Looking For new receiver or htiab...

[hennessy1]

I was looking at the onkyo and integra lines and it seems that from the receiver I have now to the ones they currently offer they have reduced the amount of optical inputs which I don't really like since that is what I use over coaxial. I was wondering if some of you can help me narrow down atleast a brand to look at.

My current receiver is a onkyo ht-r640. It has 3 optical the ones I have seen have only 2. Have they reduced the amount of them because of hdmi? I was interested in a 7.1 system but am unsure what else I should concentrate on. Thank you for any help you can offer.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, with more HDMI inputs, receivers tend to have fewer digital optical or digital coaxial inputs now.

What sources are you going to be hooking up? Do any of them do audio over HDMI?

What are your goals for this upgrade? Budget?

It might turn out that keeping your receiver and just upgrading your front three speakers and subwoofer might be the best bang for the buck upgrade.

 

[hennessy1]

Xbox360 w hdmi, PC w/ bluray and 7.1 sound card, hd dvr. I want a better sound I feel like this system I have now is limiting as I have to turn it up to 60 to actually get it loud enough where its to loud. Budget I am undecided on that as of right now.

The receiver and speakers were currently part of this package htiab

HT-S894(b)

I mean unless someone can help me fine tune it more so that it would change my position on upgrading then I don't know. Maybe I am wrong in this sense but I just think that turning it up 60 seems like there isn't enough power you know that I have to turn it up that high to even start to max out my tolerance.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The number setting on the receiver is kind of arbitrary unless you've calibrated it to a specific level. Without calibrating to a reference level, I've had receivers and pro-pro units that have varied widely with how loud something really is based on the volume control.

Turning it up to the arbitrary value of 60 to get it loud doesn't really mean anything as to whether the system is running out of power. Unless 60 is the maximum level and you can't turn it up anymore, then it shouldn't be an issue. If you are turning it up to maximum, then something's probably set up wrong with the system of you have a huge room. Is 80 the maximum level the Onkyo goes up to?

If you can reach your desired volume level (and past it) without maxing out the Onkyo, then you shouldn't have to worry about it. Without an SPL meter, it's hard to determine if your volume expectations are unreasonable for this system. Getting more sensitive speakers would mean that the number displayed on the receiver would be lower for any given volume level, but if you're still within the normal range for the Onkyo now, then that's not really going to matter.

Have you calibrated the speakers using the Onkyo's setup microphone yet?

 

[s44]

Only HDMI will carry 7.1. Optical/coax won't.

 

[hennessy1]

Max I believe is 99.

No I hadn't even heard of their setup mic. Could you explain a little more please.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: hennessy1
Max I believe is 99.

No I hadn't even heard of their setup mic. Could you explain a little more please.

Sorry, I thought the unit would have come with a setup microphone. It looks like it doesn't do auto calibration of speaker levels or distance. Did you do any calibration of distance or speaker levels when you set up the system?

 

[hennessy1]

Yea there is a menu in there that lets you set up how far away you are from each speaker but I don't know if I did it right I mean I am not always the same distance away from each. So I assume that they mean in the center of the room.


s44: Thank you for that information I thought that the optical would carry it all. As it would be the equivalent of striping the video off an hdmi connection.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What happens when you hit the Audyssey button on the remote? The manual is very vague about what that actually does.

"Turning on the Audyssey EQ will equalize your sound
system to remove distortion caused by acoustic problem,
letting you enjoy clear and natural sound."

Without a microphone, I'm confused about how it could possibly calibrate the system.

 

[hennessy1]

I don't know if you have my manual in front of you now but here it is

Manual

If you search for "distance" it will bring you to the section of speaker distance setting under first time setup. Is that what you were talking about?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Bottom of page 62 for Audyssey EQ.

Pages 63-64 cover distance and level calibration.

 

[hennessy1]

Should I do both the audyssey eq and the distance and level calibration?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well I'm confused about what hitting th audyssey button is going to do.

Oh...

