Monitor Audio Centre sounds Odd?

[admin_exported]

i currenty have a set of kef 3005se speaker and have decided to upgrade to Monitor audio apex set. I bought a Apex A40 centre speaker and replaced it so now i have a the eggs font and rears.

I never ran audyssey when i swop it out as I just wanted to se if it works. What i have noticed is that when people are talking is ok but when there is background sounds or music it seems very quiet almost like it’s muffled. I was watching a film last night iron man 2 and even my wife noticed it. Could there be some thing wrong with the speaker or does audyseey fix things like this. The dialogue volume sometimes goes up and down a bit but it’s mainly the background noise. There was a point in the film when the two iron men are fighting and being chased by the robot army. The shooting was very quiet so was the sound track. The sound is there but much lower.

 

[aliEnRIK]

You should switch audyssey off until you re run it with the new center speaker

You should run it anyways (or a decibel meter) to set the correct levels

Also, it will never sound 'right' until all the speakers have been replaced as the eggs and the MA have completely different frequency responses (audysses might help, but it will still never sound 'right')

 

[f1only]

+1 As aliEnRIK's post above.

If i understand this correctly you are running a monitor Audio centre & the rest of the speakers you are using are Kef, i'm not suprised it sounds strange.

In which case i would suggest you replace the other front speakers Left & Right with monitor audio apex's to balance it out as an absolute minimum, or preferably the whole set & run the audessy setup again, either that or put the matching Kef back.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the replies

I will be running the audyssey when I get home to see if it will be any better. I was just mainly seeing if the speaker worked.

You are correct the 3001 are front and back and I will be getting a set of A10's hopefully at the weekend which I will change over and use them as the fronts.

If it's still doing the same thing when the A10 turn up I guess I have a problem. I can't do any damage running the two to gether can I? If so I might just dissconnect the MA and use the kefs until I have the complete set.

 

[f1only]

Thank you for the replies

I will be running the audyssey when I get home to see if it will be any better.

It should improve it.

You are correct the 3001 are front and back and I will be getting a set of A10's hopefully at the weekend which I will change over and use them as the fronts.

You will need to run audessy again.

If it's still doing the same thing when the A10 turn up I guess I have a problem. I can't do any damage running the two to gether can I? If so I might just dissconnect the MA and use the kefs until I have the complete set.

It shouldn't as long as you have run the audessey setup, as it sorts out the speakers.

I would also suggest seeing if you can either borrow or buy an SPL meter to get all the speaker volume settings just right after you have used the audessy set up.

 

[Anonymous]

As above re-run the audessy setup to get the levels right, then turn it off altogether, it will be applying EQ to match the centres sound to match the rest of the set up.

I've owned a Yamaha 1067 before the AVR I have now, and in both cases I have had to turn off the EQ it seems to strangle the life out of the Apex.

Also remember, the A40 will be more efficient as it has 2 drivers, opposed the 1 in the KEFs, so it will set the level lower, after you have run the audessy check the levels and use an SPL meter to ensure the same volume at the listening position.

 

[Anonymous]

I re-ran audyssey and it has made things a lot better. The background music is so much clearer and the special effects sound good. I know it’s not the best solution but I'll see how I get on.

Can’t wait for the A10’s to turn up now. I have noticed that I had to turn the volume up a bit compared to what the kef’s were set at but the sound quality from the A40 sounds a lot better than the kef centre.

i guess changing over my denon 1910 to a Pioneer Sclx83 would make a big differences as well.

 

[michael hoy]

I re-ran audyssey and it has made things a lot better. The background music is so much clearer and the special effects sound good. I know it’s not the best solution but I'll see how I get on.

Can’t wait for the A10’s to turn up now. I have noticed that I had to turn the volume up a bit compared to what the kef’s were set at but the sound quality from the A40 sounds a lot better than the kef centre.

i guess changing over my denon 1910 to a Pioneer Sclx83 would make a big differences as well.

I run my Apex from a SC-LX72 and I am more than happy with the combination, so the 83 should move it up a notch again.

 

[RickyDeg]

magmax, in case you haven't already: dont forget to "join" The Apex Club thread once you own your Apex system!

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/home-cinema/the-apex-club

I just finally gotten my complete 5.1 system (4xA10 + 1xA40 + 1xAW12) running and it's absolutely stunning. Blows every other speakersystem I've owned off the charts. The interplay between the A10 and A40 is near-perfect, even though the A40 is different. I was worried this would be a problem as I'm normally very sensitive to sound changing in 'timbre' as it moves from speaker to speaker. As you probably know by now, mating different speaker brands and models with eachother is NOT ideal in a multi-channel system. It's a BIG no-no in my world, compared to using identical ones.