing me. The signal was put out through (by? whatever) multichannel linear PCM, but there was a listening mode called multi channel.

Because of the shitty manual and my retardedness, i was getting confused with the method of output and what the listening modes actually do.

no matter what, im getting Dolby TrueHD on these blu-rays, but then i have to choose a listening mode. i figured out that all listening modes really do is just do various things to the source for your preference in a variety of situations. multi channel mode apparently is just the native format...ie, nothing changes. 5.1 in=5.1 out, etc.

Then you already discounted 'all channels stereo' (the only other 7.1 mode), so i found that Dolby EX and Dolby PLIIx were the only two listening modes that would give me 5.1--->7.1. And then i read and apparently PLIIx is better.

i like it. and im finally getting used to not have everything be in each speaker, heh.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello said:
Audyssey sets the level in the receiver to get the correct output.

Here's an Audyssey setup guide from AVSforum.

You should only need to mess with the subwoofer gain knob if the receiver's internal trim adjustment for the subwoofer is either at maximum cut or maximum gain.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14456895#post14456895
Click to expand...

i thought the manual knob overrode everything else though? maybe im nuts. its what it was at when i ran the calibration though.
 
kazaam said:
i thought the manual knob overrode everything else though? maybe im nuts. its what it was at when i ran the calibration though.
Click to expand...

It does override everything else.

If you want more or less bass, you can adjust it to your liking.


I don't know exactly what you're getting at with the last comment, but I'll explain my last one in case that helps.

There are three different scenarios that Audyssey can run into when it's trying to adjust your subwoofer.

Scenario #1
The gain dial on the subwoofer is set too low. Imagine that you turned it almost all the way down to nothing on the subwoofer itself. That means that the subwoofer is set to barely output anything with regular signal strength.

Audyssey is run with the subwoofer's gain knob turned way down. The receiver's microphone detects that the subwoofer's output is too low, so it increases the relative strength of the subwoofer signal. When it tested the subwoofer's volume, it detected it to be really low in relation to what it should be. It decided that maybe the subwoofer is 20dB lower than it should be. Unfortunately, the receiver can only adjust the subwoofer level something like -12dB to +12dB (this depends on the company and model). The receiver does what it can and boosts the subwoofer signal +12dB.

So now your receiver is doing what it can to make all the speakers (and sub) calibrated to the correct level, but the subwoofer is still 8dB too quiet since the gain level was set super low.

Scenario #2
Basically the opposite of #1
The subwoofer's gain knob is set too high, and Audyssey does its maximum cut to the level, but it's still too loud relative to the speakers.

Scenario #3
The subwoofer's gain is set at a level that allows Audyssey to make the correct trim adjustment to get the sound level right




Where you need to set the gain knob on any given subwoofer is going to depend on what model subwoofer it is, how big the room is, the distance from the sub to the microphone, room interactions, etc.

To tell if you had the subwoofer knob in a position that allowed Audyssey to correctly go through its calibration, you can check the trim levels that Audyssey set for the speaker and sub. If the sub's signal looks like it might be the maximum gain or cut, then you should adjust the subwoofer's gain knob and re-run Audyssey.



Other than for that purpose (correcting an incorrect room calibration by Audyssey), the purpose of adjusting the gain knob on the subwoofer would be to boost or cut the bass to your liking.
 
that makes perfect sense, thanks! Mine was within range, luckily. it was -5dB. The center was i am almost positive -5dB, but it could have been -4dB...i changed it back and forth by accident. i hope i didnt change it from what it was.

wish there was a restore setting for audyssey eq. although +- 1 db isnt a huge deal i suppose. seems in line with the other fronts when i check the speaker configs and go back/forth between the three. although i wouldnt mind running the calibrator again just to um, have fun haha.
 
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kazaam,

If your changing the "Speaker Levels" (sub and center) via the Audio button, my manual states that they are temporary adjustments that are canceled when the receiver is set to standby.
 
balloonshark said:
kazaam,

If your changing the "Speaker Levels" (sub and center) via the Audio button, my manual states that they are temporary adjustments that are canceled when the receiver is set to standby.
Click to expand...

Yes! I did a search of the manual and found that under advanced setup. I guess once audyssey set it, anything i do is only temporary via the audio button. Good news! I guess I'll just turn it off and on and everything will be a-ok. 🙂 Thanks!

Here is a side question for everyone: what is the source info for most games? Are they 5.1? I downloaded the killzone 2 demo, and was happy to see that it defaulted to multichannel, which was 7.1 Kinda neat.
 
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Also, as a sort of test for myself and because my dad is a PITA when im home during breaks...lets set i moved the front left speaker about 1-2 more feet to the left. I would + the dB so it would get a little louder since its further away, no?
 
Just wanted to chime in and say the optical cable arrived and hookup was very easy. Sound works perfectly just like YoYo said it would. Everything has been great with the whole system, thanks again guys!
 
Modelworks said:
If you want to set up surround easily I suggest getting a spl meter. They are not expensive like they use to be and really make it easy to adjust levels.
One like this will work fine for most people:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92282

Then just sit where the listener will be and position the meter about head high and tweak the output levels for each channel.
Click to expand...

That might kind of be a waste since he has Audyssey on the receiver. It could be used to check Audyssey's results to confirm that it's getting the SPL level set accurately. If it's not though, then I would think that its entire process would be suspect since it not only has to measure output on pink noise / test tones, but analyze the SPL of entire frequency ranges when doing its calibration.

It was useful for me to have an SPL meter (along with Room EQ Wizard) to confirm there was something wrong with the Audyssey MultEQ setup on my own receiver earlier this year.
 
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