What? Cant hear the voices

I just had my processor upgraded with a much improved DAC. Granted, I spent alot of money but the point I want to make is that the center channel voices are so unbelievably clear. I'm sure you can achieve this too. At 50 my ears are ok but my eyesight is fading at an alarming rate! I am a huge fan of Theta. You can pick up used processors for a song. You should really think about 5.1 if you really want to enjoy your movies. ken

I think this may work pretty good for you. Check it out

http://audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=YAMAYSP800B&product_name=YSP-800%20Digital%20Sound%20Projector

Audio compression will help minimize the problem, but is this a solution or a band aid?

If you can't hear voice then something is wrong with your speaker quality or you are not properly using the phantom function to send center channel info to your main speakers (as you have no dedicated center channel).

Built in speakers in most TV's are NOTORIOUSLY bad....they are usualy boomy in the bass and suffer from mid range compression (all in order to sell in the two minute demo sales floor test - loud sells - so engineers design a TV that requires you to significantly jack up the volume to hear the voice and that way they sell more TV's than a competitor with an accurate sounding TV that is all too clear at lower levels! BTW this same technique is also used to sell speakers.....jack up the bass and the treble and kill the mids....actually easy to do even a speaker with "flat response" may have these features built in...all they do is narrow the mid range dispersion and use a low cost design that compresses the mid range at higher volumes...in the shop demo you tend to turn up these speakers louder than you would a more balanced design)

I looked at the pictures of your system and room. I wonder about the effects of all that glass behind the speakers. Might a curtain reduce some of the problematic reflections that the window likely introduces?

Audphile1: Thanks for the suggestion. I looked up the reference and it seems to be an elegant solution for someone such as me who is not needing the ultimate in surround. Do you have one of the Yamaha units and do you like it?