When all else fails, RTFM!
Even if you could rep us, you'd have to give mine to Scaff - he did all the work. I was just along for the ride.
Edit: It's no fun if everything works right out of the gate. You don't learn anything that way!
Yeah, I was trying to read only the things I thought would matter the most, but this thing forced me to read almost everything in it.
I'm officially now a wise man.
But you're totally right, it sure felt awesome when it "clicked", surely much more rewarding than if everything turned out perfect right off the bat.
Good to hear that you got to the bottom of it all; and as TB said its no fun if it all work straight away.
Now take time over the next few days to adjust the speaker & sub levels with a range of sources. Try to get a good all round sound field, with the rears balancing the fronts, but make sure that dialogue from the centre speaker is clear and audible. Be careful with the sub levels as well, its tempting at first to max out the bass, always keep in mind that the sub it supposed to complement the rest of the set-up, not dominate it.
You will now spend weeks/months fine tuning and tweaking every aspect of it (and then you get to the nasty part and start wanting to spend more money on more/better/fun bits.
Take me for example, I use the PS3 to upscale DVDs, but the wife and kids not like using the PS3 for that, so they've been using an old Sony DVD recorder, but its all standard def, one shopping trip later and I now have a Toshiba SD-370E DVD scaler, its cheap but well rated and more importantly a new bit of kit to play with.
Now Beerz go and play lots of games, watch lots of DVDs and let us know how it sounds and what you think (and get some pictures sorted).
👍
Scaff
I already have a plan for tonight: buying speaker stands.
I'll just buy the 2 for the rear surround speakers, because as they are now, the couch's sides block their sound partially and muffles their sound. As I have installed the 2 front speakers on the furniture, they're at a decent height and can wait for next month to get their own stands.
Also, I'm going to buy one for the central speaker, so it has better support on top of the TV and I can adjust it so it 'shoots' directly at me.
The center speaker already sounds awesome, crystal clear and perfectly defined sound, so I don't think I'll be messing with it now. As for the subwoofer, I'll start fiddling with it in a few days when I get used to the sound, so I can judge properly if changes I do are improvements or not. 👍
*now I skip the part where you mentioned spending more money... * 
I've ran 2 DVD's (Alien Vs Predator & Ghost Ship)through it to see how they sounded, and so far I'm extremely pleased. I'll keep on playing DVD's so I can get more out of them and improve my general perception of the surround sound.
Speaking of which, 'Ghost Ship' has an amazingly good sound on this system, far beyond my expectations. All the echoes, metallic sounds and whatnot, seemed to me perfectly defined on each speaker and positioned me on the center of the action. Highly recommended on that aspect.
As for games, I only have 2 PS3 games (CoD4 & Resistance), so I'll try to play a little of the latter tonight, see how it sounds.
Don't know if GT5P's demo has 5.1 compatibility, will check and also give it a try if it does.
I'm still looking desperately for the CD with the software to upload my phone pics to the PC. It's one of those small discs, so it's bound to be in between something I'm not remembering.
If I don't get pics soon, you guys will probably start wondering if this is all BS...
Congrats beerz! And respect to Scaff for helping ya out so much. We all struggle with the initial setup the 1st time through and have to consult the manual. Obviously it is pretty wise to keep the hard copy in a safe place, probably not a bad idea to have the pdf copy somewhere handy as well.
Scaff - I don't know, just thinking out loud here, but if the mic and auto calibration routine are pretty solid on this unit, I'd recommend not fiddling with the individual channel levels by ear. The human ear is so subjective that it might be too easy to unbalance things. However it probably makes sense to adj slightly the center channel if things are clear, then again some source material (dvd & BR movies especially) are just mastered with relatively low center channel levels.
Then again there's no doubt beerz is the one who needs to be happy with it and should adjust to his tastes, but initially I would suggest leaving things at the auto calb levels (once again unless the Onkyo is known to be subpar at this) for at least a couple of weeks. This way beerz your ears will slowly get used to 5.1 sound, which is a big difference, and you'll be less likely to over correct something. Also your speakers will need some time to break themselves in (I don't think this has been touched on yet). Scaff knows these speakers better, so I would defer to his opinion, but usually 100 hours or so is sufficient. Personally the technique I used was to play music through them while I was at work for about 10 days. It is a good idea when doing this to keep things at moderate levels for the break in period though, definitely hold off on pushing them too hard. Also it would be a good idea to utilize the receiver's "sound field" technology (looks like the specific one to look for here is "all channel stereo") to force output to all speakers.
