Sony HT-G700

ninjag

ninjag

ninjag

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18 Sep 2012
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Looking for some advice please. Initially I really liked this sound bar and I went for it specifically because it has a centre speaker for dialogue as well as a vocal enhance mode - my previous sound bar struggled with dialogue. However, I'm still finding dialogue a nightmare to hear clearly and whilst I appreciate films in particular can be bad for this, it's becoming a right pain turning the volume right up during dialogue and then frantically turning it back down when the action suddenly kicks in because it's far too loud. It's annoying that there's no control over the integrated centre speaker volume either.

I've read something about the crossover with the sub being high. I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I suspect it's talking about frequency and it's throwing dialogue frequencies to the sub, and thus the clarity is lost?

If I watch these films on my computer with my Sennheiser headphones the dialogue is fine, so there must be a solution for this with the TV. I'm losing faith with 3.1 sound bars and I'm wondering if separates would be a better path to take and will these guarantee me better dialogue? If so, I don't want to go crazy with the budget here. I've got some 5.1 speakers and a subwoofer from an older Panasonic DVD Theatre system that I could initially use and then start replacing these over time, so if separates would be the solution what would be a reasonable one to go for and can you adjust the centre speaker to enhance dialogue etc?

I was looking at the Yamaha RXV4a?
 
hornetstinger said:
Go seperates that will allow you set dialogue enhance feature in decent AVR's.

Don't use your panasonic HTIB speakers, they will be 4ohm, the subwoofer will be passive, and speakers frequency response catered to the HTIB unit

Crossover is what the speakers and subwoofer are set to. For example speakers with a frequency response of 80hz-20khz should be set to 80hz, small on a AVR. Subwoofer set to 120hz for the dolby spec, and bypassing the subwoofers own crossover if possible, or setting it to max so you don't get two subwoofer filters in the way.


You could look at something like this, a good budget but decent 5.1 speaker system with that yamaha a4a

www.av.com

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 5.1 Home Cinema luidspeakerpakket, koolstofvezel | AV.com

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 5.1 Home Cinema luidspeakerpakket, koolstofvezel | AV.com
www.av.com www.av.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Some of it has gone a little whoosh lol but I get the general idea about the speakers.

Those linked ones might be a little too big, I was hoping for something a touch more compact as my wife has already freaked out about going from a 50" to a 65" TV, so wiggle room for using more space is small. I'll need to look at what space I have with the TV table. On the plus side, our floors are back to the wood and I've got a hatch and tons of crawl space underneath, so wires can all be hidden under the floor.

Are there any decent speaker sets that are more compact that would be worth looking at?
 
Cheers. Is there also an element of Netflix being a bit crap with audio output? I'm far from an audiophile, but I also appreciate that decent sound can perhaps even be more important than picture quality. But I'm hesitant with delving into separates just in case it doesn't improve dialogue.
 
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I've went onto the PC and watched this particular movie again with the headphones and the dialogue is pretty poor, so that's probably not helped. It's Safe House and in some scenes I had to put subtitles on!

I reset the soundbar to start from scratch again and with the immersive setting on with vocal enhance the dialogue in some other stuff is a little better, but then when it cuts to a music or action scene it blasts out far too loud. What's annoying is that sometimes when I change a setting such as from Auto to PCM or some other setting that causes the soundbar to lose sound for a moment as it thinks about whatever, the audio will come on for a split second super clear, but then it will go all crap again - it's almost as if the Sony processing starts to take over and screws it up. I've tried "no effects" settings etc but nothing really gets there.

I'll pop in when I get a chance, unfortunately my branch is a pain to get to and isn't very big either, so I don't know how much will be on display. Am I asking too much to get sound quality clarity closer to headphones?
 
I was watching Rebel Moon last night and it was not all that bad, I've turned the subwoofer down to 7 (max is 12) which helps a little.

Strangely, YouTube stuff is very clear, but then there's no background music and effects. It feels like it can produce good quality audio, but multiple audio events at the same time overwhelms it.
 
hornetstinger said:
No issue with Rebel Moon, apart it being a lousy movie.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to admit I was trying very hard to like it. The production values seemed to keep shifting, some scenes would look horrifically fake yet other scenes look amazing. You could tell almost straight away the influence from the 300 director.
 
Been looking at the Denon AVR-S660H as well and specifically the dialogue enhancer feature, I think there's seven settings? But is it an actual dialogue enhance concentrating on the frequencies, or is it just a centre speaker volume increase? I think the Yamaha actually targets the frequencies?
 
