Ketamine

I know this has been posted bofore but didn't have an answer to help me. At times I have a hard time hearing the dialog during movies. Is it my Bose center speaker? I have tried with the center channel turnd all the way up without improvemet. Wires have be rechecked and they are fine. Anything else?

Weapon X

Hi,Carp...

I have now gone through 3 receivers. Some have stronger signals to the center, it seems.

I know the JVC has a weak signal...and some others. Check your model out at www.audioreview.com and see if anyone else has similar complaints.

Another aspect is the speaker..while USUALLY not the villain, it can't hurt to buy a new one, see if it helps the situation, and if it does not, return it.

Also, the obvious suggestion of upping the Center level and downing the others a bit.

I ,too, am having this problem, and it is driving me crazy.

I USED to have an RCA HTIB, and it sounded great..now I am buying supposedly "better" speakers and am having trouble finding one to stay.

Do the usual checks and balances, and then try it with a new Center or Reciever, if at all possible.

Good luck!


(Amazing that people are obsessed with Subs, but Centers seem to get tossed by the wayside.)

ANDREMIKE

Since you increased the volume of the center...did you also lower the volume of the rears? Did you make these adjustments on the reciever or on the DVD player?

DigIt

If you're sure it's not the DVD itself... Yeah, I say replace the center speaker. I had a cheap one for a while and I was constantly straining to hear dialogue. Try a few different kinds and eventually you'll find one that works.
Maybe you should replace the speaker wire. Maybe you shoulde replace the receiver. Are you even using a receiver, or some Bose unit? More information would be helpful.

MWR

I too have a bose system (I know, I know...). I have had the same problems. I don't think it is a speaker problem, but a problem with the way the bose reciever outputs center channel sound. I've turned the center up as high as I can get it and still sometimes have difficulty hearing the dialogue. I emailed bose and asked if a different center speaker would help my problem and they said that they could not recommend it because the whole system is engineered to work together. Bose really didn't have any anser other than turn up the sound for the center channel speaker. If you find out anything, I'll be intrested to know

Stats

First, buy or rent Video Essentials or the Avia DVD and buy or borrow a sound meter (check Radio Shack and buy the analog one) and calibrate your speakers. That'll tell you definitively if you can get the center up to the same loudness as the other speakers.

If you've turned any tone controls (treble or bass) up, that could also be a problem. Most dialog is mid-range and can be drowned out by the tone controls. Your best bet is to totally bypass the tone controls if you can, or at least set them at the middle position.

Also try repositioning your speakers - for example, move the left and right far from the center and move the center up a bit. If your fronts are close together the dialog could get muddled by the left and right. HTH.

buzzdalf

I have found there are some DVD's that are just mastered poorly.
Days of Thunder is a perfect example. The voice audio on that DVD stinks royally. I have to jack my center up a lot on that one.
Some movies seem to just get a little weak in the voice with the volume low (watching after kid's in bed). For these, messing with the dialog normalization and the digital compression seems to be the trick.

Watched Gone In 60 Seconds last weekend, the voices on that DVD seem perfect for my system! I could watch that movie at any level, without having to tweak anything, and it sounded great.

I have my system calibrated with a Radio Shack meter, do it. It makes a difference. Just did my brothers last week, his stuff was way off. He called me afterward saying he couldn't believe how much better it sounded.

One thing people here have said in the past is that a DD 5.1 sountrack is much worse at this than a DTS soundtrack. I don't have any input here as I use a Denon 3200 (no DTS).

Ketamine

Thanks for the replies. I have a new Sony receiver, but don't think this is the problem. I also Avia and have calibrated my system. How would turning down my rears make a difference? The big thing is that my front speakers drown out the center(even with the center channel turned all the way up). I have expensive wires so I don't think that is it. This leaves me to think it is just my Bose center speaker. I guess on a side note, my system is mix and match with pioneer front speakers, sony wireless rears, JVC sub and the Bose center(thought it was top of line when I bought it). I will check on the tones thing that was suggested though I did not mess with them. As far as moving my speakers, the room is such that I really can't move my speaker b/c of lack of room. I really can't justify buying a new center right now after paying $170 for the Bose less than 2 years ago, plus this may not fix the problem. Any other ideas?

[This message has been edited by carp (edited January 20, 2001).]

Blade

Try switching one of your mains with the Bose center. If you still have underpowered center sound, then it's not the speaker.

And is this one of the small cube bose speakers? If so, what kind of speakers are your mains? Bookshelf? Full range?

Not sure if this matters, but are your ohm settings for your speakers set correctly? (Should be under impedance selection in your manual.)

Also, check your wires. Make sure positive is going to positive and that the connections are all good.

How do you have the DVD player connected to the reciever? Digital coax/optical? Or analog 6 ch. outputs? Or 2 ch analog outputs?

How did you increase the volume of your center speaker? (via the receiver or the player?)

It also might help if you gave us the model numbers of your receiver, player and speakers.

-David

[This message has been edited by Blade (edited January 21, 2001).]