Anyhoo... just some thoughts. Enjoy!!
Thanks a lot, buddy.
And you're right, Scaff basically did it all, I just paid for the stuff.
Seriously, I ended up buying at least one of each he suggested (mostly because many of the items also suggested by either him and other willing to help members just either weren't available here or were priced too high to be considered). When I say "priced too high", you must read
robbery.
I already have the PDF, and the manual itself is safely stored amongst all the manuals and warranty info for every single thing I buy.
Great advices you gave me there, I had absolutely no idea (like the nOOb I am) that the speakers needed some breaking in.
Anyway, I still haven't gone beyond 45 on the volume (max is 79). I'm just enjoying the overall feel and quality from these speakers. They do sound slightly "stiffer" than the ones I heard on the store while trying out along with the KEF's, guess they'll improve over time. They still don't get the midtones quite as well as the ones I tried out, so I'll give them some time to settle down and do their job perfectly.
In case you're wondering, i do have a good ear. Been playing guitar for almost 20 years now and getting the chords and arrangements (sp?) out of the CD's I own, so I notice small things.
And I've been trying to use as many "sound modes" as possible so far. 👍
On the subject of mic & auto-calibration, they are a great tool for a starting point. Well worth using and then making a note of the settings it uses. That then gives you a 'standard reference point', for that any tweaking is quite safe, as you always have these default settings to go back to. In my experience mics and auto-calibration tools tend to under set the rear and centre speakers, the vast majority also don't set the sub, so that one will always have to be done by ear.
I quite agree on the whole breaking speakers in, as a norm Wharfedales can sound a little hard and tight for the first 70 - 100 hours, so icelt is quite right that the sounds will change over time.
One very important factor here is that not all films are well mastered for 5.1, in fact some are bloody appalling. Some of the best films for good sound (and therefore very good for checking speaker levels are:
Spiderman 3 - the creation of sandman (excellent for checking sub set-up) and the crane scene in particular
300 - The sound recording for the entire film is excellent and one of my main set-up discs. One scene in particular is chapter 12 which has some excellent point sound placement - the 'whip crack' in particular should be quite clear behind you - this will also expose any empty spot in your back two speakers.
Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith, the opening space battle is again a film with stunning sound placement, if your set-up is right you again should be able to place individual sounds around you.
Regards
Scaff
Thanks, Scaff.
I was already thinking of getting '300', so I know it'll be great now with this system.
As for Star Wars, I want to buy the collectable pack, but it's way too expensive right noe. But I saw all of them at the theater and loved them, as I love the 4th, 5th and 6th Episode.
Once again, thank you very much for all the help you gave me on this.
Just got 2 of my favourite (favorite?) CD's on the PS3 through these speakers, and each one of them blew me away.
Alien Trilogy (performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) - breathtaking. Some parts are just too beautiful to describe in words, hearing every instrument individually, as if you were standing right there while they were recording it.
Stone Temple Pilots - Core - Wow, what can I say? One of the best CD's ever recorded meets speaers that makie it sound as it was meant. Lots of different tones and moods, every single one of them sounding crystal clear and with 'soul'. #7 track 'Creep' & #9 - 'Plush' - being some of all my all-time favorite songs, sounding more realistic and deeper than ever. 👍
Some other stuff I noticed:
On Call of Duty 4: Weapons ound different. The G3, which I use quite often, sound a lot stronger with these;
Airstrikes: Totally different from what I was used to - it's like they're actually going over you;
Children (or like-minded) and overall stupid people - Since these are playd mainly through the center speaker, they're even more annoying than before. Can't wait for the new patch with the 'Quick Mute' function.
CD's - Ooverall, the instruments being played sound more 'accurate' and real to themselves.
DVD's - It's like watching the movies all over again. Every sound effect becomes epic and the overall feeling feeling increases, making the movies fell much morelike going to a theater.
Of course,, I have many more to see, but so far this receiver and speakers seem like an awesome combo of power and sound quality, along with long-term hardware.
)
). Go back and play the single player campaign and I think you'll gain a whole new appreciation for chaos on the battle field. Man the audio in this game rocks!!
