Anyone else think this is odd?

How does it sound? Does it sound better? I did the YPAO once on mine and it set the fronts to small(3 identical JBL's w/15" drivers, ported), my wall mounted surrounds to large, and my sub to 120Hz. It didn't sound bad, just different. And, bass/surround heavy, as I suspected. The eq took the fronts down several notches because of the horns. As for +/- 3dB, that's just not realistic(unless the room is perfectly symmetrical and whisper quiet, of course).

The different DVD mixes will make you insane, because the problem is nothing you can fix without mucking up all your other movies and music, unless . . .

Unless you could make presets in the receiver that could fix the most common problems you have with those fussy discs. Maybe, one that clears up low dialogue, another that tones down the bloated bass, etc. That would be grand!

Also, after you do the YPAO, if there is something you don't like: Adjust it in giant leaps . . . , and then scale it back with small adjustments. If you just adjust something a-little-bit-at-a-time, then soon enough you won't remember how it sounded in the first place. This is why I wish more receivers had numerical adjustments for the levels. Then you could just write down the original value, and go back to it for a quick compare.

Good luck, vij. And, don't let it make you too crazy.

I don't have the golden ears, nselson. And I'm honestly unsure if it sounds better. I know it sounds a bit different. There are times when the mains overpower the centre, so that's why I bumped it up. They still do occassionally, but only on stuff that has low-mixed dialogue, like Dead Like Me. There are times when music and movies seem light on bass, and times when they're bass-heavy. I guess that means I've found a middle ground. Crap. I wish I could get someone to do this for me. I like tweaking and all, but it gets frustrating sometimes.

Thanks for saying that +/- 3 dB is unrealistic -- that actually sets my mind at ease! I thought something was out of whack with my setup, and was getting worried.

So basically, YPAO is not infallible. They make mistakes. That's okay, that's why I have my analog SPL meter. Even armed with that, though, I notice the bass is still higher than all the other channels using the test tones (more like test fuzzy sounds). But when I listen to music or movies, I find I don't hear (and feel) it as much as I expect to. Oh well. I guess I just need to fine tune a bit more. Did I mention how frustrating this is?

cheers, vij

Thanks, nselson. I try not to let the system make me nuts. I have to remember that most times, I actually like fiddling with things, tweaking settings, and such. I've considered having different presets for different discs, but then I'd have to remember which number corresponds to what I want. I think it'd just be easier to tweak things on the fly.

Good advice on the "giant leap" approach to adjustments. Basically, I ran YPAO, wrote down the numbers it came up with, then tweaked. But I might try it again with a huge manual adjustment -- it would probably be easier making smaller adjustments afterward that way. Thanks for the advice!

cheers, supervij