elangoas
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
I tried out the Audyssey DSX surround mode on my AVR...I had a 5.0 setup already, so borrowed a pair of bookshelf speaker (Sonodyne Sonus 1501) from my friend for a weeks time.. Hence wanted to share the experience with you all...
Before trying out Audyssey DSX mode,i did read up some articles about Audyssey DSX mode... Per Audyssey they recommend front wides before you could go front heights.. Simply put you need to add speakers in between front left & Surround left and vice versa for the right....
Audyssey also recommends that these front wide speakers are placed @ 60 degrees from the listening position.. & at least double the distance of center to left speakers...
Here is Panaroma shot using my mobile
... Not sure if it is good..
Components used : Onkyo TX NR 818 (7.2) AVR, Sonodyne Sonus 2605 (Front left & Right), Sonus c2401 (Center channel), Sonus Rears Dipoles (Surround left & Right), Sonus 1501 BS (Front wide left & Right), HTPC (With around 3 TB of movies & Music), Harman Kardon DVD Player (DVD 23), Sorry no Sub-woofer....
Speaker positioning : Sonus 2605 Fronts was 2 ~ 3 feet away from center channel speaker, so i placed the Front wide left & right approx 6 feet away from the center speaker (In the corner of the wall) & angled @ 45 degrees firing straight to the listening position.... (pics below)
Audyssey MULTEQ XT32 Calibration : Audyssey recommends that if you add any speakers, it is better to run the room calibration again for optimal performance....So i did run the 8 point room calibration again... I crosschecked using a a measuring tape & the results were ACCURATE :clapping: ...
Speaker settings : After i finished the the above calibration, surprisingly Audyssey detected Sonus 1501 BS with 40Hz lowest freq.... But as per specs from Sonodyne, the speaker is rated only down to 70Hz...Anyways i left it like that....Also enabled Audyssey MultiEQ & Audyssey Dynamic Volume....Since there was no Sub-woofer, it set my fronts to LARGE.... (Pics below)
Experience with Other Surround mode expansion modes : I have used Dolby EX, Dolby Prologic IIx, Dts Neo :6 surround modes earlier on my older 7.1 HTIB.. I used these modes for expanding the 5.1 surround on my DVD for my surround back channels....
Before i move to the listening experience, i would like to detail about Onkyo Pure Audio mode.. I use this mode by default on the AVR for music as well as
movies....
Onkyo Pure Audio Mode : This function defeats the bass & treble settings, overrides all the crossover settings enabled on the AVR...Presents the sound as it is (or) very close to the source file being played...Basically treats all your speakers full range......
Now the listening experience.....
Gladiator...File size around 25GB - Sound track DTS 5.1 @ 1536 Kbps....
Very good movie with a nice action scenes....Opening scene was very good....the action sequence where rusell crowe meets the emperor @ the Colosseum...... Huge sound-stage at the front....Plenty of details on the front wide speakers that i haven't heard in 5.1 listening mode (Pure Audio mode) :thumbsup: ...
Avatar - File size around 47GB - Sound track DTS HD Master Audio (5.1) @ approx 4000 Kbps...
When the hero Jake sully with group of colleagues enters in to the Pandora for the first time where he encounters different creatures & makes an escape...There was very good level of details.... I have never heard such details when listening on the Pure audio mode...I was extremely impressed :thumbsup:....
The Grey - File size around 30 GB - Sound track DTS HD Master Audio (5.1) @ approx 3000 Kbps..
The scene when Liam Neeson with his colleagues are right in the middle of the big pit in the night with fire sticks in the hand to keep the wolves away.... I could hear lot of wolves noises in the background.. These effects actually sounded faint when watching this movie on Pure Audio Mode... Excellent :thumbsup:
Thuppakki (Tamil) - Flie size around 10GB, Sound track DTS 5.1 @ 1536 Kbps....
Fantastic sound-stage when the introduction reel with credits goes on....
I played many more movies to quench my thirst with this surround mode (Frozen, Inception, white house down & Unstoppable.....) Will be planning some more until i return the speakers to my friend....
5.1 DTS Music CD's
I did play some DTS 5.1 music discs... THese were of some tamil movies (Manmadham, Ghajini, Vettaiyadu Vilyadu..) I dont know for some reason, they sounded horrible on both Audyssey DSX & Pure Audio mode :sad: .... May be very poor recording quality.... They sounded very shrilll....
