Loudly Does It

Checking in from South Florida. Not really worried about the wind. The eye is moving to our west and this is a newer home built to withstand cat. 5 winds, but you never know about the flooding, so I had to take action to protect my babies. I disconnected everything.

After I recalibrated my tv and properly set up the audio and some sound panels, I watched this entire franchise and it was like watching a new movie. There is so much detail that you mis when your equipment isn't set up properly. The forest battle scene is another great scene but that one is from Revenge of the Fallen.

Yes. They need to come down. Where you put the cardboard cutout is a good place to experiment with but like Robo said, try them and then move them a little. Generally 90-110 degrees from the listening position. Generally it's recommended they be 2-3 ft above your ears when sitting. Not bashing Bose because this is a Klipsch forum, because there are many people here who mix in other brands with Klipsch, but Bose is generally not regarded very highly by the audiophile community. If you like them great, but around here or places like AVSforum, they'll tell you Bose stands for Buy Other Sound Equipment. They give you a lot of highs but not much mids. Plus they're designed to work with Bose only equipment and a strong A/V receiver can fry them.

Sit in the main listening position and have someone walk along the side walls with a mirror. Where you see the speaker from your listening position is your first reflection points. You also have one behind you. For me the rear one was the biggest one. I made a two inch panel insulation panel and the difference was night and day. I also have about 8 to 12 inches between the couch and wall. It depends on how much the kids are feeling rambunctious. Just from the main menu of a few movies I put on the test things out, I was hearing things, I never heard again. I added one side panel, because the second side panel would be where my stair banisters are. They act as a difusor.

Your best bet is to follow the Dolby specs as closely as possible to get the best sound. Proper placement is important and Robo has some good tips. If you can't move your couch off the wall, you might want to consider just staying with a 5.1 or 5.2 system. I have my couch about a foot off the back wall. I tried a sixth channel behind the couch but I didn't like it to much. I prefer the 5.1 but setting it up properly and adding some sound dampening material to catch the first reflection points made my system sound exponentially better.

I have to agree with Bill. She got all those things and she's still giving you shit about the speakers? Marriage is about compromise. It's not her house, it's both your house.

This is your best option. Put those things up on your local Craigslist page and get rid of them. They just can't produce all the frequencies and detail needed and you risk blowing the crap out of those things.

If you're happy with it, that should be enough. IMHO! Before dropping money on another amp, how is your listening environment? Room acoustics have a big effect on your system. I thought my system wasn't "loud" enough either. I have a Pioneer Elite receiver. I did some research and asked around here and after some recommendations, I set up a few panels to catch my first reflections, ran MCAAC again and the difference was like night and day. I just added some felt pads under my center and mains, I have tile floors and the center sits on a mahogany table, and while the audio didn't get any clearer this time, I am hearing so much more detail than even before. I experimented with a few scenes from the Transformers movies and they sound like different movies now. Not trying to talk you out of buying an amp. if that's what you want. I get it, a man has to have his toys, but if money might be a concern, there are cheaper alternatives.

I have to agree with Robo on this. He gave me similar advice and catching those first reflection points will do wonders, especially if you're in a room with lots of hard surfaces. Just catching the rear reflection saw a big improvement in my case. Cleared up the audio a little and I could hear more background noises too. Another thing to do is move the center channel right up to the edge of the table. From this angle it looks like it might not be and that can also hurt your audio quality. Something I also did was buy the cheap felt pads at Home Depot and put one under each corner of my center channel. It's an RC-7 that sits on a mahogany table I built. It didn't clear up the audio, but I was hearing so much more background sounds. They're like 2-3 dollars. You can try those without the cloth and see if that helps you. I did it for my towers too, but I have tile floors, you have carpet, so I don't think it will do anything for your towers.

You're not going to screw it up and if you do you can reset it and start over. Here's a good place to start. It gives you step by step instructions for MCACC. http://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-receivers-amps-processors/1112470-official-pioneer-mcacc-thread.html Don't tape it to your forehead. I took a furring strip, made an "L" with it and tape the microphone to the horizontal portion at ear level and wrap the vertical part with a towel and wedge it between the sections of my sectional. I have a tiled room where I have my set up too. You won't be able to eliminate it all, but you can do a lot and get decent sound. I have an area rug but because of the way the room is set up the area to walk through is where the first reflection point hits the tile. I have panels catching the rear reflections and side ones and that gave me a noticeable improvement. Helped with clarity and a lot of the background detail. I just put some small round felt pads from Home Depot, under the RC-7 center channel since it's on a mahogany table and under the RF-5 towers and it didn't improve audio clarity but I'm hearing a lot more detail. I watched parts of the second and third Transformers movies and I was hearing details I never heard before.

You're right, good point. I was going to get something small like a half inch to screw it all the way in and avoid that, but the rubber feet are so small, that I still risk it with your average machine bolt.

I was fumbling around with placement and angling and noticed that it did not have the leveling screw. I guess i didn't notice it, when I bought. I got it used. Does anyone know which size screw it is? Extremely unlikely I'm going to raise it and then point it down but since the screw does go all the way through and I feel the inside plush material when I poked something through it, I want to at least put a screw in and close it off. I don't want any air not designed to escape escape through there, even if the effects are minimal. I just don't want to go to Home Depot, buy several sizes and then have to return them. It appears to be fine thread, but don't know the size. Thanks.

