Help please! Stereo speakers and movies= action scenes too loud

ferret face

ferret face

ferret face

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Hi guys

Wonder if someone can help please.

I have my plasma tv hooked up to a stereo amp via a DAC and two floor standing speakers.

When I watch action films, the action is too loud when compared to the talking parts. Its not a massive difference but I do find myself turning the volume down sometimes so not to wake the neighbours when an explosion goes off in a movie.

I have this all connected through optical via a DAC then out to the speakers.
I run Media player classic and Vlan to watch most films and they both have various filters etc that I could play with but I frankly havent a clue.

Can anyone help?

Cheers Ferret

:)

Kit:

Panasonic 42 plasma
Cambridge audio azur 540A amp
Beresford DAC
2x Monitor Audio Bronze Floorstanders
Toslink optical cables
 
Not sure what you mean by these (sorry I'm new to this).

I can't see any buttons on the DAC, so doesn't look like I can change the dynamic range. I have an optical cable going into the DAC from my pc, which the DAC then converts to analog and goes out via coax to the AMP.

Ferret
 
media player classic > View > options > audio switcher > tick normalizer

It does sound a bit crap but the voices are the same as the action now. I use this all the time and it doesnt sound that bad, better than not hearing the talking then my windows getting blown out by the action scenes!
 
Its not only a problem with Stereo. My Onkyo 507, 3.1 setup had the same problem when playing back bit-streamed content (and PS3 PCM-decoded HD Audio). The "Dynamic Range" option assisted greatly in reducing this.
 
Ok guys

I tried the normalizer last night while watching Troy and it did indeed keep the volume down but the fight scenes seemed a bit muted (if that makes sense). It wasn't terrible but you could tell when the normalizer kicked in.


I may try messing with an equaliser tonight and see if i can reduce the bass, or I suppose I could just turn it down on the amp.

Is it just me or does it seem a bit daft that you have to do this? Shouldn't the sound just work properly over stereo?


If you have any other suggestion then please let me know.

Ferret
 
Well actions scenes are loud, they're supposed to be as there is usually lots of 'action ' in them!! ;)

Some AV amps have a dynamic volume feature that IMO, like you've discovered, take something away from the overall experience.

It's worth just checking that your system is set up so that the sound that would usually come from the centre channel is being split between the L and R channels, otherwise you would loose a lot of volume on the speech.
 
ferret face said:
Is it just me or does it seem a bit daft that you have to do this? Shouldn't the sound just work properly over stereo?
Click to expand...


I would have thought so. But thinking about it films are probably made for use with a centre speaker for the voices and surround speakers for everthing else
 
Films, especially action ones, can have very dynamic soundtracks. They're meant to sound that way. I mean in real life you wouldn't expect a bomb going off to be the same volume as you talking to your mate would you?

But that's what DRC is for :) I think for DVD watching etc there's usually an option to turn it on or off. A lot of TVs now have the option to volume level as well. Mainly due to adverts being so bloody loud in comparison to programmes.
 
^ If that were the case then talking should be, well, normal talking volume that you can hear. A bomb going off next to you should make you deaf. Maybe something for new cinemas to think about. Make it ultra realistic so everyone leaves deaf!
 
Give the centre channel a few db boost in ac3filter before downmixing to stereo and sending it out, what i used to do with 2.0 and works a treat.
 
ok thanks for the suggestions guys.

I gotta admit i like the loudness of action scenes, but the neighbours think theres a war going on in my room.( i live in a flat)

I'll try and have a look at my setup again later following some of the tips here.

Cheers
 
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