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Times when there is too much LFE...

Master& Commander cannonball sequence, LOTR trilogy, any Pixar movie, etc. All have some spectacular LFE. My system has never had any problem handling. Though it is 70/30 HT and is based around Definitive Tech speakers, I have done my homework re crossover pts, room graphing, acoustic treatments etc. No major room modes when all was said and done. In summary, it has handled everything I've thrown at it...Until now.

I rented Iron Man the other night, and was actually watching at a lower volume due to my son being with me. Several scenes, when IronMan first appears for example, the LFE seems way too loud compared to the rest of the sound. I went and adjusted the volume on my sub and also the powered subs on my towers.. Still it seemed the lfe was way out of sync.
Walls seemed to shake, Drop ceiling vibrations, a yell from my wife, etc...The depth charger scene in UB571(forgt the name) never even did this. Any thoughts>
zigonht
mtrot
804 posts
 
Yep, I watched Iron Man twice in the last few days, and I found myself in the menu of my new Yamaha RX-V1800 trying to turn down the sub. It seemed at times there was incredible LFE going on that I couldn't figure out why.

I also noticed that even with the master volume turned down pretty low, the bass was way more prominent than I think I have observed with any other movie.
zigonht OP
124 posts
 
Ok, at least it wasn't just me...Last night I adjusted vol on sub. Again, a very strong LFE presence still. I was going to play around with crossovers etc. then thought to myself. "The movie isn't even that good, why bother"...
mhelming
24 posts
 
I agree as well. I watched it several time in last few days and found the LFE reproduction to be skewed and unexpected, i.e. loud when the image didn't suggest that scale of noise, or quiet when you saw something of scale moving, crashing, or exploding.

And even when you expected loud, there was some bloat or unannatural overhang to some effects. It is hard to find a middle ground between LOTR trilogy DTS superhot LFE, Star Wars, and then your fairly regular movies that do not have a soundtrack intensive approach.

The curse of the hobby...no set and forget...that's why we have remotes...annoying as it is during set-up...

I'm glad someone else feels my pain
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Perhaps it would be helpful to know what your audio setups are. Were you using lossless Dolby TrueHD via HDMI or downconverted to DD 5.1 via SP/DIF?
mhelming
24 posts
 
I'm using standard DVD spun/upsampled on an Esoteric DV-60 and powered by a Classe ssp-300/ca-5200 combination. I have Atlantic Technology 8200e system in a 5.2 configuration, so suffice to say I am intimately aware with most LFE playback (2 subs let me know).

They're not as earth shattering as my Velodyne dd-15 is (shocking really) but they do a great job, fast quick, and plenty of impact with a pair (only way to get system to an Ultra 2 spec). Haven't gone for blu-ray yet as I'm waiting for an Esoteric/Classe/McIntosh release of a player.
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