Amos recommends 8-14' ceilings for proper effect. Like others have said, give it a shot and see if you like it. I have not looked into Atmos much because I have 20' ceilings, so they're pointless and I need to upgrade the receiver, which I can't right now. Having said that, I've done some reading, where the speakers that bounce off the roof leave a lot to be desired. if it's a one story house, do you have attic access where you can crawl and install them in the ceiling? The way you're describing the ceiling, you might have trouble getting a good sound to bounce off the ceiling.

How far off the wall are you moving the couch? Generally you need to have about 4-5 ft of clearance behind the couch for rear surrounds to be effective.

I had the same issue just the other day. Listening to movies everything was fine, but listening to music, it sounded like the music was only coming from the left speaker. I toed out the left speaker a little as it seemed to be pointing directly at me where the right one was and now it's a little better. I sounds more like the music is just coming directly from the front, without leaning in a particular direction. I'm going to experiment more this weekend. I'm going to experiment more this weekend and see if I toe them out a little more, if makes the the sound appear "wider" and then experiment with a movie to make sure it doesn't affect the quality of the sound either.

I have the Quintets II. I use them for rears now since I upgraded my fronts to RF-5 and RC-7 center. A few years back one of my kids ran into the wall that was holding the shelf and the quintent fell six feet. What ended up breaking was the little bracket inside that held the woofer in place. The speaker continued to work and does so to this day. They are hard speakers to break. If you can't get it to work, open it up and check the connections. I got my RF-5's dirt cheap because the tweeter wouldn't work on either one. The seller was moving cross country, they hadn't been used in a while and wanted them gone in an estate sale. I got home opened them up and the connection was loose. I clamped it properly and have been enjoying those RF5's for almost 5 years now.

Your receiver is supposed to put out 5.1 discrete audio and 7.1 stereo signal. Optical will carry 5.1. Is it not doing it for every show? Some shows might not be transmitted in 5.1.

I was going to suggest the room may be factoring into it. If it's a room with a lot of reflective surfaces, the MCACC will overcompensate and give you really high and/or harsh highs. Placement of the microphone also factors into it. I was placing my microphone lower than my ears and was catching reflections off the leather couch that was causing the MCAAC to over compensate. The highs were very high and the audio sounded thin. I raised it to ear level, which is above the back of the coach which allows it to hit the back wall and the sound panels on the wall to do their thing and it sounds much better. Mine are RF-5s and the mids are fine in a room that is 17'x23'x20'which still has a fair amount of reflective surfaces. The RF-7's are a better speaker. They should have good mids. In your case Thisgx, since we typically put a bed against the wall and there is a hard surface either with the wall or head board, it might be doing it to you, like the couch did to me.

I have a similar situation to yours. My living room 18 x 23. Forget 7.2, your best bet is 5.2. Move the SS back a little bit so they're directly to the side of the main listening position or just slightly to the front of it. Forget about the rear surrounds, you won't get much out of them. That's how mine is set up and I was getting good surround with my couch only being 8 inches off the wall. I just added some two inch mineral wool panels directly behind the main listening position and it has made a huge improvement. I made them myself and let the wife pick out some fabric that allows for absorption. I'm putting up some more to make it look like artwork in a few other spots and she's happy. I've noticed so much more detail from my center channel and my surrounds have just come alive. Worry about that first. Then you might want to consider a 6.2 by experimenting with one rear surround directly behind the main listening position of the couch pointing straight up and seeing if you notice any improvements. I've heard some people say it works for them, but right now, get your 5.2 set up properly.

I put up some panels behind my listening position and a few others spread around just to see both for functionality can give it an "art work type" look to make the room still look good and wow I can already notice a difference. I just sat down and watch a few scenes from Transformers Dark of the Moon and I've noticed so much more detail. The surrounds have come alive. A few times it has felt as if there is a speaker behind me. I was wondering if adding one behind the couch pointed up would help with 7.1 movies but I don't know if it will improve much now. I'll experiment with that after everything else is set up.

It's a little of both. The rear is a Quintent. Eventually I'll upgrade, but until I fix the room acoustics some, a bigger, pricier rear speaker won't be worth it. I can hear it fine. They are pretty powerful little speakers. The room is also 18' x 23' x 20'

Here's the living room looking towards the stairs. at the extreme right end of the picture is my right surround.

Added note. The right surround on the rear wall doesn't face forward though. It is on a shelf and facing the seating position.

Thanks for the response. The couch is about 8 inches off the wall all around. The towers are 14 inches at their closest point to the wall (they're toed in towards the main listening position) and the center channel 17 inches from the back wall. I am not sure what "SBIR" means. Sorry for the newbie response. The towers have a foot of clearance from the entertainment center and from the little table each has next to it. I don't know if that's sufficient space though. Being that it's a living room, it's a trade off to have a living room and home entertainment system in it. The reason for the right surround being on the back wall is because I really don't have a right wall as that is where my stairs are. Originally I had a work desk in that corner, which has since been removed. I was considering moving that speaker to the right wall. At the landing it is 69 inches high though. I would just need to get a bracket that would elevate it to get it at the appropriate height. Treating that reflection point may be difficult because of the wooden banisters. Or would they help to diffuse the sound a bit? I'm going to check for the left one later. Hopefully it's not over the window blinds. I put a a two inch panel and another two inch but with a three inch frame behind me and I could notice more clarity. Clarity in the sense of more detail compared to before. I might use the 3 inch in the middle and surround it with the two inch. The four inch won't work for aesthetic reasons. At least that's what the Misses says. The front wall we might put some panels above the tv, to not have so much bare wall in here. It wouldn't be directly across from the panels behind the listening position, so as not to have them directly facing each other. I know that corners are important for bass and low frequencies, but will they help in another location which is not so inconspicuous?

Thanks.