m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 Ok, so the sub rox. I have established that. When I was in the show room, OMG! I was sooooOOOOOooooo impressed. But I get the system home and I am starting to feel dissapointed because everything sounds flat. Could it be because I don't have my surrounds yet? Is it the receiver? I will admit to one mistake, I never listened to the harman karden before I purchased it. I went to two places, Magnolia HiFi and they had the yamaha RXV1200 hooked up to it. Then at The Good Guys they have the Denon AVR 3802(i think). I just know their web site price matches what I seen in the store. This is what I have done to try and tweek. Turned off the surrounds in the receiver because I don't have them yet. Tried both large and small for the fronts From the DVD player, I have set the input to be Dolby Digital 5.1 with 2 channel analog. On the receiver, I have ensured that my DVD player is coming in from the optical input. Vibrant. It just does not seem vibrant. It all did at the show room. Could it be the cableing? Sure I didn't buy the $200.00 front speaker wire, or the $70.00 center channel. But I did get the best monster cooper strand they had. Oh and the receier. What a crock. The remote is all yacked up. Brand new and it works about .5% of the time. I have to keep pressing the buttons over and over and over and over just to get it to do something. Yes the batteries are new. I only read one negative thing about the HK on the internet, it was the remote. I though to myself, eh, must have been one bad apple. Perhaps I should have listed to the dealer at Magnolia HiFi. He told me that HK had gone down in quality.(At least with the remote issue) Hmmm, so anyone have any suggestions on what could be causing my flat sounding system? If I replace the receiver with something else, any suggestions? The HK has been selling in this area for about $800.00. What would be good in that price range? I am willing to go up maybe another $100.00 or so. Thanks all for listening to my rant and rave. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-17-2002 at 12:49 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 moon, sorry to hear. "3.From the DVD player, I have set the input to be Dolby Digital 5.1 with 2 channel analog." you must mean set the output. you want to set that up for digital out (not analog). turn dolby digital on & also dts on. guess that's the only input device you've tried or have. have you tried the fm tuner? anyway try getting those dvdp setting right & see if that helps. do you have any 5.1 disks? try some of the dif hk modes. should probably be best just putting it on "auto" mode or input. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 oh & maybe turn down the sub output. may be drowning out the rest of the sound. you really need to use a sound meter to balance out the speaker levels but that's another case. keep on tweakin. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Author Share Posted April 17, 2002 Oh ya the analog. I had to set it like that until today. Without the remote I had no way of turning off the two surrounds on the receiver. So, I changed the output from the DVD to 5.1 analog 2ch. Thanks for reminding me of that. I can't test it all now. Everyone is in bed. Oh which reminds me, I need to turn on my electric blinkie. So, will it sound better once I get my surrounds. Oh and one more thing. I am getting a solid buzz coming from the center channel. I can only imagine it's interferrance right? But what? It's NOT sitting directly on top of my TV as there is a 1/4" thick oak plywood shelf between the TV and the receiver. The speaker wire is not haning down in back of the TV. I have it up on the shelf with the center channel. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-17-2002 at 01:29 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 moon, you don't have to set up the speakers in the dvdp if you're using the digital/optical connection. you want that dvdp settings' on all digital, dolby, dts (no analog settings). sounds like you've assigned that digital connection in your hk set-up. then there is only one connect between your dvdp & hk - the optical connect. that is assuming you're just running the video cable direct from the dvdp to the tv. you can also run that video thru your hk too to get an on-screen-display from your hk. then the set-up will be much easier when you get the remote. you set up the speakers you have in the HK (not the dvdp). should be something called like "speaker set-up". then you tell it what you currently have. yea the surrounds will come in handy for surround sound especially like dolby 5.1 & dts dvds. ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 04-17-2002 at 01:43 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Author Share Posted April 17, 2002 I have the remote for the HK now. I just picked it up today. It's the remote I was bitching about earlier. I have an RCA connection going from the back of the HK to the TV. I have been using the onscreen menu. So with the optical, I don't need to set the output of the DVD player eh? When you set the fronts to large, I am guessing it makes the speakers work harder. Does that take away from it's abilty to play mids and highs effeciently? ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-17-2002 at 01:55 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 moon well you need to set up the dvdp so that it's using the digital out, dolby & dts. i can't see what you have those set to. yea in theory setting the speakers to small consumes less from your amp & taxes the speakers less. also avoids overlapping their woofers with your sub woofer & getting those nasty standing waves that can cause muddy bass, in many rooms anyway. but you just need to switch the rf-3 between small/large & see what sounds best along w/ your properly set-up sub. better wait until you can crank it up some there. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Author Share Posted April 17, 2002 Not sure what the P is in dvdp, but I did switch the DVD player back to dolby digital 5.1 bitstream. I guess that's digital. Sounds like it to me. But yes I agree. I need my wife and tator tots to head to her sisters this weekend so I can play. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 that's probably for pcm. but you want that dolby like you got it & set everything else dolby, turn dts on & digital out on. btw, did u get all this from the net or a local dealer? god's speed. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Author Share Posted April 17, 2002 Got the speakers and receiver here local. My wife got the DVD player XMAS 2000 for the family from Amazon.com. I will go back and see if I am doing something wrong with the DVD, but I don't remember seeing that as a choice, but neither have I really investigated the DVD either. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 17, 2002 Author Share Posted April 17, 2002 I think the best way I can describe what I think to be the problem is, imagine placing a sheet of paper in front of your speakers. All the sounds are there, but you would get the affect of something not not sounding quit right. I don't know. Maybe I am so used to my truck stereo. I have a kicken stereo in my truck. Infinity speakers all the around sub, amp and all that. The door tweeters are spearate tweeters and are mounted right up at the top of the door. I get incredible highs out of those speakers. Maybe I am just so used to this, that, this is what is making my home theater stereo sound flat. Crunch! Maybe thats it. It seems to be missing that kick a55 crunchy sound I get from my truck stereo. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-17-2002 at 10:41 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eq_shadimar Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 I don't know what to tell you other than something is definitly wrong. I have the HK 510 and I used to have the complete RF3 speaker system. It was not flat. It has not been mentioned but are you speakers pointing straight out or angled towards the "sweet spot" in the listening area? With horn speakers it is important to toe them in a bit For a test hook up the Stereo RCA outputs (not the 5.1 and not digital) from the DVD player to the CD input on the HK and play a CD. This will bypass a bunch of options. Let us know how that sounds. If this sounds ok then we can try and help you out with getting the digital outputs/inputs working. I have my HK CD player digital out hooked up to a digital input and it sounds awesome. Also the DVD player is hooked up the a digital input. Again sounds awesome. Before you get your surrounds you may want to pick up a test disc and a sound meter. The EZSet feature is only about 90% correct (but close enough if money is tight). Believe me that there is no way this system should sound flat. Laters, ------------------ ...wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world... My Home Theater Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 just to throw out another in the wide range of possibilities, make sure the speakers are connected to HK positive to positive & neg to neg. also you talked of noise in the center. if you have a ground loop w/ the electrical sys may want to explore that. do a search on here for ground loop & you'll get a wealth of info. dirty power and connections can be a problem for good sound. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.