Dolby Digital newbie questions

[JimDriver2]

I got myself one of those Grudig players in the Currys sale and its my first dolby digital setup. I pretty much know nowt bout it so i've got a couple of questions, so if anyone could help that would be great:D

I've put my rear speakers behind me on a very useful shelf thing that runs around my room at about 7 foot high. The speakers are in the left and right corners and kind of face diagonally in. Is this an ideal place to put them? the front 3 speakers are at the left, right and centre of the TV.

Next I stuck a couple of disks in just to try it out, although the THX tests on the star wars disc worked fine, when I played the duel of the fates scene I didn't notice much of sound seeming to come from the rear? Do I have the balance between the speakers set incorrectly? Each speakers vol can be set between 1 and 10, what should each one be on?

Also is there anything else important I need to know to take full advantage of my setup? Any help would be great thanks.

Jim

[Alanok]

Without knowing exactly what the Grundis setup is like here are a few pointers I have gleaned since having a 5.1 setup.

Your speaker position is fine although it is desirable to have them just above your sitting position unless theybare the dipole type I think. I have my rears to the side of my sofa. They are positioned to fire across at each other so the sounds meets where I am sat. I think if you have yours firing slightly diagonal at your sitting position then you should be fine. If you haven't already done so space the left and right fronts out abit to get a better front sound stage.

Is the rear sound fine when you play a dvd movie? If it is then don't adjust it. The Duel of the Fates Vid I think is Dolby Stereo so will really only exit the fronts. Therefore the rears will sound abit low. If you feel the rears are too low then up the volume on them. There is no wrong or right way to set volumes. Ideally for me the fronts and rears should sound the same volume from your sitting position. Some people prefer the rears to be very discrete. But your the only one who knows if it sounds right for you or not.

[soberion]

It the THX test sounded right, chances are it was and there is some other reason.

Make sure you had the 5.1 soundtrack selected on the DVD, not the 2.0 version as that would only give you Pro-logic (which would give low levels to the rear).

Always use the test tone to balance your speakers, not a movie soundtrack, because each film will have different levels of information going to the rear depending on the sound mixers choice.

Finally, welcome to the world of Digital :clap:

[JimDriver2]

Thanks for your help guys. The thing I think could be the biggest issue is the rear speaker position. The are in the corner of my room and up at about 7ft and when I sit down to watch a film probably 5ft behind me. Now its definitly worth noting that these aren't likely top range speakers, they are just the standard ones that comes in the Grundig 620-HT pack (retails at £199) so should I bring them forward a bit and down a bit? cheers

[Robby]

I would say your speaker positions are OK. I have mine (in my bedroom) facing each other on each side of the room right at the top, so the tops of the speakers are just shy of touching the ceiling. It's great as they are out the way and i think they sound fantastic. In regards to your volume again the others have said just test it with some of you fave films. I find i'm always jiggling with the remote for all my speakers when i'm watching films as each soundtrack is different to the next.