Help!? About to EQ my Sierra-1 NrT Speakers. Avoiding Screw Ups.

[Pianist718]

My listening: (room ... 13x18 with 8.5 ceiling. Listen to Smooth Jazz, pop, classical, Classic rock, dance, etc)

So here is the deal .... when running room correction software with my Yamaha receiver, it makes my sound a bit too dull. It pretty much cuts a lot of high frequencies. So what I did is ... i turned EQ off and just kept setting made my software for the Crossover, range, volume, etc. EQ = OFF.

Now ... here is my issue. With EQ turned ON, sound is too dull, BUT with EQ turned off, sound is a bit too bright for my listening pleasure. Specifically for music. Movies I am OK with.

Tonight I am going to start playing with EQ as it allows me to adjust sound for EACH speaker.

What should I know?

Should I EQ each speaker identically or make center brighter (for better speech) and my L and R more realistic for music?

Which frequency should I adjust to add a little more mids and cut a bit of too squeaky sound in the highs.

Example ... saxophone was just a bit toooo bright. Could be toned down a bit. Voice however sounds very nice. Drum cymbals are sometimes too bright too.

Testing this on MP3 music (mp3 256-320kbps).

Any input will be very helpful. Thanks.

[JustaSheep]

Now ... here is my issue. With EQ turned ON, sound is too dull, BUT with EQ turned off, sound is a bit too bright for my listening pleasure. Specifically for music. Movies I am OK with.

I'm far from an expert, but it sounds like the software is compensating for reflections off of a hard surface. Have you considered acoustic treatments, throw pillows, etc.?

Where was the mic when the measurements were taken? Was it near the back wall, above the height of a couch, etc.?

Forgive me if you this too elementary, but I started with this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1

I know it's for audyssey and not the Yamaha, but the basics of the setup should be the same (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

Sheep

[Pianist718]

I'm far from an expert, but it sounds like the software is compensating for reflections off of a hard surface. Have you considered acoustic treatments, throw pillows, etc.?

Where was the mic when the measurements were taken? Was it near the back wall, above the height of a couch, etc.?

Forgive me if you this too elementary, but I started with this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1

I know it's for audyssey and not the Yamaha, but the basics of the setup should be the same (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

Sheep

You may be right. I don't have any room treatments. I do have a lot of reflections and my mic was right by the wall on top of the back of the couch. This is why EQ from Yamaha started dimming the highs i guess.

[curtis]

I just want to make sure you ran the auto EQ routine with these set of speakers in their preset locations.

Also, your main speakers should be in front of the plane created by the TV/entertainment center.

[Pianist718]

So .... JUST Got my Rythmik F12 and holly SH*T .... can't get a smile off of my face. Put Dark Knight blu ray in and couldn't stop it. Never heard bass like this. A friend who has been an audiophile for sometime was sitting near me smiling.

Anyway ..... here is the thing.

I ran Auto setup with my Yamaha again with this new sub. Once again .... with EQ turned on sound is a bit too dull. When EQ is turned off, Sierras are just toooo bright.

So .... what I did is .... EQ turned ON and manually using tone control on Receiver, added +6 to Trebble and +2 to Bass. On movies .... amazing. Tomorrow will do more testing.

Any input much appreciated.

P.S. A friend now says that last piece of the puzzle is new receiver with Audyssey MultEQ XT. Maybe that will help create the perfect sound???

[curtis]

Seems like the EQ is rolling off the highs too much.

Is there a THX setting that is turned on? Night mode?

[Gov]

Seems like the EQ is rolling off the highs too much.

Is there a THX setting that is turned on? Night mode?

I agree. I used to have a Pioneer and MCACC use to roll the highs off a bit much. With Audyssey XT32 on my Denon, that is not the case. I think Yamaha's room correction is similar to Pioneer's and nothing like Audyssey ;)

[hearing specialist]

The only target curve that rolls off the highs with YPAO is the "Natural" curve. If the target curve chosen is the "Front" mode then nothing is applied to the fronts and zero EQ is applied to mains. The "Flat" curve is not aggressive at all and does what it does. YPAO requires mic even and horizontal and should never be placed close to anything reflective or a wall. The 465 is accurate to 1" only with distance and timing measurements. If a person is not using the "Flat" curve then its a crap shoot depending all on your room and corrections made to your room to control the sound. EQ off then depends all on your room, acoustics of your room, furniture, and wall treatments and/or carpet.

My suggestion is to calibrate using the "Flat" curve and if highs are too strong then cut using your treble control to receive the clearest signal possible for sound quality. Anytime the 465 gets "boosted" with those tone controls you enter into a possible chance of distortion. Its always better to cut than boost when dealing with audio signals. The 465 can be a good receiver and provide lots of satisfaction when YPAO is utilized and variables are minimized.

[Pianist718]

Seems like the EQ is rolling off the highs too much.

Is there a THX setting that is turned on? Night mode?

Curtis .... night mode is NOT turned on. However ... just changed few things around again.

So .... instead of going EQ to ON and then +8 on treble .... I did EQ OFF to get real sound from speakers and just toned down Treble to -6 and added Bass to +2.

So far .... best sound I can get.

I got to add that adding that Rythmik F12 made my system sound so much better. Amazing value.

Next step ... probably room treatments. A panel on wall behind the L and R speakers and some panels on wall directly across speakers. Plus maybe some foam in each 4 corners. Good thoughts?

[natetg57]

Next step ... probably room treatments. A panel on wall behind the L and R speakers and some panels on wall directly across speakers. Plus maybe some foam in each 4 corners. Good thoughts?

This may be helpful reading for you. http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://www.realtraps.com/index.htm
ATS has good prices and diy materialshttp://www.atsacoustics.com/

[natetg57]

So here is the deal .... when running room correction software with my Yamaha receiver, it makes my sound a bit too dull. It pretty much cuts a lot of high frequencies.

I felt the same way about the Audyssey XT in my Denon 991. The standard Audyssey setting rolls off the highs too much for me. The 'Flat' setting was a little too bright. So I used the 'Manual' setting. I copied the 'Flat' setting over and adjusted the highs down to flat. (whereas the standard Audyssey had it eq'd down) So now I have a setting in between and it sounds pretty good.

[hearing specialist]

The foundation for YPAO and why imo, it works is its parametric filters. The almost infinite adjustability in its choosing the filter frequency for correction has its major advantage over fixed frequency band filters. Parametric filtering is a high end feature and is the biggest reason i'm a huge proponent for its use. Now, the manual side of YPAO does have fixed filter frequencies and the difference between the two is so huge in performance. Having parametric filtering with high resolution even within Yamaha's mid level receivers is why I first purchased this exact unit years ago. The YPAO feature was just as resolute as their top models at the time with the same precision filtering as the bigger brothers, just affordable. For hard reflective rooms are good for YPAO because of the parametric solutions can figure out the problems with greater efficiency than fixed freq bands. For what its worth...:)

[curtis]

Are you using the "Flat" setting as mentioned by Brian?