shadowhawk2020

I have a Onkyo 6.1 receiver I was watching Return of the King and most of the quiet scenes are Way to quiet but in battle scenes it is perfect.
Any ideas on what could cause this? any seetings to check?

SoSpacey

Sounds like your "quiet" scenes may only involve dialog (center channel) where as the battle scenes play through your mains.

Is your center channel speaker timbre matched to your other speakers?

Did you calibrate your system?

I would first try and turn up the center channel.

Brian Shannon

What speakers are you using?

Check your test tones. Check your wiring, if the center is out of polarity with the mains this could cause the problem. Make sure that red is red and black is black on both the receiver end and the speaker end.

Check to make sure that you are using the right decode setting and that you are not using a "phantom" center channel mode.

shadowhawk2020

I am using Fluance speakers all around, they are budget speakers that were getting decent reviews an avsforum a few years ago.

I will have to check to make sure red is to red and black to black when I get home. I haven't recalibrated the system since I changed rooms but I will be doing that soon. I have tried turning the center channel up but no luck.

As far as decoding I put it on dts and put the dts 6.1 track on the dvd. When I change it off dts to "surround" it sounds better in dialogue but worse overall.

Brian Shannon

If the center channel is working and is not out of phase, it may be a settings issue. Start with something simple, just reegular dolby surround and see if that is correct. Then you can check dolby digital and dts.

If the center channel is not outputting the tones correctly of not making sound it may be damaged.

stevevt

The other possibility is that everything is fine, and movies have more dynamic range than the OP is used to -- or wants. If everything else checks out, you might want to try switching on the "midnight" or similarly named mode on your receiver or DVD player.

shadowhawk2020

I am going to try a different movie and see if that helps. I have seen LOTR trilogy using this equipment before, and haven't had this problem. If dynamic range includes not being able to hear quiet scenes then no I don't want it

The center sounds strong in test mode, Dolby surround does sound good up front but of course overall not as great.

Spiky

It can depend on the movie. LOTR are fairly loud, so if you have it set with the loud parts at a normal volume, you may find the quiet moments too quiet. DTS is more well-rounded on these discs, though, the Dolby would be even worse.