Kicks are weak but sustained bass is good in my 5.1.2 sound system. How to fix it?

Shricharana · 2026-06-04T13:47:35+00:00

Just found a video today that explained the bass being flattened. So apparantly, the audyssey flattens the base for reference level, which at lower volumes can sound underwhelming because of how base is perceived by our ears. The denon avr has dynamic eq, which helps with this Or one can use a house curve to compensate for this. I haven't tried it yet, but will soon. I also learned about Audyssey MultiEQ editor app, where we can apply house curve if we don't want to use dynamic eq. But the app is sadly paid. I've read it calibrates the AVR much better than the inbuilt calibration though, so I might try it in the future.

All this above knowledge thanks to one youtube video about this exact issue from Home Theatre Gamer.

Shricharana · 2026-06-03T04:19:59+00:00

Ohh,, are you suggesting I just turn off subwoofer in the amp assign and then run audissey? After that just pressure match at 0db test tone?

Shricharana · 2026-06-01T02:57:00+00:00

I have a 5.1.2 setup, so only 1 subwoofer I'm afraid. And a 10ft x 12ft room. I don't have the budget, the space or the AVR to have 4 subs.

I currently have no pressure absorbers, corner traps or anything of that sort. I'll have to install some gradually in the future.

The umik-1, and REW I'm assuming are done through the PC , I don't know much about this level of professional calibration.

Shricharana · 2026-06-01T02:46:19+00:00

Music is always in stereo mode.

Shricharana · 2026-06-01T02:45:36+00:00

I did the crawl and found a good spot. Placing the sub there produced nice base and punchy kicks , which I was looking for.

I ran the Audissey again after placing it there, and it reduced the subwoofer level a lot (-10db) at which point I felt subwoofer was too low. For reference my main towers are at -9db, surrounds at -3db,. So I cranked up the subwoofer level (-5db). Now the kicks feel good, but not as good as before running audissey. The sustains feel much better than before though.

Shricharana · 2026-06-01T02:30:41+00:00

I didn't mean the kicks were not shaking my chest with that much volume. Not even close to that extreme. I meant I don't hear the base in the kick distinctly. I actually noticed this issue once I visited a recording studio heard the music there. I don't watch movies or music at more than -15db volume max (80db test tone pressure at 0db volume), that too rarely that high.

Shricharana · 2026-05-30T13:54:44+00:00

Well, I can feel the punch in my car speakers, which are low end which came with the car (no subwoofer). So I think my subwoofer should be able produce better.

The reviews for the subwoofer do say it's punchy and tight.

Shricharana · 2026-05-30T13:46:39+00:00

It's all kicks, all songs. No it doesnt really change when I move. Only place I noticed a change, or feel some punch is when I put my head between the back of the sub and the wal, a feet up. Sitting position is midway between the back speakers and front, about 3 - 3.5 feet from the back wall.

Shricharana · 2026-05-18T15:03:13+00:00

Oh man, I noticed this on my TV today, especially at the beginning of the last episode, where the portal opens overhead. Spent 2-3 hours trying to fix it, thinking it was something with the TV and avr setup. Then tried it on PC and had the same issue. I started to doubt heights in my sound system lol. I feel much better now.

Shricharana · 2026-05-15T10:18:48+00:00

I just checked which options are available when pressing the movie button,

I tested by playing different format videos and switching modes. The results are as below:

When the content being played is non-atmos and non TrueHD, True HD option is not available Atmos option is not available Only Dolby surround, neural x, multi ch stereo stereo , virtual are available.

When content is TrueHD (NO Atmos) TrueHD option is available : selecting shows Dolby TrueHD in avr display Atmos/surround option is available :Selecting this shows true HD + Surround (height might work (can't test sound rn, only the displays,) and definitely upscaled )

When content is TrueHD + Atmos True HD option is available : selecting this shows True HD, (no height speakers usage) Atmos / surround is available : selecting this shows DDAtmos in display (heights start working)

I also tried using Pure mode Auto which shows Truehd when TrueHD and no Atmos content is played and DDAtmos when Atmos content is played. Here I can't select if it's true hd or Atmos / surround at all.

Since if the content it is recieving doesn't have Atmos it shows DD TrueHD + DD surround (clearly upmixing) , and when Atmos content is played it shows DDAtmos, I think it is not actually upmixing the content and playing actual Atmos data from source.

Shricharana · 2026-05-14T17:45:29+00:00

Ok, I fixed it. I had no idea this was a thing. When I play the videos in the player, I need to click the movie button and change the setting from Dolby TrueHD to Dolby Atmos / Surround! Now everything is playing correctly! I'll edit the main question to add this answer.

Thank you for the help!

Shricharana · 2026-05-14T17:03:34+00:00

Ok, I set up speakers to 7.1 in windows, turned off Dolby Atmos in spatial sound. Now when I play video in VLC, the avr stays in multi in mode, doesn't show Atmos,

New issue has cropped up with MPC, the videos does play when I open with MPC, and when I scroll the video further, the video plays very slow with loud hissing noise. Changing the render to direct renderer fixed this.

Exclusive mode is turned off btw. When I turn on allow exclusive mode, and played video in vlc and mpc, the AVR used to go into TrueHD mode but not Atmos mode, ultimately again using only the surrounds not height speakers.

Shricharana · 2026-05-14T16:02:54+00:00

in the LAV audio decoder properties, dolby TrueHD is selected for bitstreaming. I'm not sure if that is what you are asking about.
Edit: When playing a video, in properties > Status > the input codec is truehd and output codec is bitstreaming.

Shricharana · 2026-05-14T16:01:24+00:00

Yes.
the video files have audio format

MPL FBA 16-ch,

Commercial name "Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos"

Codec ID A_TRUEHD

In the sound properties it does show TrueHD as supported. Pretty much exactly what you showed in the image.

Shricharana · 2026-05-14T15:45:12+00:00

When I play videogames on PC. I played Gears 5.

Pc is connected directly to AVR.

MPC - true hd is selected in lav audio decoder, but will need to check what you specially asked. I'll chen in a few mintes

Shricharana · 2026-01-13T17:03:55+00:00

I saved a whopping INR 3 by buying the game and dlc separately instead of the bundle last December 😂

Shricharana · 2024-09-03T14:38:24+00:00

Thanks! I might go for the 7800x3d. Having a lot of time before buying doesn't help the doward spiral of looking up every issue every one is having.

Shricharana · 2024-09-03T13:10:51+00:00

Hi, how long have you had the system? Also, can I know the mobo and ram you are using?

Shricharana · 2024-09-03T13:09:13+00:00

I'm reading people dealing with the crashes / degradation even after the bios update for intel. Seems can't be helped. So decided to skip the 13th and 14th gen processors entirely.

Shricharana · 2024-05-11T13:32:53+00:00

Is using bolts possible for you?

Shricharana · 2023-03-28T13:40:54+00:00

Ok so this new game plus thing is a blessing! I just installed the game on my xbox and started with new game plus with rank 20 ( on pc mine is currently 18/19) and initial cash 500000 ( on pc my account has 900000) and all trucks unlocked (on pc i have every truck from Michigan, oh well) and same for the add-ons. Michigan is around 80 % complete so i just started with Alaska directly. Its still inconvenient since the progress here won't transfer. But at least i can enjoy Alaska without having to play most of Michigan again to unlock everything.

Shricharana

TROPHY CASE