Possible change in direction. Might look at a hi-fi amp and two good front speakers, the theory being I might be able to get better quality than trying to get a surround AV system at similar budget. Only downside would be losing volume control on the remote unless it has HDMI.

The search continues!
 
Is HT bypass where it will allow the hi-fi amp and stereo speakers will basically act like the front left and right speakers in an AVR setup?

I'm not sure I follow the optical DAC thing, I thought optical was just optical?
 
Ah I see, re. optical. It's starting to sound like a stereo amp with the required features is going to cost more than a reasonable AVR! lol

I'll keep researching away, I've a little more time now as I've noticed if I reduce the volume of the subwoofer to 3 (out of 12) it barely sends any of the dialogue to the sub, so they are a little more clear. But obviously I'm losing a lot of bass and perhaps depth. Very frustrating.
 
Yeah, I'm a little torn between what to do.

I popped into Richer Sounds where the idea of a stereo amp was put to me. He said that a stereo amp with two good speakers could be a better option as there is less compromising compared to a more complex AVR system at a similar budget. It does make sense.

However, I probably would not listen to music in that room, so it's really just for TV and films, but I'm also not massively bothered about having rear speakers and they would be sited low down by the sides of the couch, so I'm not sure just how effective they'd be anyway.

Dialogue is the key thing for me and whilst I was reassured that it would be crystal with a stereo setup, I can't seem to shake the need for a centre speaker. But of course headphones are only stereo and dialogue is perfect with them, so perhaps good stereo speakers will be fine?

From an aesthetic point of view, I would prefer just two speakers at the front, even if they are larger, rather than sides, centre, sub and potentially rears. I just need to know for sure that the dialogue quality will be there.

As for AVR, this seems like a decent package and the subwoofer has crossover adjustment, volume control etc.

www.richersounds.com

Denon AVR-S660H (Black) & Wharfedale DX-3 HCP (Black Oak)

Shop for Denon AVR-S660H (Black) AV Receiver & Wharfedale DX-3 HCP (Black Oak) 5.1 Speaker Package with Richer Sounds for expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed
www.richersounds.com www.richersounds.com


I'm still looking at stereo stuff.
 
Cheers, I don't think I'll end up with Atmos, certainly not in the living room due to the ceiling height and architecture. She would never be happy with it and I'd have to endure the moaning lol

I think I'm going to go for the AVR. I've noticed that lots of stuff I watch on Netflix says 5.1 so I may as well get to experience it properly.

I think the stereo amp path will be too expensive to get one that has optic and hdmi etc.

I'll have a look at the link later today thanks and also look at your suggestion.

Quick question please. If using that Denon with my external devices plugged directly into it, I take it my TV remote will still control them all? (Via eARC?). Also, if I'm watching Netflix etc through the TV apps, will the 5.1 etc still go to the AVR (again presumably though eARC)


Thanks again, I really do appreciate all your advice.
 
Cool, so it'll only be the AVR remote I end up using? I really want to get away from multiple remotes. I used to use a Harmony one, but I think they've stopped making them. It would confuse the parents and in-laws when they'd come over.
 
The current TV has all the inputs integrated in the TV menu, so I can control everything with one remote. I'm wondering if I just keep it all connected the way it is and only connect the eARC to the AVR (instead of the subwoofer) then that should still be fine and I'll simply have volume control with my TV remote, but for specific AVR setup and features I'll need to use the AVR remote?

There is some eARC setting on my TV that I have to disable other my little media unit keeps turning the TV back on.
 
Yeah, AVR is definitely the way forward now. I've been pondering starting with just two good from speakers and building up rather than compromising with a full surround set, presumably the AVR will operate in stereo mode and not try to throw audio to non-existent rears etc.

What's your thoughts on the Denon X1800H? It can be had for the same price as the AVR-S660H and perhaps gives me more future proofing?

That 9.1 HCP package looks very tempting and good value. What does the HCP stand for? I was also looking at Diamond 12.1 for the fronts and hoping they could handle enough bass and dialogue to keep me happy for a while before adding more speakers, or will this be overkill for me compared to that package?

I take it speakers don't come with cable then! lol

I've got a decent Blu-ray player, but audio and video streamers will probably be long into the video.


EDIT:


Some measurements if it helps:

Distance to TV and front speakers = 3m
Distance to potential left rear speaker = 2.5m
Distance to potential right rear speaker = 1.8m
 
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Which ones are floor standers as I've been avoiding looking at them due to the height will be too much as I've only got 600mm height to play with? The Diamond 12.1 (link) I was looking at are bookshelf type I'm sure? I would probably need quite short stands, say around 280mm?
 
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