"Audyssey EQ and Audyssey Equalized
These are preset versions of MultEQ technology. They are designed for systems that ship with their own speakers, such as 2.1 systems, Home Theater-in-a-Box (HTiB) systems, Table Radios or Televisions. We work directly with the manufacturers to precisely measure the system's performance at our labs to simulate a typical room environment. Audyssey EQ removes much of the distortion caused by speaker enclosures and the typical room environment producing greatly improved sound compared to similar products without correction. Audyssey Equalized includes additional technologies such as Dynamic EQ and BassXT."

Most of the Audyssey units will calibrate your system with a microphone to customize settings to your environments. Your receiver just has a preset Audyssey calibration that they think will work well in most rooms.

In this case, I'd recommend doing the distance and level calibration from the seat where you usually listen. It would be better with an SPL meter, but doing it by ear should be better than nothing. You can certainly get the distance settings right.

With trim level settings, you can see how arbitrary the volume level setting is. For example, if you set the trim level settings to be +5 for all your speakers, then the overall volume of the system at 55 would be the same as it was before at 60.

What you should do is try to get all the speakers at the same volume. You'll get pink noise from the receiver and your job will be to adjust each speaker so it sounds like the same volume. With an SPL meter, you can do this more precisely, but just doing it by ear should be better than nothing.

After you get the distance and trim levels right, you can play with the Audyssey equalizer and see if you like it better with or without.

 

[hennessy1]

I am going to try it now. In your opinion do you think that an upgrade is unwarranted in this case. I admit that user error could very well have caused the need and sensation for wanting to buy a new system. I appreciate your help and will report back with how the changed setting have resulted.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If the motivation for the upgrade is that 60 seems high on volume scale of 0 to 99, I think that it's an unwarranted reason to upgrade.

If you're turning the system up to the point where it's distorting due to the amplifier clipping or the speakers reaching their own limits, then I think you have a reason to upgrade (assuming you're not trying to play back at volumes the are potentially harmful). If you can just turn the volume up to 70 or 80 and have more volume than you need, then there's no problem.

 

[hennessy1]

Ok thank you. I will try your suggestions now and come back with the results.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Note that doing this is not going to change your actual volume level when the receiver is set at 60 for example unless you actively try to adjust all the trim level settings up.

For example, if you kept your left front at 0 and then adjusted everything else to get them equivalent, you might end up with

FL 0
C +2
FR +1
SL +5
SR -3

Then you could adjust them all up by the same value to get

FL +5
C +7
FR +6
SL +10
SR +2

That's not really doing anything though, but you'd see 55 on the receiver instead of 60. It's just arbitrary though.

If you were to get a new system, there would be no guarantee that 60 would be any louder than 60 on the system you have now. I think the negative scale is a more standard way of measuring volume and makes more sense though. If calibrated, then 0 would give you reference volume and anything below that would be displayed as a negative value. For example, on my old system I listened to music as about -30dB and movies at about -20dB.

 

[hennessy1]

Quick question while I run through the setup. For sources like the cable box and xbox360 and pc should I leave the listening mode on direct or another one? I assume the devices do all the processing and would then just pass through the raw data to the receiver to play correct? Becauase when I had the xbox on dts or somthing to that effect the sound was not comming out on all speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Does it have an auto detect setting?

I don't remember what Direct does exactly. If it's getting a DD or DTS signal, you'd want the receiver to be playing back in DD or DTS without any other processing effects being done.

If you're getting stereo from the source (like some cable shows), you might want to stick to stereo or you might want to have a surround mode engaged like Dolby Prologic II Movie or something.

For the cable box and xbox, you want them to be sending bitstream for the receiver to decode. I don't know what your setting options are going to be for either of those.

How is the computer hooked up? I haven't kept up with PC blu-ray playback since I got a PS3 specifically so I wouldn't have to mess with that
Is your soundcard using Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect?

 

[hennessy1]

The sound card actually has both features and its connected via optical.

 

[hennessy1]

Ok I have started the setup. I am unsure what to do on the speaker config menu. I do not know which freq. to set it for and esp. do not know if I should use the Low-Pass Filter for the LFE Channel.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The manual for the set should tell you what the optimal setup is for the default speakers.