Hey guys.

I am new to this home theater stuff and recently just picked up a
Samsung 55'' LED TV along with a blu-ray player, Sony STRDH820 and 4 polk audio speakers, along with a poineer center piece and a polk audio subwoofer.

I've watched at least 4 movies on the TV already and the sound quality is fantastic! The only thing is it seems like the rear speakers don't play dialog and only the center and the fronts do? The rear speakers to me only play the background sounds like birds chriping, dinosaurs screaming, and such depending upon which movie I watch. Is there a way to get the rear speakers to come out with the same volume or is that just the way it is? When I play a video game on xbox live and everything the speaker volume all around me is the same as well as when i watch netflix or cable.

Here are my configured settings so far for my Sony STRDH820:

Surround sound: HD-D.C.S.
Effect level for HD-D.C.S. is set to Dynamic

That's pretty much it. My Blu-ray player is set about the same.

Is there any chance anyone with the same audio reciever can help me get the maximum home theater experience?

That's exactly the way surround sound i supposed to work. Most of the dialog is in the front center, with music and sounds that you would hear coming from in front of you coming from the front speakers, with some ambient noises coming from behind.

Can I ask why you have Polk speakers all the way around except for the center channel? All of your speakers should be from the same line, and a Polk center channel speaker is likely to be much better than a Pioneer speaker.

As Mr. Salty said, the sound seems to be working like it's supposed to be. Depending on the title and audio track, there might not even be any surround activity.

It's surprising how so many people think the same exact sound is supposed to come out of every single speaker at once. Alot of people have told me they dont think their surround is working properly because of the same ? the orig poster asked.

Did you run the test tone setup?

As was already pointed out "surround speakers" play ambient sounds or background to enhance the experience. The center channel is the one working the most and should arguably be not only matched to every other speaker but be the best one you have

If you do want to try hearing the same sound from all speakers, look for All Channel Stereo mode or something like that.

But surround sound is supposed to be designed to make the movie sound more realistic for that movie, to immerse you in the show. If there are people onscreen, they are in front of you, so their voices come from in front of you, iow, the center channel. The only time you should hear voices to the side or back is from characters offscreen, in those directions in the movie.

dynamic range

what you do is initially use test tones/ w-p noise to match the speaker levels

when your watching a movie though the volume is not suppose to be the same, the sound levels are mixed differently for the different soundtrack elements, surrond speakers usually have effects and bacground sounds and whatnot going thru em

most of your sound is coming from the front l r speakers and main dialogue from the center channel

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Based upon this previous thread: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/598...ack-lines.html

I think we should cut some slack for someone who legitimately seems new to home theater and is trying to learn.

I'll admit I do enjoy gratuitous surround use- many of the early 80s Dolby films were the best at that.

Any specific recommendations?