# 5 Band Graphics EQ?



## Rikinky (Mar 4, 2010)

Ok I have a question I am calibrating my home theatre system and have a question involving a 5 band Graphics EQ that my Yamaha reciever has for my center channel speaker. I have a Klipsch Quintet 3 system with a sub-10" Klipsch subwoofer with it. I have used a SPL meter to adjust all the sound decibels to the right setting etc. My only issue is dialogue in movies. I have trouble lots of times hearing some things that is being said, and I was wondering if I could tweek this 5 band GEQ to help this issue. any help would be greatly appreciated and what does each freq adjust? Thanks.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

It would help to know just what model Yamaha receiver you have. If it has a calibration microphone, it might be worth your while to let it auto calibrate, rather than using an SPL meter. Some SPL meters don't have very good frequency response characteristics (Radio Shack digital SPL meters in particular). Furthermore, I'd be adverse to messing around with a 5 channel EQ for your center channel speaker, since the speaker response is going to be relatively flat from around 100 Hz to 10 KHz or so.
That being said, try different movie soundfields when watching movies. Quite often , the "Spectacle" soundfield will yield the best results on your center channel.


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## Rikinky (Mar 4, 2010)

It is the HTR 5850. It doesn't have the built in microphone. Thus I had to go with the SPL Meter.


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## puckhead (Sep 22, 2007)

OP, is your main listening chair/couch along the back wall of the room? I used to have similar issues with dialogue, and moving the couch and chairs about a foot or two off the wall and closer to the center channel dramatically cleaned up the dialogue. I installed a bookshelf along that now open back wall to help scatter those back reflections a bit as well.

It's also a good idea to acoustically treat the first reflection points of the front three speakers.

I personally would only use the eq after taking some room treatment steps and even then only to timbre match to the front speakers. But don't be afraid to mess around, you may get lucky!

Good luck.


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

Search your manual. The RX-V/Z series units have a function Yamaha calls "dialog normalization" which you can use to adjust just this thing. HTR is stated to be the same hardware rated on a different scale and having a different faceplate.

Also if the playback media where you are having this problem is on DVD check to see if it's playing a 2 channel audio track instead of a 5.1. This sort of dialog issue is rampant using Pro Logic decoding and can also be present on Dolby True HD audio. Dolby engineered these to sound massive by toning down the dialog so one would wick it up and then multichannel sound would really be theater like with a massive impact.

Also "Night Listening Mode" will flatten this out at the risk of compressing out some of the full sonic range.

Finally use the test tones to be sure your center speaker is really as loud as the front L/R speakers. Center channel speakers usually are not quite as full range as the front L/R ones and may be several decibels lower on the 1 watt SPL measurement. Your Yamaha should also have the ability to control the volume on each speaker independently.

The Yamaha should have a lot of options to correct this. I'd avoid the EQ if at all possible and leave it flat (center or "0" position") and see if speaker volume, Dialog Normalization, or decoder solves this for you.

Gotta refresh several databases here now.

Don "Yamaha has so many features as to be confusing" Bolton



Rikinky said:


> It is the HTR 5850. It doesn't have the built in microphone. Thus I had to go with the SPL Meter.


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

Forgive me on the bad tip for Dialog Normalization. I dove into one of my RX-V manuals this AM and discovered that is a THX soundfield feature that comes into play with DTS/and DD5.1 program material to compensate for their differences with the THX standards and not a standard feature. It's only adjustment is the volume knob:eek2:.

I stand by my other ideas though. It may be as simple as raising your center channel volume or selecting a different audio input format.

Don "as I said, these buggers are pretty complex" Bolton


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