@sunshdw Thanks for the info. I read about the Kaleidoscope a while back, and was humbled by the investment cost. But then I must have a birthday coming one of these days... Dirac seems a reasonable way to go and Black Friday is just around a corner or two. Btw, thanks to tariffs the UMIK is now around $140.
Optimized Center Channel
Many years ago, I bought a seven channel AV receiver and speakers and voila! home theatre. No matter that my room layout is far from optimal or the equipment was more mainstream than high end. Pop in a Blu-Ray and the system came to life. My system is now 7.2.4 with very good electronics, and despite technology improvements and investment in better equipment, my home theatre experience leaves me wanting just a bit. Don’t get me wrong, my system is very, very good, and I can hear Atmos at work much of the time, albeit limited by the audio track and ability of my processor to enhance it. However, it’s not like sitting in an IMAX theatre and having your visual and auditory senses titillated. But hey—my space isn’t the best and can’t change, my screen does not go from wall to wall, and I don’t have megawatts going into mega speakers and subwoofers placed all around the listening space to bombard me.
As DVDs have effectively disappeared, my HT entertainment is brought into my home via streaming. I attempted to maximize the process with ethernet to fiber converters, a high-end network switch, a highly modified Apple TV-X streaming box, and quality electronics and cables. Not the best money can buy (that’s not me or my budget) but pretty darned good.
HT constitutes 85% of my entertainment time, the remainder is audio. The audio side of my house has dramatically improved since I first dipped my toe into those waters. My latest and hopefully one of the last improvements on the audio side is a new amplifier, a Coda 16, which replaced a McIntosh MC152. I really enjoyed the Mac, but the Coda is another level altogether (at triple the price, it better be). The clarity, soundstage and power of the Coda puts a smile on my face every time I sit down for a listen. It has also added considerable weight, punch and presence to my HT experience driving the front L/R speakers. The dramatic improvement on the audio side made me wonder…
My hearing is nowhere near what it used to be, actors don’t enunciate, I watch too many shows from the UK (I suspect the problem is reversed when they watch American shows) and the dialog is not optimally recorded. As a result, I have subtitles on all the time. Surely there is a better way. Thus, and finally, my question to you in the Audigon HT community: how to overcome the dialog dilemma. Is a dedicated high-end/ audio quality amplifier to drive the all-important center channel the answer? My Marantz AV10 processor is by no means shabby, but do the Storms, Trinnovs or Lyngdorfs of the world smooth dialog’s rough edges? My center speaker is a Focal Kanta 2 connected to one of the three 300-watt outputs on an Emotiva XPA-11 Gen 3 amplifier.
I appreciate learning how others live with, or have overcome, the dialog issue. Thanks for your time and input,
Robert
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@traubr Yeah, a few years ago it was a ton to get into them but they've realized that very issue and have changed a lot over the last 5yrs or so. It's still more than an AppleTV or Roku Ultra but it's come way down. I'm looking at the UMIK on their site and it says $79USD |
@traubr my recommendations on moving your center channel was as a means to prove proof of concept, figure out if the center channel itself was the issue or the placement or the amplification. For sure realize that wouldn’t be the long term solution for you. Sounds like you have already identified it’s not the center channel or the amplification, I would have been surprised if it was. From a streaming standpoint, the Kaleidoscope is a fantastic option but it’s not a replacement for Apple TV or Roku if you want to watch content that is for streaming only, example being Ted Lasso or Smoke the Kaleidoscope Isn’t an option that I’m aware of. It actually replaces a Blu-Ray or 4k player. It provides a way of streaming movies with the same quality as you get with physical media. It doesn’t allow you to use streaming services like Apple TV + or Netflix or Disney Plus. You buy the content, mostly movies from their library and it’s a digital copy that is equal to the physical media quality you would get. @sunshdw looks like you are quite knowledgeable on the Kaleidoscope, is my understanding of its capabilities correct? Hoping I’m actually wrong, if it supported Netflix and other services, delivered it in a 1 bit to 1 bit conversion, uncompressed, now we are taking, would be awesome but I think the compression starts with the streaming apps / services.
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I would try borrowing a 3-way center channel from Paradigm, model 70C. This is a size that should fit where your Kanta Center is now, without necessitating any rearranging of components. Dial in tonal profile using your AVP’s PEQ that smooths any deviation between the Kanta No 2 voicing and the 70C’s…then listen to some soundtracks. I think you will be pleased with what a center channel can do that eliminates the phase cancellation that comes from 2 way MTM designs, no matter their cost. |
You have a very common issue once you expand from 5.1. Also think Marantz HT receivers make this worse. You can always raise the gain on the center channel, but that can lead to it being out of balance, when panning dialog will change the volume. Almost all HT receivers have "dynamic range" adjustment. Find the setting and play with it. What it does is change the DB difference between the lowest sound and the highest sound. All multi-ch movies are set to be played at "reference volume" at this volume the dialog will be crisp and clear, but it will also be shaking the walls when any action happens. To compensate for this, you adjust the dynamic range. You will get the dialog volume boost, it will balance the lowest low and highest high out. Mine is set to low most of the time, have no dialog issues at all. Also when doing room correction, you can select the volume to adjust to. Reference volume is default. That will set it all up to be played at a loud volume. Reference on a Marantz receiver is "0DB" My volume is usually in the 30's when watching a movie. |
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