Post by davidf on Jul 13, 2017 11:45:48 GMT
A few hints and tips to getting the most out of your AV receiver (updated 23/3/2018):
Before we get to the receiver itself, it is worth setting up your speakers as best as you possibly can to get the best sound you can, before allowing your AV receiver's EQ system to go wild. Place the left and right speakers (in relation to your listening position) using music - get them sounding as good as you can get them. Then add in the centre and rears and try and place them in the best position you can to produce as good a sound as you can get. THEN, run your auto set up. If you've done a good job setting the speakers up, there will be less work for the receiver's auto setup and EQ to do - the less the speakers are EQ'd, the better. Ideally, no EQ at all wil produce a better quality sound, leaving the original signal intact and untouched. Chances are though, the EQ system will make some changes, but hopefully the changes won't be anything drastic.
Do try and keep some space around your AV receiver. They do produce a fair amount of heat, and enclosing it in a cabinet, or placing it in a tight shelf is only going to cause it to overheat. This will shorten the component's life spans, and could lead to an early grave for your receiver!
Run the receiver's auto setup, as it'll sort out the basics you need - speaker distances, speaker levels etc.
Do double check the results of the auto setup though. A microphone can easily be fooled into thinking a speaker is bigger than it actually is because the speaker is placed up against a wall or in a corner, and will more often than not set a small speaker to 'large' - this could result in damaged drive units. If you're in any doubt as to what a particular speaker should be set to, consult your dealer.
It doesn't matter how much your speakers cost or how good they are, you'll never get the best out of them by going for this month's best buy AV receiver at £400. The receiver has one power supply, and as well as supplying the pre-amplifier section, the video boards, the digital section, the display, the remote circuit etc etc, it also has to drive anything between 5 and 13 speakers at any one time. That's a big ask of any amplifier, and don't be fooled by hyped power output ratings that are usually measured when only driving ONE speaker!
Even if you have a small sub/sat speaker package like KEF eggs or a Bowers & Wilkins MT package, these small speakers still sound far better on a £1500 Av receiver than they do a £500 - why? Because the £500 just isn't good enough to allow the speakers to perform to their designed specification. Do you speakers a favour and give them the power and quality they need! Any good quality speaker will respond well to better quality amplification, and more power, whether you use it or not.
Virtually every AV receiver out there will have some sort of room EQ. Expensive ones will have excellent room EQ like DIRAC, but more budget receivers don't have that luxury. By all means let the auto setup run the EQ in order to try and get the best out of your speakers, but once it has done, don't be scared to compare the EQ'd result against turning the EQ off! Room EQ doesn't always sound better, and can produce negative or undesired effects.
On the subject of EQ, whilst it is generally seen as a positive thing, it isn't necessarily necessary. The main issues with rooms are in the bass region, mostly below 300Hz, so it is worth EQ'ing subwoofers (which not all AV receivers do in their auto setup). But messing about with the rest of the frequency range can an adverse effect on quality.
I've taken many phone calls over the years from people who have had their AV receivers for years, but suddenly have no sound coming from it. The first thing to check is to make sure that the input you're listening to has the correct input selected. By this I mean that most inputs on an AV receiver can accept digital and analogue signals. This choice can be set to automatically pick up on any incoming signal and lock onto it, but it can also be chosen manually. The result of the aforementioned phone calls are usually because wandering little fingers have been randomly pressing buttons! There's usually an 'audio select' button, which will cycle through HDMI, digital, or analogue inputs for whatever input you're on. Worth checking first!
If you're one for adjusting things on the fly (during films), it's worth every now and again resetting the receiver and setting it all up from scratch. Sometimes, the settings you mess with can get so mixed up that it just doesn't sound right any more - starting afresh can fix any little niggles about the system not sounding right.
regards
davidf
Before we get to the receiver itself, it is worth setting up your speakers as best as you possibly can to get the best sound you can, before allowing your AV receiver's EQ system to go wild. Place the left and right speakers (in relation to your listening position) using music - get them sounding as good as you can get them. Then add in the centre and rears and try and place them in the best position you can to produce as good a sound as you can get. THEN, run your auto set up. If you've done a good job setting the speakers up, there will be less work for the receiver's auto setup and EQ to do - the less the speakers are EQ'd, the better. Ideally, no EQ at all wil produce a better quality sound, leaving the original signal intact and untouched. Chances are though, the EQ system will make some changes, but hopefully the changes won't be anything drastic.
Do try and keep some space around your AV receiver. They do produce a fair amount of heat, and enclosing it in a cabinet, or placing it in a tight shelf is only going to cause it to overheat. This will shorten the component's life spans, and could lead to an early grave for your receiver!
Run the receiver's auto setup, as it'll sort out the basics you need - speaker distances, speaker levels etc.
Do double check the results of the auto setup though. A microphone can easily be fooled into thinking a speaker is bigger than it actually is because the speaker is placed up against a wall or in a corner, and will more often than not set a small speaker to 'large' - this could result in damaged drive units. If you're in any doubt as to what a particular speaker should be set to, consult your dealer.
It doesn't matter how much your speakers cost or how good they are, you'll never get the best out of them by going for this month's best buy AV receiver at £400. The receiver has one power supply, and as well as supplying the pre-amplifier section, the video boards, the digital section, the display, the remote circuit etc etc, it also has to drive anything between 5 and 13 speakers at any one time. That's a big ask of any amplifier, and don't be fooled by hyped power output ratings that are usually measured when only driving ONE speaker!
Even if you have a small sub/sat speaker package like KEF eggs or a Bowers & Wilkins MT package, these small speakers still sound far better on a £1500 Av receiver than they do a £500 - why? Because the £500 just isn't good enough to allow the speakers to perform to their designed specification. Do you speakers a favour and give them the power and quality they need! Any good quality speaker will respond well to better quality amplification, and more power, whether you use it or not.
Virtually every AV receiver out there will have some sort of room EQ. Expensive ones will have excellent room EQ like DIRAC, but more budget receivers don't have that luxury. By all means let the auto setup run the EQ in order to try and get the best out of your speakers, but once it has done, don't be scared to compare the EQ'd result against turning the EQ off! Room EQ doesn't always sound better, and can produce negative or undesired effects.
On the subject of EQ, whilst it is generally seen as a positive thing, it isn't necessarily necessary. The main issues with rooms are in the bass region, mostly below 300Hz, so it is worth EQ'ing subwoofers (which not all AV receivers do in their auto setup). But messing about with the rest of the frequency range can an adverse effect on quality.
I've taken many phone calls over the years from people who have had their AV receivers for years, but suddenly have no sound coming from it. The first thing to check is to make sure that the input you're listening to has the correct input selected. By this I mean that most inputs on an AV receiver can accept digital and analogue signals. This choice can be set to automatically pick up on any incoming signal and lock onto it, but it can also be chosen manually. The result of the aforementioned phone calls are usually because wandering little fingers have been randomly pressing buttons! There's usually an 'audio select' button, which will cycle through HDMI, digital, or analogue inputs for whatever input you're on. Worth checking first!
If you're one for adjusting things on the fly (during films), it's worth every now and again resetting the receiver and setting it all up from scratch. Sometimes, the settings you mess with can get so mixed up that it just doesn't sound right any more - starting afresh can fix any little niggles about the system not sounding right.
regards
davidf
