Suggestions for better voice in streaming tv

[Confused Vorlon]

Hi,

I'm not an expert on cinema/hifi, so would really appreciate some guidance.
I'm finding it increasingly hard to make out dialogue when watching shows (mostly Netflix, Prime, etc). It could just be the source material (really struggling with The Witcher at the moment) - or it could be that my audio system is sub-par

Current setup is 5 * Boston Soundware XS, Satellite SE with a Boston Subwoofer
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V675

Speakers are mounted high on the walls.
Constraints are that the centre speaker is mounted in front of my pull-down projector screen - so has to be short, and I don't want very bulky speakers elsewhere.
I could have somewhat larger speakers, or ceiling mounted ones.

The TV area is about 3m * 3m within a larger open-plan kitchen living room
I use a Mac Mini for the source (output over hdmi)

My goal is to improve clarity so that I can make out voices better.
Do you have any suggestions on where I should be focussing without spending massive sums?

New Centre speaker (something like the Polk Audio S23CE ?)
New Receiver (something like the Denon AVRX2600H ?)
Something else??

What is likely to give me the most improvement?
Any suggestions gratefully received

 

[Confused Vorlon]

Hearing aids? Your probably loosing your midrange hearing which is basically speech on the TV...

I'm sure that day will come, but I'm not going there yet!

 

[Confused Vorlon]

Hi @lucid
firstly - thanks for taking so much time to respond. I really appreciate it.

I hope you won't mind me following up section by section as I figure my way through them.

Firstly - a little more detail. The left and right speakers are about 11" from the ceiling. The Centre speaker is only 2" from the celling.
The back wall is another 2m back from the 'movie area' - and one side is open to the dining area.

I understand the physics re reflection and diffusion/absorption - but I'm not clear how you achieve this. I searched online for speaker diffusers, but all I get is aromatic oil diffusers! Is there a set of products/devices to buy, or do you re-purpose other materials?

The room is also our main living room, so I can't do anything too dramatic - but slight changes around the area of the speakers that were not too visually dramatic would be fine.

 

[Confused Vorlon]

@lucid - looking at speakers.

The Radius 225 looks like a good option. It's slightly taller than my projector box - but not by much, so should fit in fine at ceiling level.
The KEF E310C is just a little deeper, so I'd probably go for the Radius

Do you know about the Polk Signature S35E? - just on size, that would be marginally better than the Radius at about the same price, though Polk reviews generally seem less good than Monitor Audio.

Finally - I'll have a play with the Yamaha settings and see if I can make a difference there.

thanks for your input.

 

[Confused Vorlon]

Thanks for all the great advice - I feel like there is a deep rabbit hole here and I'm just starting to peer into it

Great to read the perspective from historical approaches.
There seems to be something of a comparison with cars here - Not much in the way of Ford 150 over here, not much in the way of Golf mk5 over there!

I'll get the MA 225

Now I'm off to read about diffusers and how to use them.

Thank you and Merry Christmas