Forgot to add the photo

Hey Guys,
I have "Skyfall" on now, and I can notice a LITTLE of the problematic nature of the sound of these scenes. Dame Dench does have a bit of gravel in her voice at times, when the boss leaves after saying good luck and don't cock it up, then some background music starts that has a little low freq. info, but I am not getting any problem sounds. Clear as can be for dialogue even with my SC-X.
DT I am glad you like the Rhapsodies!!!! I heard them first in a speaker demo and was blown away with the music, even in 2 channel, and on lesser speakers than ours. I searched it out and bought it within the hour. But I was not as fortunate as you on the price.
When I finally got my home theater set up, and played it in my system in all 3 glorious channels, I was shocked at how full, sweet, powerful and enveloping the whole front of my room had become, a full symphony here at home!!!!!! And how wonderful!!!!!
Enjoy and keep us up to date on how things are coming?
All the best, happy listening,
God Bless, Wayne

Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for your feedback on Skyfall. The dialogue I have is crystal clear as well, nothing muddy but there is LFE or voices coming through on my subs. I've gone back and played the scene again and the vocals are vibrating the passive radiators in the sub section on my T1s. Are you guys getting the same? Do the vocals coming through the sub section not sound bloated and unnatural to you? Maybe this scene is just tricky and has been mastered with vocals over the LFE.

On a separate note, the passive radiators have a ton of movement when Bond is testing his marksmanship in the same scene. Some pretty amazing engineering how close to gun shots the T1 sounds like and just how much energy the towers are able to produce. The impact is very realistic.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hi Guys, especially Steveo,
I hope others can help you by listening as you have your settings.
BUT, I think, MUCH more to the point (because I remember your complaints with your sound is a long on-going thing), is there any way you can get your hands on another Pre-amp/processor/amp combination? And have a listen in your room on your system, your setup.
Because in the end they are your ears you must please, and I feel strongly that something is wrong in your equipment, or the setup.
I believe it will be very hard for you to replicate your problem on another (not the same brand) well respected piece(s) of equipment.
But what do I know?
All the best in your quest.
God Bless,
Wayne

Hi Wayne
I agree completely and I have actually been looking for a dealer to see if he can lend me a marantz av8802 but haven't found one yet so I am still looking to test.

I am just concerned as I hear everyone running on pure direct and loving the sound for music.

I was even playing a song today on my eq settings (which sounds incredible btw) I then switched to pure direct and my wife who was walking around in another room was saying that sounded terrible in pure direct mode compared to my eqed settings. That was from an unbiased lostener who didn't know what I was doing and doesn't even understand pure direct as well. Lol.

Keep in mind I am only playing mp3 songs through apple TV *gasp*. Maybe this is the issue cause apple TV and mp3 from all accounts is a poor sound source. Could this be why pure direct doesn't sound good? Whenever I play a cd on my ps3 it sounds equally as bad in pure direct as well so it can't be just that. My eq settings make my mp3 on Apple TV sound great.

I am also thinking of getting a Sony hapz1 and ripping my collection again to flac. It's just that at the moment it sounds really good running it through my eq settings on Apple tv so I haven't rushed that. I know better flac files will be better than mp3 of course but I don't think this is the cause of my pure direct issue as it's a huge step down and if anything sounds like an old tape desk on cheap speakers.

It's just that when I hear someone with the exact same Yamaha reciever with the exact same speakers love pure direct it gets me wondering what the issue is. It can't be just the room because it sounds I think the way it should (awesome) with my posted eq settings.

The question is what would he a better improvement? Fixing the source and getting a high Def player like the Sony hapz1 or getting a marantz av8802 or a emotiva xmc1? How is your emotiva by the way Wayne?

Anyone with any experience with pure direct or if you think you might know what my issue could be feel free to chime in.

Hi Steveo,
Thanks for the response and clarification. I am sorry I forget what the issues (what sounds so wrong) when you play music pure direct, so bad that even your wife notices? (Course she is probably used to the same EQ that you are). As I see it, the MAIN (there are lots more) most noticeable difference that will jump out at one with MP3 playback is in the highs, the total absence of AIR and delicate treble information. Bass is not great too. Seems it is sort of made to get the vocals "good enough" so people can recognize what the song is. Ha ha, that was mean, I guess it is not that bad, I never listen to them. EVER.
So re-ripping all your music to FLAC is a highly recommended thing IMHO, as you do have a great system to be able to take advantage of the higher resolution.
IF you can get your hands on another processor, I am pretty confident you will like pure direct.
The Emotiva XMC-1 is great in "Reference Stereo" mode, that bypasses all but the volume control. Clean, clear, lovely sound. BUT that also bypasses the wonderful DIRAC room correction. Some people like DIRAC so well, they never use the Ref. St. mode. I am not so sure, I still need more time with it, because what I LOVE is SURROUND SOUND, NOT 2 CHANNEL, poor old stereo is only good for headphones to me. I did not build this wonderful (to me) home theater to listen to STEREO music. So when I puts on a SACD that outputs DSD, my XMC-1 can ONLY play DSD natively in that Reference Stereo mode, NO surround sound. So IF I want to listen to SACD music in its glory, I have to let my Oppo decode it and play with my analog 7.1 inputs. This sounds REALLY GREAT! Blu-rays and any disc that plays by way of HDMI (which I CAN do with the SACDs) then the XMC-1 will do the decoding and it sounds GREAT as well. I try to listen between Analog in 7.1 (Oppo processing DSD) and the XMC-1 doing the processing, which can now use DIRAC, and honestly, I have not got a handle on which is best yet, they are both spot on, wonderful to me!!!!
There are lots of ways to skin the cat, but I believe if you listen around to some other equipment, you will find something you really love and MOST LIKELY (but who knows?) not have to EQ the sound at all.
I hope this helps, since you have a sound you like now, happy listening, but when you can, I believe you will find a bit better sound.
Let us know.
God Bless, Wayne