Is it normal for DD 5.1 to be so damn quiet!
 

I really dislike the fact that I have to turn the volume up 1/2 way on my 400w system to get decent volume on a DD 5.1 track. I can't tell a difference in clarity, but the volume level on DTS is what really shines IMO. You get "normal" volume levels without blasting the ampliphier (which just produces more "noise").

Why is DD 5.1 so low anyway; are some DD tracks defective?

Re: Is it normal for DD 5.1 to be so damn quiet!
 

Soundtracks are mastered a different levels. IMHO a position on a volume knob is totally arbitrary and has nothing to do with amplifer power.

Personally I prefer a DD track to a DTS track on nearly every DVD I have ever evaluated.

Did you go through and check for things like dialog normalization?
Turning that off can help.

Is it all audio on the track or jsut the people's voices?

you can also adjust the level of the nominal speakers in the system setup.

Don’t fret about the position of the volume control. Excluding digital controls and a few esoteric analog designs, volume controls impart the least distortion (signal change) at the highest setting. Most low and mid-fi equipment, however, are non-linear and pass relatively higher voltage than the volume level might imply---the goal is to make consumers believe that the product is more powerful than it really is---“Gee, listen to how loud it is! And it’s only on 3!”

Where you end up setting your volume control is largely irrelevant and must account for a variety of factors---listening preference, speaker efficiency, room size, voltage passed by the source, volume control design, etal. Just relax and enjoy the sound.

Dialnorm
 

It's called Dialnorm, and unfortunately you get it on virtually all DD tracks. In order to balance the music, effects, and dialouge the average "loudness" is reduced during post production of the audio tracks, which is then interpreted by your DD decoder. Unfortunately this has the net result of often lowering the Surround track by several DB's. DTS tracks do not suffer from this and as a result the "louder" volume you experience from a DTS track often fools many people into thinking the DTS track is automatically better.

I've often wondered about this too. My Onkyo 595 goes up to around a 70-75 max setting for volume, and I usually end up watching my DVDs at around a 50 volume.

Re: Dialnorm
 

It's true that dialogue normalization does lower the overall soundtrack volume by about 4db on DD discs. However, both Avia and VE are Dialnorm encoded. If you use either of these tools in combination w/ a sound pressure meter to calibrate your levels the reference levels will still be correct. Yes, there will be a difference of about 4db between DTS and DD encoded discs and this difference will exist regardless of how you calibrate your system. If you calibrate for DTS, then you have to use a higher volume setting on your receiver for DD soundtracks; if you calibrate for DD, you have to use a lower volume setting for DTS discs.

My Yamaha receiver goes up to 80 and when watching DD movies going any higher than 10 is too loud. IMHO I have never found a DD soundtrack to be too quiet.

i get the same prob...i think its normal...