🏡 Better Homes Home Theater - Getting the best sound out of Denon AVR-X1700H

[Pro Stock John]

We had our main TV revamped last month, we are now running an LG OLED G2 TV, 4K modem, and a AVR-X1700H Denon receiver. The system has 6 speakers, 3 front wall, 2 ceiling and one off-center subwoofer.

I want to try to make the system sound a little better, don't get me wrong it sounds great, I just wonder if there is more. I read that some apps have different sound settings, 5.1 vs 7.1 for Netflix?

Our speakers are old though the AV guy said they are decent. I'm going to try to find the info on them.

Click to read more...

 

[Mook]

The av should have self calibration. Use that and you should get pretty good results.

 

[blue-sun]

We had our main TV revamped last month, we are now running an LG OLED G2 TV, 4K modem, and a AVR-X1700H Denon receiver. The system has 6 speakers, 3 front wall, 2 ceiling and one off center subwoofer.

I want to try to make the system sound a little better, don't get me wrong it sounds great, I just wonder if there is more. I read that some apps have different sound settings, 5.1 vs 7.1 for Netflix?

Our speakers are old though the AV guy said they are decent. I'm going to try to find the info on them.

Netflix doesn't do 7.1, at least not when I looked into it earlier last year after my home theater was done.

our receiver should have an option to adjust the speaker distance for your exact room placement. Get your speaker in the right spot in your room, measure from the seating area (the central one if possible) and get the distance from the seat to each speaker.

Here are the Dolby links for 5.1.2 and 7.1.2 speaker placement:

5.1.2 Overhead Speakers

Use this step-by-step guide to optimize your home theater with 5.1.2 overhead speakers enabled with Dolby Atmos. Experience your entertainment in premium Dolby sound.

www.dolby.com

7.1.2 Overhead Speaker Setup

Learn how to set up your 7.1.2 overhead speakers to optimize the sound in your home theater.

www.dolby.com

I looked into this site but didn't end up using any of their products. I was looking at getting some corner bass traps but never ended getting them yet.

Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Sound Diffusers - GIK Acoustics

Order Direct - GIK Acoustics designs made-to-order bass traps, acoustic panels and acoustic diffusion for home theaters, recording studios, restaurants, listening rooms, auditoriums, and any environment where listening is critical. 5-Star Rated from +500 reviews for our acoustic treatment panels...

www.gikacoustics.com

You might want to also look into acoustic panels if you have alot of echo, that might help with the sound as well.

 

[Pro Stock John]

I added a pic of the kitchen/great room setup. I'm not going to move any speakers around they are in-wall / in-ceiling.

I think because it's a big room the sound has to be cranked pretty good.

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

We had our main TV revamped last month, we are now running an LG OLED G2 TV, 4K modem, and a AVR-X1700H Denon receiver. The system has 6 speakers, 3 front wall, 2 ceiling and one off center subwoofer.

I want to try to make the system sound a little better, don't get me wrong it sounds great, I just wonder if there is more. I read that some apps have different sound settings, 5.1 vs 7.1 for Netflix?

Our speakers are old though the AV guy said they are decent. I'm going to try to find the info on them.

View attachment 146058

As Mook said, use the included microphone to calibrate the receiver, as it has Audyssey built in. Depending on the receiver it'll have you place the microphone in the main seating position, or might have you move it around to different positions. It'll then create a reference that the receiver users for the different inputs.

Edit: It's in the manual here:

https://manuals.denon.com/AVRX1700H/NA/EN/GFNFSYhguxmdhl.php

And this is the process:

https://manuals.denon.com/AVRX1700H/NA/EN/GFNFSYnuokgukf.php

 

[Mook]

Netflix doesn't do 7.1, at least not when I looked into it earlier last year after my home theater was done.

our receiver should have an option to adjust the speaker distance for your exact room placement. Get your speaker in the right spot in your room, measure from the seating area (the central one if possible) and get the distance from the seat to each speaker.

Here are the Dolby links for 5.1.2 and 7.1.2 speaker placement:

5.1.2 Overhead Speakers

Use this step-by-step guide to optimize your home theater with 5.1.2 overhead speakers enabled with Dolby Atmos. Experience your entertainment in premium Dolby sound.

www.dolby.com

7.1.2 Overhead Speaker Setup

Learn how to set up your 7.1.2 overhead speakers to optimize the sound in your home theater.

www.dolby.com

I looked into this site but didn't end up using any of their products. I was looking at getting some corner bass traps but never ended getting them yet.

Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Sound Diffusers - GIK Acoustics

Order Direct - GIK Acoustics designs made-to-order bass traps, acoustic panels and acoustic diffusion for home theaters, recording studios, restaurants, listening rooms, auditoriums, and any environment where listening is critical. 5-Star Rated from +500 reviews for our acoustic treatment panels...

www.gikacoustics.com

You might want to also look into acoustic panels if you have alot of echo, that might help with the sound as well.

Netflix does Atmos, close enough.

 

[blue-sun]

Netflix does Atmos, close enough.

 

[Mook]

I had my system professionally calibrated but recently ran through the self setup since I added ceiling speakers. Cleaned up the distances and adjusted the levels slightly, pretty close to the pro calibration actually.

 

[Pro Stock John]

Thanks guys I don't know were the microphone is, I'll ask the a/v guy.

 

[Mook]

I'm sure there are cheaper solutions out there but here is the OEM replacement.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ZT3MR7G/?tag=tcg21-20

 

[blue-sun]

I have also used the free THX app. If you have the ability to mirror your phone to the TV, this is a great tool to adjust audio and video.

THX- Tune-Up App

Learn how to set your home theater audio-video for THX-level performance with our free app.

www.thx.com

 

[Bru]

Speaker calibration can definitely help, especially when it comes to whether or not the system recognizes the speaker as a large speaker or small speaker, which will affect what is sent to the subwoofer. On my Yamaha, sometimes it would log my bookshelves as large speakers, when I wanted them to be a small speakers. Which I thought was odd, but I went in and made the change. Otherwise, the distance measurements were spot-on.

 

[Pro Stock John]

Thanks guys, I'll check out all your comments and links in more detail and do a bunch of reading.

That app THX looks interesting if I can actually get it to pair with everything, because that microphone thing would need to have a 15 foot cord for me to run it all the way from the Denon receiver.

 

[Mook]

The mic cord is pretty long.

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

My concern with using the THX app on a mobile device vs using the dedicated microphone is the frequency range limits. The dedicated microphone would have a greater dynamic range than a cell phone microphone. So it’ll be more accurate. Yeah, it would probably get you close, but I’d opt for the what the factory designed the software around.

 

[Pro Stock John]

Yeah I'd like to try the microphone, I'll reach out to the AV guys and see if they have one. They are supposed to order us another component, balance? thing, which would 'balance' the signal coming from Comcast.... Whjch might be a good opportunity when they are here to use the mic and work on the sound mapping. Evan the a/v guy who does the programming I think did the self tune but I still having this nagging wonder if the mic thing would add to the overall sound shape.

 

[Milhouse]

Won’t get 7.1 out of 5 speakers.

Like others stated. Run the Audyssey setup on the AVR. It does a good job especially if you take the time and set up for multiple seating positions.

 

[blue-sun]

Interesting video about audio in movies/tv shows.

Personally, I have used subtitles at home on everything but live sports.

 

[Intel]

Interesting video about audio in movies/tv shows.

Personally, I have used subtitles at home on everything but live sports.

Is that on just a regular flat screen tv? Or with a sound bar/surround sound?

 

[Pro Stock John]

Good share, we are tending to use subtitles.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Interesting video about audio in movies/tv shows.

Personally, I have used subtitles at home on everything but live sports.

I have been using Solution 1 for the last 27 years.

 

[blue-sun]

I have been using subtitles for 20+ years, I think the first time I used them was on Lord of the Rings. I never read the books, I saw all 3 in theaters and bought the DVD, then bluray, then bluray extnted, now I have the 4k extended editions.

I found for the fantasy genre, subtitles helps me keep track of the different areas/cities and the characters. It's not like "Detroit" and "Bob", so first watch I had a little trouble following that stuff, subtitles helped me. Now, it's weird to not have on subtitles.

 

[Bru]

Looking back at the original photos, I wonder if those speakers being at near ceiling level have anything to do with the feeling that something is lacking. Are they angled down behind the grilles? Or are they facing straight out? I thought ear-level was generally recommended for fronts and centers.

 

[Broke EF]

Damn John, if only you knew someone with calibration equipment....

 

[Pro Stock John]

I have done nothing to calibrate the speakers lol.