PSA: if you are looking for a new receiver...

[purbeast0]

do yourself a HUGE favor and be 100% sure it has some version of audyssey in it.

as some of you all know from my other thread i ran wires the past week and had my room in a mess for over a week. well having my system unplugged for that long for some reason made my avr lose it's audyssey settings, only i was not aware of this.

my wife and i watched a movie last night and the sound was garbage. and these aren't garbage speakers by any means, they are amazing speakers. i checked the channel levels and noticed they were back to factory settings, so i changed them to what i normally set them to. and it still sounded bad. i was thinking maybe it was just the movie (Brave) that had a bad soundtrack though.

so after the movie i ran through the opening of saving private ryan, which i've seen like 5x on my system when it was calibrated, and it sounded like crap as well. i was kind of worried because i had wondered if i screwed something up in my whole wiring and what not. but since the channel levels had reset, i thought maybe audyssey settings were lost too. it was too late and my wife was sleeping, so i didn't bother last night.

so just now i ran audyssey again. after it was done, i set the channel levels back to what i had em at before (LCR at -6db, subs at -2db). i then changed the crossover settings back to what i think i had them at (80hz for the LR and C), and once again, my system was back to sounding better than the movie theater!

so moral of the story - get a receiver with audyssey because it can do wonders. it made my pro sounding speakers, which sounded bad with default settings, sound incredible better than the movie theater again.

 

[vshah]

amen. if you are on a budget, look into refurbished denons from http://www.accessories4less.com/

 

[Number1]

Praise the lord. I went from a Sony with proprietary speaker calibration to an Onkyo (TX SR607) with Audyssey 2EQ to a Denon (1712) with MultEQXT.

Big improvement in sound with every upgrades.

For more information on Audyssey check it out @

http://www.audyssey.com/audio-technology/individual-technologies

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yep, I have a Denon 2310CI and recently bought new speakers. I didn't have time to run Audyssey setup after I hooked them up and they sounded like crap. Once I ran the setup though, it sounded like I was in a movie theater.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I have a Yamaha rxv467 I bought about 2 yrs ago and not aware of Audyssey. Is this some kind of software/firmware I can get. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have Audyssey.

 

[cvrefugee]

I have a Yamaha rxv467 I bought about 2 yrs ago and not aware of Audyssey. Is this some kind of software/firmware I can get. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have Audyssey.

Yamaha has a similar thing called YPAO, and yes your receiver includes it.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/technology/ypao_automatic_system_calibration/

 

[Aikouka]

Is it weird that I've never really noticed a difference? Maybe I should try disabling the Audyssey MultiEQ XT on my receiver downstairs to see how it sounds to me now that I've been using it for awhile. I tried the weird MultiSet thing on my receiver upstairs, and it didn't make a huge difference to me.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Yamaha has a similar thing called YPAO, and yes your receiver includes it.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/technology/ypao_automatic_system_calibration/

Thanks I was aware of the YPAO.

 

[purbeast0]

Is it weird that I've never really noticed a difference? Maybe I should try disabling the Audyssey MultiEQ XT on my receiver downstairs to see how it sounds to me now that I've been using it for awhile. I tried the weird MultiSet thing on my receiver upstairs, and it didn't make a huge difference to me.

just to be clear, and i don't mean this as you being stupid or anything, but you actually ran the calibration with the mic before turning the setting on right?

 

[reallyscrued]

Is it weird that I've never really noticed a difference? Maybe I should try disabling the Audyssey MultiEQ XT on my receiver downstairs to see how it sounds to me now that I've been using it for awhile. I tried the weird MultiSet thing on my receiver upstairs, and it didn't make a huge difference to me.

It really depends on how perfect your room is, how flat response your speakers have, and how far away each speaker is to your listening position and whether you can make volume adjustments to each channel by ear well enough.

I have an irregular room, speakers with a dip in the 9-10 khz response, and surround speakers that are not symmetrical to my listening position.

With my lowly 591, Audyssey automatically makes these adjustments for me when I run its setup through the provided mic:

Sets speaker wire length automatically so each sound reaches me at the same time eliminating possible off-phase listening.

Sets crossover (although I raise them to 80 hz) so they blend well with my subwoofer

Forms an EQ to make up for the fact that my speakers are not very bright and takes care of the 10khz dip.

Sets volume of each channel so that everything sound as uniform as possible. My center is located closer to me than my floorstanders, Audyssey sets it to -6.5 dB while my floorstanders are -1.5dB. Making that adjustment on my own would prove difficult without an spl meter, I'd just have to do it by ear.


