For the best surround sound, fine-tune your components

May 20, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Q. I have a Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver (shown at left) that replaced a Sony unit that lacked HDMI. My problem is I don’t seem to be hearing surround sound. I used the supplied setup microphone and have been getting poor results. I’ve been over the manual three times and don’t know which of the many Dolby options is best. I’m probably going to a lot of trouble to hear the occasional tinkle of glass or applause reflection. I don’t need the walls to “melt away.” I just want to hear a movie the way it was meant to be heard.

B.C., Minneapolis

A. You have a fine receiver and will be able to get excellent results once everything is set properly.

The first thing to remember is not all television broadcasts are surround sound. If you get surround sound occasionally then it could be that many of the programs you are watching are being transmitted in stereo, not surround.

Since you changed to HDMI from another kind of digital connection the first thing to do is check the settings of your components. Make sure your cable/satellite box and DVD/Blu-ray player have HDMI audio set to transmit in surround, not stereo. This would be Dolby/PCM (not PCM) on satellite and cable boxes. With Blu-ray players it can differ depending on the player’s capabilities, but selecting bitstream will always yield a surround sound signal.

Many receivers have automated setup programs now. At the lower end of the pricing scale the only two systems I have found to work consistently well are Pioneer’s MCACC and Anthem’s ARC. With every other system I have preferred the results I get tuning the surround sound myself. To do this, enter the audio menus, set the proper configuration for your speakers and activate the test tones. If you have a sound pressure level meter, adjust each channel to 75 dB. If you don’t have a meter then set each speaker so they seem to have the same loudness as you switch the test tone from speaker to speaker. Once you have done this you can bump the center channel up a tad if you have trouble hearing dialogue, and turn up the surround speakers a bit if you prefer stronger surround effects.

When everything is set properly the receiver will choose the proper surround format on its own. With TV it would be Dolby Digital, with Blu-ray, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio. Your Yamaha has some additional Cinema DSP modes that may be adding to your confusion. I’d just leave those turned off.

Contact Don Lindich at www.soundadviceblog.com and use the “submit question” link on that site.

2012, McClatchy-Tribune News Service