Hey guys....its me back again
!!
Glad to say....I have calibrated the system and tested it out quite a bit, so I think I can now give my final review
!
Before I get on with it, a small update regarding the problems I had mentioned in my previous post....I have been able to sort them all out....no more issues with the system anymore
!
Anyways, here are my views regarding this setup:
THIS SPEAKER SET IS JUST plain AWESOME!!!!!! I apologize for making this the first line of this review, but gosh...I really mean it!! I have to say, once it is calibrated according to your tastes, it just takes you to a whole different world!
If anybody here is wondering what the difference between a calibrated setup and a non-calibrated one is (as I did....I always thought that even a non-calibrated system, if its good, cant sound that bad
)....well just imagine eating rice, ghee, nutmeg, mace, pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, onions and garlic
individually as compared to
mixing them all and eating a freaking good delicious Biryani :licklips:. Thats how I would like to distinguish between a non-calibrated system and a decently calibrated one.
Coming back to my setup, I still have not calibrated the system perfectly (obviously!!! Heck...I just started to understand what the various terms in the denon setup mean...
), but based on whatever I was able to do through trial and error, I am now in love with this setup
!! It has lived upto all my expectations (though not exceeded them
...but that is only because I heard some awesome setups in awesomely calibrated rooms when I went to pick these speakers up)!
I tried to play bluray rips and blurays from TV (sound through ARC), laptop & ps3, and this speaker set delivered the most amazing experience for all of them. Bear in mind that I already had a sony htib 5-6 years back, so I have experienced movies in a HTIB setup, but this system really takes it to a totally different level of immersion. If calibrated nicely, the sound from this setup is always comfortable to the ears while still delivering the punch required in movies. As I said before....am totally in love with it!!! Infact, its has made me think even more of buying a projector now, as my 42inch led tv is really not able to match the sound performance from this set....I need a much much bigger picture to justify the sound from this system
hyeah:!
I even tried a couple of movies which did not have 6 channel sound (infact the file had 92.0Kbps, 48.0 KHz, 2 Channel AAC LC sound which is very low quality indeed) with PLII activated, and this setup still managed to provide a powerful sound experience with good surround sound (which was surprising as my past experiences with PL were not very good. I could hear dialogues from R&L speakers as well, while denon was able to channelize the sounds pretty well. My friends didnt even realize its a stereo audio file). The experience was very much enjoyable (i.e. if you enjoy the movie rather than have a critical listening session).
For music, I played some flac files and mp3 files (the same ones that disappointed me before), and this time around I just loved the sound emitted by the front speakers. The soundstage that they create is just breathtaking. I had to literally go to the center to check that no sound was coming from it
! And all this music was from the laptop or directly through usb.
However, I am a little disappointed with the sub (maybe I haven calibrated it well) as it does blend well with the speakers, but doesnt provide the punch or the chest-throbbing/couch shaking bass that people talk about. However, as I said, it blends perfectly well with the overall sound, and makes the listening experience comfortable (though I would like the occasional couch shaking bass).
Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with this set, and I have to say, it is really worth every penny spent on it!!:licklips:
Here are some of the settings that I have in the system (most of it from Audyssey, but I fine tuned some of them based on trial and error to get to the level of sound that I now enjoy):
(I)
Speaker Size:
Front: Small
Surround: Small
Center: Small
Subwoofer: Yes
(II)
Subwoofer mode - LFE
LPF for LFE 120Hz (As set by default / Audyssey)
(III)
Distance (As calculated by Audyssey):
Front Left: 2.22m
Front Right: 2.04m
Center: 2.07m
Sub: 2.13m
Surround Left: 1.68m
Surround Right: 1.47m
(IV)
Levels (As calculated by Audyssey):
Front Left: +1.0db
Center: -4.0dbb
Front Right: 0.0db
Surr Right: -1.0db
Surr Left: -1.0db
Sub: -5.0db
Physical Volume on sub is at slightly more than half position (was half during audyssey run). Physical Crossover knob at 1 clock position.
(V)
Crossovers (From Audyssey):
Front: 80Hz (I changed it to 120Hz which seemed to cure the 'Phhattt' sound when a particular low frequency was emitted)
Center: 90Hz (Changed to 120Hz)
Surround: 80Hz (Changed to 120Hz)
(VI)
Dynamic Volume at Medium (changed it to 'Off' as I didnt like the sound with it on)
(VII)
Extras:
Cinema EQ: Off
Low Frequency: 0dB
Dialogue Level: -1.0dB (audyssey kept it at -4.0dB, but I liked the experience after increasing it to -1.0dB)
Sub Woofer Level: -5dB
Volume Scale: 0-98
Limit: Off
Power On Level: Last
Mute Level: Full
MultiEQ XT: Audeyssey (I also Audeyssey liked 'Bypass L/R' even though it is not recommended by Audyddey)
Dynamic EQ: ON
Reference Offset: 0dB
Dynamic Volume: Off
Cinema EQ: Off
Cheers guys!