dimanata2007

Question: I know that Audyssey is checking and adjusting a bunch of different parameters, but besides the difference between the manufacturers specs and the way the speaker perform in my room with the rest of the equipment is there another explanation why my surrounds SS-1 that speced at 60-20k Hz are crossed at 150Hz by Audyssey? If I recall correctly MCACC was crossing the same speakers at 80Hz. And looks like unless switch to manual there is no way to lower the Xo point and I know that it's not advised.

Thanks. My Pioneer was 10 years old and even back then it was a lower-mid level AVR. I believe the X2400 is a higher level model and certainly has more options and settings. I'm not done with settings and adjustments and will continue experimenting with different sound modes. Codec combination wise, I kept my Pioneer in I believe it called "Standart" mode that would pick the highest available on the disc audio format like Dolby True HD or DTS Master and I think I found the mode that ding the same on the Denon. Actually the Denon has 3 such modes: Direct, Pure Direct and Auto Direct. The rest of the movie modes sound too artificial and unrealistic imo. I need to get two small speakers for Atmos channels and then I'll be set up for Doldy Atmos.

I'm not saying it's bad, but since I don't watch movies at low volumes, well, I'm not cranking it to the max either, I didn't hear much difference between dynamic EQ On and Off. I'm still experimenting and might turn it On again. Imo turning off Dynamic Volume, Cinema EQ, Loudness Management, and Dynamic compression significantly improved the sound and made it fuller and much more realistic. I've watched Geostorm yesterday and with those settings ON a very specific and easily recognizable Gerard Butler's voice and his Scottish accent were anything but his. A taxi door closing sounded like a vault door and explosions and gunshots sounded way too unrealistic. I watched some episodes 4-5 times before I found a proper setting.

Just for the history, I turned everything off and spend a few hrs yesterday playing with different settings. At the end, I left Audyssey ON: MultEQ On Reference Level Dynamic EQ ON Dynamic Volume Off Dialog Level Adjust +1dB Sub Level Adjust -6dB Cinema EQ Off Loudness Management Off Dynamic compression Off The manual EQ, I turned Audyssey off and lowered the Xo for the surrounds to 80Hz and kept all other settings as is, sounds a bit harsh and less realistic in some situations, but anyway, turning off most of the "audio nannies" dramatically improved the sound and I think even raised the loudness a bit. Now I need a pair of small speakers and I'll be ready for Atmos.

Looks like Audyssey has over smarted me as well. I turned everything off and spend a few hrs yesterday playing with different settings. At the end, I left Audyssey ON: MultEQ On Reference Level Dynamic EQ Off Dynamic Volume Off Dialog Level Adjust +2dB Sub Level Adjust -3dB Cinema EQ Off Loudness Management Off Dynamic compression Off The manual EQ, I turned Audyssey off and lowered the Xo for the surrounds to 80Hz and kept all other settings as is, sounds a bit harsh and less realistic in some situations, but anyway, turning off most of the "audio nannies" dramatically improved the sound.

Yeap, they caught my attention cuz they are pretty cheap (I've seen used pairs in great condition for $100) and match my other speakers. I haven't seen any cheap dedicated "Atmos" speakers and paying $300-400 for a pair of R-14SA or RP-140SA is "a bit" more than I can afford.

Do you think the R-14M would perform good enough as height speakers? I'm looking to add 2 down firing Atmos speakers and size and budget wise the R-14M look like a good choice. I'm planning to put them above my fronts and angle them down toward the MLP.

I don't know about Onkyo, but Denon receivers display "Dolby Atmos" when decoding Atmos.

Any tips on what to turn on/off when Audyssey is off? I've switched Audyssey off yesterday and most of the options got grayed out, I think only Cinema EQ and something else stayed ON.

I'm a newbie and probably not a real audiophile, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I know that everyone suggests to cross frequency at 80Hz or above for all speakers no matter how capable they are and that lowers the load on the amp and smooths the sound and ppl with much more capable and sophisticated systems are following this rule and I'm sure those systems sound absolutely fantastic. However, imo my old set up sounded fuller and more natural when fronts and center were set to full and my sub was set to sub+ . I couldn't set crossover for fronts, center and surrounds separately with my Pioneer, so I got a Denon. Audyssey set my fronts to Full (I changed it to Small and crossed them at 40 Hz), center to small 60Hz and surrounds to small 150Hz (that's seems too high to me, but I haven't changed it yet) and the set up sounds better, more natural vs when I'v tried to cross all speakers at 80Hz. Again, take my opinion with caution, but if I were you, I would try to set your fronts as Full and set the Sub as "Sub+" and cross the center and surrounds at 100Hz, since you can't go 80Hz.

ok, let's say I would turn off Audyssey MultEQ. Would you recommend to keep speaker levels where Audyssey set them up or not? Imo Audyssey sounds pretty good, I haven't decided yet if I like the Denon's/Audyssey sound better than the Pioneer/MCACC and prefer the easiest way to calibrate my set up. I'm ok with minor adjustments and turning On and OFF certain things, but I doubt I'll be able to calibrate the system "from the scratch" on my own. Sorry if it's dumb question. The X2400 has Audyssey MultEQ XT and shows MulEQ XT on the screen while Audyssey set up is running, but after the calibration is completed it shows an option to turn on (or not) MultEQ and shows MultEQ(no XT part) in Audyssey set up section. Is it just a way how Denon set it up or missing "XT" part means that somehow MultEQ XT is deactivated and MultEQ is in use?