Unfortunately i didn't have any DTS HD Master Audio Music content, couldn't check out.....
5.1 Music (Multichannel PCM)
The Beatles - Love - DVD-A 5.1CH 96Khz, 24Bit - I Don't listen to english albums much..... Juz tried it because it had good 5.1 content...Very nice listening experience...
Queen - Night At The Opera - DVD-A 5.1CH 96Khz, 24Bit.. Same as above...
When an action scene was playing, i continuously toggled between the Audyssey DSX mode & Pure Audio listening mode to evaluate the difference. It was very evident when my wife requested me to play the movie in Audyssey DSX mode where the dialogues were clear with superb levels of details....I too felt the same...
Here are some of my observations after checking out Audyssey DSX mode...
-> Introduction reel of the production houses before the movie starts sound big... (Ex : 20th Century Fox, Walt disney pictures, Universal pictures....)
-> What sounds faint (or) whatever sounded faint @ moderate listening volumes on the front left & right channels are extracted by front wides when using Audyssey DSX mode and you can hear the details pretty good on them.
-> Dialogues (or) any special effects played on any channel using the Audyssey mode is very clear.... I felt like DSX cleans the signal like 10 times & then plays it on the channels...
-> Whatever sound-stage you would get @ 80 - 90% of the volume on the Pure Audio mode of the AVR, you get the same sound-stage @ less than 50% of the volume and it is subtle yet dynamic..... Usually we wouldn't push that much of volume unless & until you have dedicated HT room.....In a living room the chances are far less that you will play that loud volumes... Here is where Audyssey does an excellent job....
Conclusion
Am extremely impressed with Audyssey DSX mode with Front wides :yahoo: ....The sound-stage is excellent, elevates your listening level, will make you an movie addict
hyeah:....
Have planned to let go off my Sonus 2605 soon & get 2 pairs of Sonus 1501 BShyeah: .... This way i stand to benefit for both stereo & 7.0 mode....Will soon be adding a sub-woofer too...
My AVR has preouts for Front heights as well...I am thrilled to try Front heights also with Audyssey DSX mode using additional stereo amplifier.....
Thanks for reading.....
I tried out the Audyssey DSX surround mode on my AVR...I had a 5.0 setup already, so borrowed a pair of bookshelf speaker (Sonodyne Sonus 1501) from my friend for a weeks time.. Hence wanted to share the experience with you all...
Before trying out Audyssey DSX mode,i did read up some articles about Audyssey DSX mode... Per Audyssey they recommend front wides before you could go front heights.. Simply put you need to add speakers in between front left & Surround left and vice versa for the right....
Audyssey also recommends that these front wide speakers are placed @ 60 degrees from the listening position.. & at least double the distance of center to left speakers...
Here is Panaroma shot using my mobile
... Not sure if it is good..
Components used : Onkyo TX NR 818 (7.2) AVR, Sonodyne Sonus 2605 (Front left & Right), Sonus c2401 (Center channel), Sonus Rears Dipoles (Surround left & Right), Sonus 1501 BS (Front wide left & Right), HTPC (With around 3 TB of movies & Music), Harman Kardon DVD Player (DVD 23), Sorry no Sub-woofer....
Speaker positioning : Sonus 2605 Fronts was 2 ~ 3 feet away from center channel speaker, so i placed the Front wide left & right approx 6 feet away from the center speaker (In the corner of the wall) & angled @ 45 degrees firing straight to the listening position.... (pics below)
Audyssey MULTEQ XT32 Calibration : Audyssey recommends that if you add any speakers, it is better to run the room calibration again for optimal performance....So i did run the 8 point room calibration again... I crosschecked using a a measuring tape & the results were ACCURATE :clapping: ...
Speaker settings : After i finished the the above calibration, surprisingly Audyssey detected Sonus 1501 BS with 40Hz lowest freq.... But as per specs from Sonodyne, the speaker is rated only down to 70Hz...Anyways i left it like that....Also enabled Audyssey MultiEQ & Audyssey Dynamic Volume....Since there was no Sub-woofer, it set my fronts to LARGE.... (Pics below)
Experience with Other Surround mode expansion modes : I have used Dolby EX, Dolby Prologic IIx, Dts Neo :6 surround modes earlier on my older 7.1 HTIB.. I used these modes for expanding the 5.1 surround on my DVD for my surround back channels....
