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Dialog volume in movies much lower than other sounds

Sound mixes these days seems all over the place. Watching movies from the 90's and old I find are much better for sound quality.
 
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Check to see if there are other specific settings/features for this on your gear (dialogue modes) you can use that come with the receiver... otherwise generic options:

-Manually adjust the centre channel to be higher in volume than the other channels, it has the dialogue.
-If there is an audio compression feature (reduces the difference--aka dynamic range--between the loudest and softest sounds), this can also sometimes be labelled nighttime mode, etc.

Both of the above come with some audio drawbacks but both will work.

Disney+ was awful for this. We have a stereo in the living room (no surround, no fancy digital processing) I dug out one of my dbx units out of storage to reduce the dynamic range. Otherwise, increasing the volume to clearly hear the dialogue meant my hair was blowing back on explosions...

It is mostly a mixing problem but age does not help...
 
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The last resort is switching the receiver to 2 channel stereo mode near stone age but the dialogue is more intelligible.
The bonus is with most receivers this will not require a trip through the owners manual to accomplish.
 
I take earplugs to the movie theaters now, and I'm deaf as a stump.
 
This works the charm but you already have a sound system


Might not be a bad idea to get your hearing checked. ;)

As mentioned it's enhanced dynamic range for theaters in soundtrack that causes the need to vary the volume to hear dialogue and then turning down in battle scenes etc.
So you need a way to actual reduce the dynamic range to keep dialogue audible and loud events reduced. Not sure how the Yamaha trick works but it does.

BT headphones really gets rid of the problem.
Not so inclusive for family. :sneaky:
 
This works the charm but you already have a sound system


Might not be a bad idea to get your hearing checked. ;)

As mentioned it's enhanced dynamic range for theaters in soundtrack that causes the need to vary the volume to hear dialogue and then turning down in battle scenes etc.
So you need a way to actual reduce the dynamic range to keep dialogue audible and loud events reduced. Not sure how the Yamaha trick works but it does.

BT headphones really gets rid of the problem.
Not so inclusive for family. :sneaky:

I actually have perfect hearing and hear everything - to the point where if there's a lot of overlapping sounds, it's hard for me to hone in on one thing, like a conversation in a club.

My Onkyo has a Dynamic Audio setting, maybe I'll play with it again. THX Loudness Plus option looks promising - will have to see if it's already enabled. When I crank the volume to THX Reference level, sounds is great but LOUD. I try to keep it down to 50 and even that's loud. When it's late at night, I go down to the 30's or 20's and everything is clear except the dialog. I was considering a new receiver that supports wireless headphones. I currently do have 2 sets, but the base needs to be plugged into the headphone jack, which disabled the speakers, so it's a pain to plug them in ad-hoc with the AV equipment in another room.
 
Going through the manual is your best bet. Doesn’t sound like a base receiver so going into your center speaker level and turning that up will likely solve your problem but do that in conjunction with an appropriate surround mode. YoI could also try the all-channels-stereo mode or whatever it’s called.
 
THX Loudness Plus option looks promising - will have to see if it's already enabled
You are heading in the wrong direction. THX is designed to have wide dynamic range
THX® SPATIAL AUDIO ENHANCES STEREO AND SURROUND SOUND TO DELIVER NEXT-GENERATION AUDIO THAT INTENSIFIES 3D SOUNDSCAPES IN ALL FORMS OF ENTERTAINMENT.

..the opposite of what you want which is intelligible dialogue without overbearing loudness. You want less intensity.

If you haven't had a hearing test in a while you might be surprised - they are free. :sneaky:

That said, it's a question of reducing high dynamic media bits to a lower range that is suitable for home listening.
 
You are heading in the wrong direction. THX is designed to have wide dynamic range


..the opposite of what you want which is intelligible dialogue without overbearing loudness. You want less intensity.

If you haven't had a hearing test in a while you might be surprised - they are free. :sneaky:

That said, it's a question of reducing high dynamic media bits to a lower range that is suitable for home listening.

According to the description it does - I think a lot of people are focues on the "loudness" in the name, not the actual function:

With THX Loudness Plus, home
theater audiences can now experience the rich details in
a surround mix at any volume level. A consequence of
turning the volume below Reference Level is that certain
sound elements can be lost or perceived differently
by the listener. THX Loudness Plus compensates
 

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