Audio Muffled

[Plywodstatebum]

Our 5.1 surround system Has gotten harder to understand over the past few years, it has got so bad that we have to use the CC and read what they are saying. I don't want to keep buying new things to slowly weed out the problem so I thought I would ask here.
I have a 3 year old Yamaha Receiver, 20 year old speakers that cost over $2000.oo then. And I'm using DirecTV as the source (Genie Box) , Samsung 7100 65" HDTV.
So where would you start?

 

[harshness]

I suppose the first step is to make sure you've got your Dolby/PCM settings right on the Genie. Whatever it is, change it and see what happens.

Trying a HDMI connected DVD or Blu-ray player on the Genie's input would isolate a problem with the HDMI input.

Next, I'd hook the speakers up to some other receiver to see if the speakers are OK. If the problem has been getting progressively worse, I'd suspect the speakers but they're perhaps not as trivial to test. If the speakers have any kind of electronics associated with them (like Bose 901s) or otherwise have an unusual impedance, they may be dying.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

PCM setting did not change anything, I have the HDTV wired to the Receiver by way of HDMI and Optical for the sound. And the Genie wired the same way thru the Receiver. Is there a different way to wire the system?

 

[harshness]

PCM setting did not change anything, I have the HDTV wired to the Receiver by way of HDMI and Optical for the sound.

Wiring optical from the TV is kind of unusual and typically doesn't achieve the desired result. Do you use the TV's tuner frequently? Know that the optical (or coaxial) out of the TV is really only for the TV's tuner. Such a connection typically will NOT pass multi-channel sound from other inputs (such as HDMI) back to the AVR.

And the Genie wired the same way thru the Receiver. Is there a different way to wire the system?

That depends on your receiver. Ideally you would use only an HDMI connection from the Genie to the AVR and on to the TV for both video and sound.

Knowing the model of the Yamaha receiver would be a quick shortcut around several technical questions.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

RX-V567 is the receiver, I didn't get sound until I connected the Optical when I hooked up the system a few years ago. I guess I could try again. I just hate switching anything because of my Harmony remotes need to be reset.
I just checked all the connections. Here is how it's hooked up.
Samsung UN65F7100AFXZA - HDMI (arc) to Yamaha Rec. out HDMI and Optical to AV1

Genie HDMI out to Yamaha HDMI 2 in and Optical between the 2.

 

[harshness]

The RX series is designed to be used with HDMI connections wherever possible. Changing the configuration on the AVR shouldn't change your Harmony configuration. You just need to make sure that the AVR's Genie input is set to use HDMI for both the audio and video connections (the default). The connection diagram that Yamaha offers covers it pretty well (you may have the HDMI inputs rearranged):

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/file/?language=en&site=usa.yamaha.com&asset_id=35717

It is often a lot of extra trouble to use the optical or coaxial (since some DIRECTV receivers don't offer optical any more) outputs and you just don't need to go there.

Again, if you don't get sound with the HDMI connection alone, check and see if the PCM setting helps.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

I just checked all the connections. Here is how it's hooked up.
Samsung UN65F7100AFXZA - HDMI (arc) to Yamaha Rec. out HDMI and Optical to AV1

Genie HDMI out to Yamaha HDMI 2 in and Optical between the 2.

Is the HDMI arc the right one?

 

[harshness]

Is the HDMI arc the right one?

HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) is uniquely on the HDMI OUT. It is how the TV sends its audio back to the receiver without an separate connection for audio. See page 70 of the manual.

What's hooked up to HDMI 1 on the AVR? Does it sound okay?

 

[Plywodstatebum]

HDMI 1 is the Blue Ray player and we still need the CC to understand what people are saying. Even on the new Superman vs Batman

 

[Plywodstatebum]

I disconnected all the optic cables and I still have sound, but no change on the quality.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

I think this all started with the Genie or the Denon receiver that got switched out at the same time. I moved it (denon) to my bedroom surround system because it was acting up. When I switched channels it sounded like the audio when out of phase and I had to hit Help on the remote for it to go back to normal.

 

[mdram]

if its happening on the bluray and genie, i would look at the avr/speakers
can you try diff speakers?

maybe try rerunning the setup for room correction

 

[Plywodstatebum]

The more I play with the system the more I think it's the Yamaha, it has to many audio setting

 

[harshness]

If two sources on two different inputs are having the same problem, it points to the AVR or the speakers. Most settings on the AVR either work or they don't; there's not much middle ground (unless you're trying to force the receiver into some sort of oddball surround mode or you've got the speakers hooked to the wrong outputs). With the Genie as the input, the AVR's surround mode should automatically set itself for Dolby D. If it doesn't, you've got something set wrong on the Genie or there's something bad related to setting surround modes in your Harmony macros.

You never answered the question about whether or not the speakers had some sort of active electronics (such that they need to be plugged into power) associated with them.

As a last ditch on the AVR, you should try a factory reset to undo all of the helpful user configurations that have been applied. With Yamaha gear, this can be relatively complicated.

 

[harshness]

The more I play with the system the more I think it's the Yamaha, it has to many audio setting

I wouldn't venture to presume that there isn't something wrong with the speakers without trying them on a known working receiver (which you don't seem to have access to). Fancier speakers can have all sorts of magical electronic components in their crossovers that may be subject to failure. There can also be issues with running 2ohm speakers with a receiver that isn't set up for them.

 

[mdram]

brand/model of the speakers?

 

[Plywodstatebum]

These are my 20 year old speakers.

 

[mdram]

i would start by trying diff speakers
even ordering a pair of bookshelves off amazon if you cant get any other access to them

 

[harshness]

If there is no center channel speaker, that could contribute mightily to muffled voices as voices are usually centered there with only echos on the fronts and/or surrounds (I think a 4.1 system has no rears). As audio mixtures have become more surround oriented, this is something that would be more of a problem now than it used to be. I'd hook up a spare speaker (or temporarily move one of the rears) to the center channel output and see if the voices don't sound a whole lot clearer.

Does FM radio or a CD/music played through the Blu-ray player (in DIRECT audio mode) sound mushy too? A set of headphones may be a quick solution to testing whether the DSP has bit the big one.

 

[mdram]

4.1 should be ok
you just have to run the setup on the receiver so it knows what speakers are available
it should redirect the center channel to one or both of the front pair
before i added my center i was running 2.1, everything was fine.