Improving 2 channel music in av setup

[ExPerfectionist]

Do you know how to change the name of a new file in Audyssey? Can't see how to do it.

On the screen with the various saved files/curves, tap Edit on the top right. When it says "Select a Curve" in the blue bar across the top of the screen, and the files are shaking, tap the name of the file you want to change. This will bring up a text edit box.

 

[Takahashi]

Here are some things I'd be thinking of trying if I were you (you decide if any of them are practical for you)...

Front L and R, I was surprised by how low these were going, but now I see why. It is beacuse they are right in the corners. I'd try positioning the front L and R just to either side of the cabinet and slightly infront of the cabinet. This will give as much space as possible to the side walls. This should flatten the bass response a bit, meaning that you will need to set the crossover higher (hopefully it will match closer to 80Hz).

Centre channel: Someone already said this but it could help to bring it right up to the front of the cabinet. Also raising it up and angling it slightly (as you said) could help.

Carpet will help, (hopefully also damping the floor resonances you mention).

Can you pull your sofa away from the rear wall at all? (Even just a foot or two may help).

If you move the front L and R you will probably also need to move the sub. First place I'd try is very close to the front corners of the room (I'd try both). You can also try setting the sub level slightly higher than audyssey wants it in the pre-calibration setup. This may allow Audyssey to get it flatter across a wider range after EQ.

Crossovers, definitely start at 80Hz for the fronts, consider changing the surrounds to 100Hz or even 120Hz. The measured response makes it look like your speakers go low, but I wouldn't be surprised if the distortion is quite high at those low frequencies, and this distorted sound gets boosted by the corner placement.

Hopefully the sound may be cleaner with less boomy bass if you can bring the speakers away from the corners.

Once the room reinforcement of bass is tamed a bit you may then prefer Dynamic EQ to be enabled.

I hope you will enjoy the voyage of audio tweaking that you are just embarking on!

This room will be redecorated soon - we have not long moved in and we are doing up every room in the house - but I have been told that carpet is a definite "no". So there will be very few changes (none as far as room acoustics are concerned) to what we have at the moment. Everything will be removed and when I put everything back again I will move the front L R and centre as you suggest. Will then run Audyssey again. If I get a chance I might be able to do it today.

Yes, the sofa is against the wall and I know that's not great as my head is more or less in line with the surrounds and, as you can see, the surrounds are facing into the room, rather than sideways which I believe they should in situations like this. In my previous house the surrounds were high up, not far from ceiling and aimed slightly downwards. Moving the sofa out permanently is probably not going to happen because the room is so small. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Takahashi]

On the screen with the various saved files/curves, tap Edit on the top right. When it says "Select a Curve" in the blue bar across the top of the screen, and the files are shaking, tap the name of the file you want to change. This will bring up a text edit box.

Thanks. I was tapping the file shaking rather than the name of it. The app is useful and well worth the cost but there's no decent instructions with it and the app keeps on getting stuck/freezing. It is a good app but it could be much better.

 

[Takahashi]

Because he's already tried the lower crossovers. I have no idea what your setup is let alone your ability to "localize", but with multiple subs sounds odd that you could readily do so. Maybe its your setup or rooms.

Correct. When the surrounds were down to 60 I could hear the bass from them which I did not like so changed it back to 80 for all speakers.

 

[Wolf11Man]

I have 3 rooms with Audyssey installations in my house. Since I first heard about it, people complained how stupid it was. They braged how they could set up everything much better with their superior listening abilities and profound knowledge about just anything.
The louder these voices are, the more often they simply refuse to set up Audyssey only ONCE as recommended. They don't give the system a chance and sabotage it from the beginning. No system that is working systematicly can get a clean result that way.

Audyssey sometimes does things wrong, yes. For example it gives different crossover frequency to identical speakers. (my front L-C-R are identical). This is not the system being stupid, but predictable when you look in your room and how the speaker are positioned. You have to help the system and carefully and wise correct it during the setup, not bash it. If you are done with that procedure and have listened to it for some time, read the manual and try to tweak it to your liking. Analyse what you think needs correction and then look in the manual what may be the right strategy. Don't try changing things after 2 minutes, your ears may have been conditioned on a prior, bend system. They have to adapt to a more linear one.
Next, there are people that drive around with two 15" subs and horn tweeters in their car. Don't even discuss your system with someone who's sound reference you don't know. Objective listeners are hard to get, many just want to tell you how much better their cheap system is (Look also: small full range fanatic). HIFI is a status symbol for many, so what do you expect?
If you need more or less bass, which is a very personal thing and also depends on the type of sub, try not to mess up Audyssey, but change the volume at your sub. This may work much better. In my experience, even "multeq xt32" does not always get the bass right, if your sub goes pretty low by it self. It can not know of how much SPL your sub theoretically can do with low distortion, think about it. It doesn't see if it is a 8" or 18" caliber.
Anyway, this is as anything about speaker, dependend on the individual room.
A cheap measuring microphone and a test file or CD/DVD can give you better insight than Audyssey itself, if you think something is not as you expected.