What? Cant hear the voices

My hearing is fine, but I frequently struggle to hear dialog when playing a DVD movie in 7.1. I think it is mainly an issue with recording and mixing of the soundtrack, but perhaps it is also partly an issue with the quality of my center channel speaker, as Fathertime suggests. I let my pre-pro balance all the channels with the auto-setup microphone, but the dialog is just not loud enough against the music and effects.

Some AV receivers (Yamaha?) have a "dialog lift" feature that supposedly makes the dialog stand out more.

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to be out of town for awhile but when back I will try the suggestions carefully from simplest onward.

It is not your age.....this is a common problem with HT in my experience. Much of what you are watching on a DVD was mastered for movie theatres....i.e. for vastly expensive systems with huge dynamic range.....which is obviously why the sound has more clarity on your Vr4 SR's. (a way better speaker than your TV speakers which probably compress/distort the bass and muddy the mid range clarity as the drivers go outside their linear response region at noormal movie SPL's).

BTW: Mid range compression at proper THX movie theatre levels is extremely common even in many higher quality speakers.

I suggest you just phantom the center channel sound through the Vr4 SR's and turn down the distorted TV sound altogether.

If you want a speaker with a particularly forward and crystal clear mid range then try to audition ATC. (This is not a plug for ATC ....they well are known for their mid range clarity)

Dynamic range is what adds clarity...and you need speakers that can handle what is on a DVD soundtrack.

More thoughts...

Some actors just plain talk to softly!

Example: "Stand and Deliver" starring Edward James Almos.

I love this guy ("Crocket, can I see you in my office?")
but he is what Seinfeld calls a "soft talker".

A solution to this can be found on some Denon receivers.
They have a feature that lets you program the volume control in adjustable increments.
I.E. Linear, +5 db, +10 db etc.

I "jockey" the volume all the time especially for action movies (up for dialog, down for explosions).

I found that distance-wise, the front L/R speakers need to be the same distance as the center from your litening/viewing position, otherwise, there are out of phase problems created as a result of the different distances of voice content speakers and this muddies the voice. I used a measuring tape and in my case, pushed the front L/R speakers back until they were the same distance as the center, which sits on top of my monitor.

Try it, it makes a huge improvement!