I'm not good with dB and was referring to the volume level shown on the display of the Denon and Pioneer. The Denon volume goes from 0 to 98, Pioneer's from 0 to 90. According to the specs the Denon should be louder, however in reality it's not. I found the option in the menu to increase the Source Level and increased to +6dB (it goes from 0 to +12 dB) and it helped some, but not much.

ok. We are back in business. Surprisingly (or not) my new calibration results are identical to the first and second one except the subwoofer and crossover point for surrounds Front left -6, Front right -4.5 set as Full (I changed it to small, crossed at 40Hz)Center -8 set as Small crossed at 60HzSub -7.5 (was set at 1/4 of volume during the calibration)Surr left -3.5, Surr right -5 set as Small crossed at 150Hz (used to be 120 Hz) LPF of LFE 120HzMultEQ On Reference -5dBDynamic EQ ONDynamic Volume OFFCinema EQ ON

It sounded like a non stop cracking noise and did'n sound like an input or channel switch clicks. According to Denon support it sounded like the microprocessor had some issues and they advised to ran a hard reset. Unfortunately the reset didn't help, so I've exchanged the unit and the new one makes no such noise, it's absolutely quiet between test tones.

Zen Traveler, thanks for the reply. I'll go through it later when I get a new receiver. I spoke to Denon support and they said that my Audyssey "cracking noise" most likely is related to a defective microprocessor. After the hard reset the frequency and loudness of the noise has changed, but it still present, so I'm exchanging the receiver.

I've seen your thread, but I'm completely new to Audyssey and not good with dB, so I can't contribute anything to conversation. Imo the Audyssey is very easy to run and after dropping the surrounds level I like the sound, the only issue that the overall loudness level is low. I posted my concerns here in my old thread about calibration and since I've been helped in the past, I hope to get a few answers and opinions this time as well.

I don't see any fresh threads about Audyssey calibration and instead of a new one, I decided to continue my old thread. I got a new Denon X2400H a few days ago and have a few issues and concerns abot the AVR and Audyssey. When I'm running Audyssey I hear weird light cracking sound, like an electrical noise, but it sounds more like cracking, not humming, coming from all speakers simultaneously, except the sub . The noise is audible only when the setup is paused, so you can move the microphone. When the mic is set and I press "next" the noise stops and the test tone starts, and as soon as the test tone stops, the noise starts again. I reran the Audyssey yesterday again, this time with a tripod and absolute silence and herd the same noise again... Is it possible banana plugs (Mediadbridge 24K gold plated) that I used for the Denon are causing some interference with Audyssey test signal? My first and yesterday's runs set speaker levels and distances absolutely identically: Front (RF-82II) -Large Full range (I crossed it at 40Hz) Center RC-62II) -Small crossed at 60Hz Surrounds (SS-1) -Small crossed at 120Hz Audyssey set Speaker level: Front Left -6.5dB Right -4.5dB Center -8dB Surround Left -3.5 Right -5dB Sub -12dB MultEQ- On Dynamic EQ -ON Dynamic Volume-ON I watched a few movies and different episodes and had to lower the surround level to Left -5dB Right -6.5dB, cuz they were way to loud and intrusive. Besides that I haven't changed anything yet. The second issue I have is the Denon's very low loudness level. My Pioneer has a 250W power supply and 80 Watt per channel rated at 20-20K Hz, and has a maximum volume level displayed on the display of 90 points. The Denon has a 500W power supply and rated at 95 WPC at 20-20Kz and has maximum volume level of 98 points. I don't like really loud sounds and my Pioneer volume in HT mode usually stayed between 33 and 38 points or 12-15 points less than the halve of the maximum. In order to get to the same level of the audible loudness, I have to turn the Deon's volume to 45-50 and even 50+ points or halve of the maximum. I don't know if this is the correct assumption, but I'm assuming that since the Denon should be louder, the volume points should be noticeably lower than the half of its maximum volume. One more concern. No mater for how long my Pioneer was on in HT mode and even in stereo mode running at 3/4 of the maximum loudness for a few hours its top never got hot to the touch. The Denon is getting much hotter only after a few hours of running at halve of the maximum volume. Does it means the Pioneer has more efficient and better designed power supply and power board? I was under impression that since the Pioneer is an entry level AVR and the Denon is a mid level, the Denon should be better designed and built. Any opinions, especially form Denon owners are welcome. Thanks.

I rerun Audyssey yesterday again and the had the same noise. No errors, everything went smooth, but the noise is clearly present...

I wouldn't describe it as clicking. The noise is something like constant light knuckle cracking and again the noise is audible only when "move the microphone to the next position" or something like that is shown on the screen and the set up in the "pause" mode and was coming at the same level from all speakers. As soon as I hit "next" the knuckle cracking noise stops and test tone starts. The sub was set as 1/2 of volume per on screen setting guide. The calibration went through with no errors, but that noise is bugging me. I'll try to rerun Audyssey with no sub. I got Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume, but can't find anything about knuckle cracking noise.

I was searching for Audyssey cracking and Audyssey noise and never seen that thread for some reason. I went through but haven't found what I'm looking for, so I guess I need to go through FAQ and 5K comments... edit: can someone just tell me why I'm hearing cracking or post a link?

Yes, my first mic position was the main listening position, exactly where it should be according to on screen guidance. don't remember if my Dynamic volume is on or of. I watched something after the set up and heard no "cracking", the noise appears only during the set up. I'll try to rerun Audyssey again I guess.

I got my Denon X2400H yesterday and tried to run Audessey yesterday for the first time. I never dealt with Audyssey before and can't find anything online about it. During the set up my speakers were emitting light cracking noise that would stop as soon as the est tone starts. The noise was present only when the setup was paused between changing the mic locations. Is it normal? Another thing, after I ran the Audyssey the overall loudness went down, any way to bump it up?

But Denon has a 500W power supply vs Pioneer's 250W??? Maybe the lawyer in you can help us all to make same $$$ and get proper equipment?

Luxman is gone. I needed HT receiver and unfortunately Luxman had only 2 channels and no HDMI.

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