"Tiny" sound
January 14, 2008
I have recently decided to replace my aging (15-year-old)
Pioneer receiver and my set of old JBL bookshelf speakers with the goal of creating a
home-theater system. I bought a Yamaha 5950 receiver, four Energy RC Minis and inherited a
Polk Audio CSi3 center-channel speaker. I also have the Energy 10.3 subwoofer. I play DVDs
and CDs from my Toshiba DVD player, which is connected via coax to my receiver. My speaker
cables are 14-gauge and my speakers are connected via banana plugs.
I really enjoy the sound of this setup for movies, but I
find it to be far from great for listening to music. I find myself disappointed when
listening to music and feel that the sound is very tiny. I have checked all my wiring and
I run my receiver in two-channel stereo mode when listening to music, but still the sound
seems small to me. I personally believe that the receiver is to blame and I am thinking of
getting a simple amplifier that I use solely for music. Do you have any advice on things I
can try to get some nice sound? I listen to many types of music.
Tony
I suspect your problem lies in the receiver settings.
Tiny sound is many times a function of having speakers that can’t produce enough bass
to fill out the soundstage. The first thing I would do if I were you is to confirm that
the subwoofer is turned on in stereo mode. Many times the default will be simple 2.0 when
what you are looking for is 2.1. If that is done the second place to look is the subwoofer
crossover. If it is set too low there will be a narrow frequency band that is just not
getting reproduced properly. A good place to start with your sub’s low-pass
crossover, which speakers the size of the Minis, is around 100Hz. You’ll have to
level-match the sub with the speakers, which is also critical, then you can tweak that
100Hz setting up a bit or down a bit until you have everything sounding nice and full.
Tradeoffs with Oppo?
January 4, 2008
Thanks for the breath of fresh air. The Internet is filled
with misinformation about digital technology and associated high-end products: $5000 CD
players that (somehow) "illuminate" the fine details of the music better than,
say, a mere $3000 CD player, and on and on.
Rational consumers need a no-nonsense approach to the
technology, which as you say is in constant flux. What are the tradeoffs, if any, in
purchasing an Oppo DV-980H that plays pretty much everything, and an
"audiophile" CD player that's supposed to play CDs spectacularly well, for ten
times the cost?
John Grant
You've hit on a very important, but often overlooked
fact: Many times more money doesn't buy more performance. The same side of that coin is
that sometimes more money buys a tiny bit more performance, but the law of diminishing
returns sets in and you have to ask yourself whether it is really worth it to pay ten
times as much for a relatively small improvement. The Oppo is an excellent player, and
although it can be bettered by sending lots more money, in most cases that money would be
better spent in other areas, like better speakers.
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