Before i move to the listening experience, i would like to detail about Onkyo Pure Audio mode.. I use this mode by default on the AVR for music as well as
movies....
Onkyo Pure Audio Mode : This function defeats the bass & treble settings, overrides all the crossover settings enabled on the AVR...Presents the sound as it is (or) very close to the source file being played...Basically treats all your speakers full range......
Now the listening experience.....
Gladiator...File size around 25GB - Sound track DTS 5.1 @ 1536 Kbps....
Very good movie with a nice action scenes....Opening scene was very good....the action sequence where rusell crowe meets the emperor @ the Colosseum...... Huge sound-stage at the front....Plenty of details on the front wide speakers that i haven't heard in 5.1 listening mode (Pure Audio mode) :thumbsup: ...
Avatar - File size around 47GB - Sound track DTS HD Master Audio (5.1) @ approx 4000 Kbps...
When the hero Jake sully with group of colleagues enters in to the Pandora for the first time where he encounters different creatures & makes an escape...There was very good level of details.... I have never heard such details when listening on the Pure audio mode...I was extremely impressed :thumbsup:....
The Grey - File size around 30 GB - Sound track DTS HD Master Audio (5.1) @ approx 3000 Kbps..
The scene when Liam Neeson with his colleagues are right in the middle of the big pit in the night with fire sticks in the hand to keep the wolves away.... I could hear lot of wolves noises in the background.. These effects actually sounded faint when watching this movie on Pure Audio Mode... Excellent :thumbsup:
Thuppakki (Tamil) - Flie size around 10GB, Sound track DTS 5.1 @ 1536 Kbps....
Fantastic sound-stage when the introduction reel with credits goes on....
I played many more movies to quench my thirst with this surround mode (Frozen, Inception, white house down & Unstoppable.....) Will be planning some more until i return the speakers to my friend....
5.1 DTS Music CD's
I did play some DTS 5.1 music discs... THese were of some tamil movies (Manmadham, Ghajini, Vettaiyadu Vilyadu..) I dont know for some reason, they sounded horrible on both Audyssey DSX & Pure Audio mode :sad: .... May be very poor recording quality.... They sounded very shrilll....
Unfortunately i didn't have any DTS HD Master Audio Music content, couldn't check out.....
5.1 Music (Multichannel PCM)
The Beatles - Love - DVD-A 5.1CH 96Khz, 24Bit - I Don't listen to english albums much..... Juz tried it because it had good 5.1 content...Very nice listening experience...
Queen - Night At The Opera - DVD-A 5.1CH 96Khz, 24Bit.. Same as above...
When an action scene was playing, i continuously toggled between the Audyssey DSX mode & Pure Audio listening mode to evaluate the difference. It was very evident when my wife requested me to play the movie in Audyssey DSX mode where the dialogues were clear with superb levels of details....I too felt the same...
Here are some of my observations after checking out Audyssey DSX mode...
-> Introduction reel of the production houses before the movie starts sound big... (Ex : 20th Century Fox, Walt disney pictures, Universal pictures....)
-> What sounds faint (or) whatever sounded faint @ moderate listening volumes on the front left & right channels are extracted by front wides when using Audyssey DSX mode and you can hear the details pretty good on them.
-> Dialogues (or) any special effects played on any channel using the Audyssey mode is very clear.... I felt like DSX cleans the signal like 10 times & then plays it on the channels...
-> Whatever sound-stage you would get @ 80 - 90% of the volume on the Pure Audio mode of the AVR, you get the same sound-stage @ less than 50% of the volume and it is subtle yet dynamic..... Usually we wouldn't push that much of volume unless & until you have dedicated HT room.....In a living room the chances are far less that you will play that loud volumes... Here is where Audyssey does an excellent job....
Conclusion
Am extremely impressed with Audyssey DSX mode with Front wides :yahoo: ....The sound-stage is excellent, elevates your listening level, will make you an movie addict
hyeah:....Have planned to let go off my Sonus 2605 soon & get 2 pairs of Sonus 1501 BS
hyeah: .... This way i stand to benefit for both stereo & 7.0 mode....Will soon be adding a sub-woofer too...My AVR has preouts for Front heights as well...I am thrilled to try Front heights also with Audyssey DSX mode using additional stereo amplifier.....
Thanks for reading.....
