[Guide] A Few Tips on Multimedia Surround Sound Setup
Feb 3, 2017 at 3:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 2

Bagheera

100+ Head-Fier
Joined
Feb 4, 2013
Posts
115
Likes
98
Hey Everyone!
 
I recently got to tinkering with the surround sound setup on my PC because I happened to find a set of THX-Certified Altec Lansing ADA995 at the local thrift store for $15. This is a 200W RMS 5.1 set that sounds surprisingly good despite its age.
For many years now I have owned a set of Logitech Z-5500, whose performance disappointed me ever since the moment I first unboxed it, and it just never got better. Originally, my intention was to replace my Z-5500 with the ADA995, because initial comparative listening showed the latter to sound much better.
But as I tinkered the the two setups, I learned a few surprising things about both the Z-5500 (needless to say I now respect it very much) and sound card settings, a subject I thought I knew very well.
 
I would like to share my discovery with you, because in the course of my learning I read through a lot of posts from various sites (including this one, which I frequent), and I noticed a lot of common issues users tend to have.
 
SECTION I - Tips on Speaker Setup
 
  1. Toe-In the Satellites: Although a lot of people place their front speakers facing forward, this is often incorrect. The reason is high frequencies are very directional, and depending on the speakers in question (some have wider dispersion pattern than others), even changing the angle of placement by a few degrees can lead to a drastic dropoff in treble, leading to performance that sounds "muffled" and indistinct. Not all speakers suffer evenly in this regard, so adjust the angles to your liking.
    [SPECIAL NOTE] - I have read a lot of complaints in the past regarding the Z-5500 "sounding like crap". One of the common issues people spoke off was a severely-lacking treble response, which mirrored my own experience - despite several detailed professional reviews containing frequency measurements showing the Z-5500 to have a fairly even frequency response for a consumer class speaker set. In my recent tests (I picked up a set of Z-2300 and a set of Z-6 at the thrift store; I also tested a set of Z-5300 there), I have come to realize that a large number of Logitech speakers using phase plug driver designs (e.g. Z-6, Z-2200/2300, Z-680, Z-5300/5500, Z-906, and so on) are HIGHLY DIRECTIONAL. I strongly advise the satellites of these sets be pointed directly at your listening position for best performance..
     
  2. Remove Speaker Grills: This is optional, but while metallic grills are generally pretty transparent, I noticed that fabric covers can sometimes lead to a slight reduction in treble response. The grills on the Z-5500 for example definitely makes a slight but audible difference, and after some comparative listening I decided to remove them from my set.
 
SECTION II - Tips on Sound Card Settings
  1. Use "Full Range" Option & Disable LFE/Subwoofer Output: One of the disappointments I had with the Z-5500 immediately upon unboxing it for the first time was that the bass sounded... really awful. The subwoofer sounds very wimpy, and even turned up all the way, its reproduction of bass content was very inconsistent - I can hear deep bass, but car crashes and explosions never have any sense of impact, no "punch". It's almost as if the upper/mid-bass is entirely missing. Hmm...
    After tinkering with sound card settings to no avail, I attributed the issue to the speakers and gave up. I began using headphones more and more, and only turned on the Z-5500 when I wanted to give my ears a break.

    I first realized I was doing something wrong when I was doing comparative listening between the Z-5500 and the ADA995. I was testing the ADA995 in stereo mode (the cables of the rear speakers aren't long enough, and I am still waiting on the couplers to arrive), which meant the sound card was set to 2.0/2.1 output. Under this setting, any LFE information is downmixed into the stereo output, and the speaker system does its own high-pass filtering (assigning the appropriate bass information based on how the speaker manufacturer tuned the set).
    And this turned out to be the key. When I tested the Z-5500 in stereo mode, I was surprised by how good it sounded - the bass was suddenly very punchy and dynamic. But the moment I reverted back to 5.1 mode, the bass went back to sounding wimpy and inconsistent.

    I tried several things: Setting the satellite speakers to "Full Range", in the hopes of sending additional bass information to the speakers. That didn't work. I tried playing with "Bass Redirection" settings, adjusting the crossover frequency and LFE gain. It still didn't work.

    Then, on a whim, I decided to disable the LFE channel while the "Full Range" settings are enabled for the satellite speakers. And voilà! That was it! it turned out for whatever reason, the bass information either wasn't being mixed properly by the sound card, or the LFE channel isn't being interpreted correctly by the speakers.

    The moral of the story is: Sending all the bass information to the satellite speakers and letting the speakers themselves handle the high pass turned out to be the correct thing to do. I suspect the Z-5500 isn't the only surround sound speaker set that encounters this issue; if you have a 5.1 speaker set and feels the bass performance is strange and inconsistent, try this tip!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top