You can see how if you have a terrific speakers and great room acoustics + placement, these adjustments wouldn't be needed, however for me, it makes things automatic and perfect with very little effort.

I'm very proud of my budget set up but honestly, my speakers sound gross if I turn AudEQ off.

 

[purbeast0]

^^

yeah when i ran audyssey last night again it set my crossover on my LR and C to 40hz, and i was getting hardly any punch from my subs. i didn't realize that initially when i tested some scenes, so i checked the crossover and saw it that low then bumped it up to 80hz for LR and C. and then we were back in business!

 

[iRONic]

Yup. Audyssey + SPL meter = audio sweetness.

 

[purbeast0]

Yup. Audyssey + SPL meter = audio sweetness.

i eventually plan on getting this:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=390-792

 

[s44]

Yamaha has a similar thing called YPAO, and yes your receiver includes it.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/technology/ypao_automatic_system_calibration/

YPAO and MultiSet are parametric EQ and level adjustment, the original mode of room correction. Audyssey, like Trinnov (and, I think to a lesser extent, Advanced MCACC on the high-end Pioneer Elites) deals with more stuff, including multiple listening points, phase correction, etc.

It's really a killer feature.

Did Yoyo's thread on using Audyssey MultEQ XT on his cheap-ass old Sony speakers get lost in a forum reboot? Can't seem to find it.

 

[Anubis]

the higher end yamahas let you take multy point measurements with YPAO, it can still be hit or miss

 

[iRONic]

i eventually plan on getting this:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=390-792

$300?! You really believe you'll get an audible difference between your current Audyssey set up and that?

 

[Anubis]

Audyssey isnt a cure all. it does not always sound better and many dont use it even on AVRs that have it

Cheaper option is the mic Minidsp http://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1
use it with REW (free)
http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

 

[purbeast0]

omnimic is more for actually seeing the curve, but it can be used with a minidsp to do EQing.

Audyssey isnt a cure all. it does not always sound better and many dont use it even on AVRs that have it

Cheaper option is the mic Minidsp http://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1
use it with REW (free)
http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

ah cool yea i had just heard of omnimic before.

and yea, audyssey makes it sound better, but you can always tweak it a bit more. last night if i didn't change the crossover settings or channel levels it would not have sounded nearly as good. i only knew to change them because i had changed them prior to it losing my settings and i remembered.

 

[Anubis]

also if you got serious into manual EQ many have had good luck with the DEQ2496 or similar products

 

[iRONic]

Audyssey isnt a cure all. it does not always sound better and many dont use it even on AVRs that have it

and yea, audyssey makes it sound better, but you can always tweak it a bit more.

I definitely understand that Audyssey doesn't fix everything. Hell, my LR front LaScalas are waaaaaaay off timbre from the rest of my speakers.

I run a four position Audyssey cal to get the system in the ballpark, manually reset my sub crossovers, and then just tweak everything with my $14 Radio Shack SPL.

 

[purbeast0]

I definitely understand that Audyssey doesn't fix everything. Hell, my LR front LaScalas are waaaaaaay off timbre from the rest of my speakers.

I run a four position Audyssey cal to get the system in the ballpark, manually reset my sub crossovers, and then just tweak everything with my $14 Radio Shack SPL.

ah cool. to be honest i'm a total noob to these tools. i will probably get an spl to start messing around with it and to learn how things actually sound in different seating areas.

 

[iRONic]

ah cool. to be honest i'm a total noob to these tools. i will probably get an spl to start messing around with it and to learn how things actually sound in different seating areas.

It's a fun hobby that can enrich the entertainment experience. It can also get very expensive very fast! Heh heh...

 

[purbeast0]

It's a fun hobby that can enrich the entertainment experience. It can also get very expensive very fast! Heh heh...

definitely. i've already spent most of the money though but still need to get my surrounds, but i should be set for decades to come lol.

 

[JackBurton]

i eventually plan on getting this:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=390-792

purbeast0, if you are planning to get these tools to tinker around with, that's cool. But if you just want your theater to sound the best it possibly can, I'd recommend using a calibrator. The guy I used is awesome and will not only calibrate your audio, but will also make recommendations to improve the overall sound in the room (room treatment, etc.). The guy is awesome and I can't recommend him enough. Once I move I'm definitely going to have him come back out and calibrate my audio gear (he already calibrated both of my TV's a few months ago).

Anyway, just throwing that out there since you were contemplating spending $300 on a mic.

 

[boomhower]

It does make a huge difference, especially if you don't have the knowledge to set it up yourself. I've only got the basic version in the 1612 but it makes a very noticeable difference.