Speech Intelligibility issue with AppleTV and surround settings 5.1 and 7.1

[vic_20]

I am about to have another stab at improving speech intelligibility on certain apps and programs from my Apple TV.  This seems to have gotten worse with more programs being encoded at 7.1 – but has been something of an issue previously with 5.1. Acknowledging that this also might be some bad encoding from AppleTV+, Netflix et al.

I currently am set up with a BV-14, 4 x BL-18, and a Beolab2 sub. They are set-up in a speaker group that I use for all TV viewing (I might adapt this strategy – but I still need a speaker group that works for others in the house without them having to manually tweak it).  They assigned as per the Technical Sound guide guidance – as BV-14 Left = Centre, BV-14 Right = Centre. The BL-18s are Front Left, Front Right, Left Surround and Right Surround and the Sub.

The AppleTV is set to pass through the audio as if it is set to downmix (or up mix) to 5.1 it often collapses the audio down to 2.1. The TV is set to TrueImage

The current ‘solve’ is to drive the centre channel harder – but this sometimes feels like it is amplifying something that isn’t there. Adjusting the Stage Width sometimes helps a little. Speech Enhancement also has limited impact.

Does anyone else experience similar with Apple-TV as a source? Are there any workarounds / tips / settings / configuration that others have used that better balanced the audio between all the different apps and output modes?

• This topic was modified 1 month ago by vic_20.
• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by vic_20.

[filip_kbh]

Perhaps the Beolab 14 speakers are not very good for centre speakers.

Regarding the Apple TV – why not set the sound to AUTO? This avoids the Apple TV converting all signals to Dolby 5.1 and will give you an uncompressed multi channel LPCM signal that your TV should be able to convert to the right surround formats.

Location: Copenhagen

[Millemis]

I agree regarding the settings of the ATV!

Furthermore please read the article that Geoff Martin wrote years ago on his website.

Here are the main points:

”……you still find that the dialogue is a little hard to understand, and the surrounds are a little hot (this is often the case when your sofa and the surround loudspeakers are all situated against the same wall, you should not be afraid to do the following:

make the centre channel one or two milliseconds early. You can do this by telling your surround processor that it’s about 30 to 60 cm farther away than it really is.
raise the level of the centre channel 1 or 2 dB
drop the level of the surrounds as much as necessary – in my experience, it’s not unusual to have to drop them by as much as 6 dB if you’re against the same wall with them. (Note that, if you have a BeoPlay V1, a BeoVision 11 or a BeoSystem 4, you can do this using the “Fader” adjustment in the Sound menus. This will merely control the relative levels of the Front and Surround / Back loudspeakers – so it’s a one-fader solution to doing it manually for each loudspeaker output.)”

 

MM

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

[vic_20]

Thank you both

The centre speakers are the televisions left and right (bv not bl – my error) and yes the Apple TV is set to auto, the other setting is very inconsistent! They are more than fine on most programs and apps, there are just some that seem overly quiet on the vocals and that also seems to align with them being encoded at something higher than 5.1. ‘Disclaimer’ on AppleTV+ and bits of ‘Black Doves’ on Netflix are recent examples. Large swathes of iPlayer and Netflix are absolutely fine.

I have adjusted the speakers a little – making the two front BL-18s Left Wide and Right Wide helped a good chunk without destroying the surround experience – this is due to a chimney and other physical features of the room. They are maybe slightly closer to that position in reality than the desired Front L and Front R.

The Centre channel is also pushed higher than the others – but I have given it an extra bit. The time alignment is interesting – it is set accurately with a laser measure but I am giving the above a go.

 

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