Where is the home cinema?

[rendu]

In the last movies that I have watched I really asked myself where the home cinema was. The reality is that more and more hollywood action movies do not appeal to me mutch (maybe I'm growing old) and the normal movies (not action) 90 % is only played using the centre speaker. Yesterday I was watching the latest from Woody Allen and I can assure you that the surround speakers did not even turned on. The feeling of being in a cinema for these type of movies with my setting is "0". Then in the very rare cases that I watch an action movie I have another issue which is that when the action comes into play and the 5 speakers turn up, I have to put the volume all the way down so, I spend the movie turning volume up and down.

I was considering options to improve my current setting, one of them was to add a subwoofer but, I am really wondering if this is worth it. If 90% of the movies are played in the center speaker only then, maybe this is the only part that is worth upgrading. Or, maybe it is not even worth it to have a home cinema and it is better to just have a stereo setting. In that case at least you hear the whole movie using 2 chanels instead of just one.

Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[kinda]

In terms of the loudness I've found Audyssey Dynamic to really help, so you may need a more modern receiver.

Even watching films like The History Boys which is dialogue based I've found that there is usually some use of the surrounds at times, though mainkly for ambience.

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

Rendu,

Replace your AV Receiver, get a sub that compliments your Wharfedale set-up, i.e. SW150, calibrate your speakers correctly and you will have your home cinema.

Ronald

 

[rendu]

I believe that I am goint to try with a sub. I will probably order one SW150 today. By the way.... does the subwoofer work or better plays any role when the only speaker active is the center channel, ex. for dialog sections?

About the receiver, I purchased the AVR 280 this year taking advantage of a good offer. I listen to a lot of music so this is why I chose Arcam. It used to be 1.200 pound receiver when it was released and it got 5 stars here so, why do you say that I should change it? Was this a wrong/mistaken rating? Do you think one of the new receivers could have been better for the 500 pound that I spent on the Arcam? I would not be willing to spent more on a receiver so I doubt that any of the new 500 pound AVRs will sound better.

Thanks!

 

[professorhat]

I think possibly your main issue is that the movies you're watching don't warrant sound coming from every speaker. I can't imagine the latest Woody Allen film has much more than dialogue going on, and having dialogue come out of the rears when someone is speaking on screen would be frankly quite bizarre.

90% of movies are not played on the centre speaker only - even dialogue heavy films, if well mixed, should use the surrounds for subtle effects e.g. the general noise of a caf‚ or train station - perhaps you're not noticing them? Or if they're genuinely not there on the movies you tend to watch, then perhaps you're correct and a stereo solution would be better for your needs.

 

[bigboss]

For movies, the subwoofer makes the maximum impact to get that "Home Cinema" experience. Invest in a good subwoofer & let us know what you think.

 

[Chewy]

And as Ronald has said, calibrate your speakers, if you're not hearing any surround effects when the discs you are watching have a 5.1 mix (even if they're dialogue heavy) I would wager that the speakers aren't set up correctly.

Also check what surround sound mode you have selected on the amp, to make sure its not down mixing into stereo or anything daft like that!

 

[rendu]

Thanks for all replies. As most people recommend I will look at the possibility of adding a sub. I was going to order one this afternoon but they just told me at the local shop that they do not have this brand. I will have to wait until I go to Bilbao for Christmas so...

I will also review the setting of the speakers. I played around once with the delay settings but when I entered the correct/aproximate distance I noticed that the music suffered too much so I put it back to the factory setting 0.1.

 

[Chewy]

rendu:

Thanks for all replies. As most people recommend I will look at the possibility of adding a sub. I was going to order one this afternoon but they just told me at the local shop that they do not have this brand. I will have to wait until I go to Bilbao for Christmas so...

I will also review the setting of the speakers. I played around once with the delay settings but when I entered the correct/aproximate distance I noticed that the music suffered too much so I put it back to the factory setting 0.1.

The speakers distances won't have any affect on the volume of sound coming from your surround sound speakers, nor will a sub (though it will undoubtedly improve your home cinema experiance). Speaker distance only affect the timing of the sounds reaching the listening position - and you do need to set these, so I would recommend remeasuring and inputting them again.

You need to either run an auto-set-up routine on the amp if it has one (using the supplied mic), or do it manually using a SPL meter. If you don't have one of these (or can't / don't want to get hold of one), you will have to do it manually by playing the amps test tone, and adjusting the individual speaker levels until they all sound as if they are at a similar level at the main listening position.