Hi,

My daughter has the FRIENDS boxed set of DVD's, sent over from Canada. Region coding is not an issue, but the sound quality is. What I'm finding is that ambient sound, off screen effects and musical accompaniment with or without vocals sound good with excellent stereo imaging but dialogue can sound mushy or harsh (I know this sounds like mushy would counter harsh but it doesn't). It almost sounds as if the dialogue is out of phase with the ambient sound. Is this possible? Or is it more likely to be a problem with the DVD player, receiver or speakers? The DVD player is an average quality Panasonic multi region combi VCR/DVD unit, connected to an SX-1980 via its AUX socket driving a pair of CS99A speakers. The 1980 was overhauled by Echowars, so I'm using it as a benchmark and building my system around it. I re-capped the speakers myself a few months ago; values are as original or (in one case) very close. From what I've read, good full range speech reproduction can be more of a test of a speaker system than music and shows up any crossover problems.

My thoughts are to re-cap the crossovers again with the best caps I can get my hands on and try to exactly match original values. I've tested all six drivers in each speaker and they're good but having said that, am I right in thinking that any speaker with six drivers and a five way crossover is maybe asking for trouble?

Try running it just out of the TV. If it sounds like crud then, you will know it is the mixing. I definetly wouldn't use a Friends DVD as a benchtest for my audio gear. However, if it sounds balanced through the TV or another set of speakers, then they may be the culprit.

I once used a Steve Miller album to check wow and flutter on my Onkyo TT. Bad idea, the song was mixed with it all over on purpose. oops. Got rid of that TT and regretted it ever since. Sometimes it is the message and not the messenger. :D

Try running it just out of the TV. If it sounds like crud then, you will know it is the mixing. I definetly wouldn't use a Friends DVD as a benchtest for my audio gear. However, if it sounds balanced through the TV or another set of speakers, then they may be the culprit.


Thanks VinylHanger. Just to clarify, I'm not using `Friends' as a benchtest; in trying to get things set up as well as possible, I'm using the SX-1980 as a reference point and setting things up around it. The only other speakers I've used are built into a Seeburg `Home Stereo'; two way co-axial design from the 1960's. They don't sound bad but lack top end response. The Pioneer speakers are weird; it's almost as if there's a hole in their frequency response which is only apparent if speech just hits that frequency.

Do you think you could send me a link to wherever you got your avatar? A decent size poster of `Veil Girl' sure would brighten up my workshop wall:D

I can't remember where I got it. All I remember is that I was uh, searching for, uh....ya know, chicks and such. :D