Center speaker is matched to stereo front, rear are intentionally under powered… as someone who appreciates good sound - the mixing on most every movie is fucked (and some TV - HBO looking at you). It’s not a set-up issue.
Interviews with sound mixing techs indicate this is because everything is optimized to theatres and then only slightly remixed.
For the basic consumer we would much rather have audible dialogue than ear shattering gun shots…
Have you checked that all your speakers are in phase? Specifically that the positive on amp cable goes to the positive connect on on the back of the speaker?
If your system is otherwise matched especially the left/centre/right then it should function.
Depending on your surround sound amp/processor some of them can get stuck in stereo vs surround.
Yes it’s dynamic range but the most common cause is listening to a source that’s been mixed for a centre vocal speaker.
It will play on a stereo (Left and right speakers only) but you will have very little vocals and lots of special fx.
This is also completely ignoring the us lack of lufs standards for advertising (apparent loudness.)
Not necessarily the end users fault. If the wrong audio source is selected/streamed then you are stuck. There are workarounds but no real solution
Except I have Dolby 5.1 set-up and it’s still dogshit
If you don’t have a 649.2.2 Atmos setup, that’s your fault. Get hearing loss, scrub!
/s because… sigh…
If you have a true 5.1 setup then increase the centre speaker levels relative to the others. Or get a much bigger centre speaker.
Most centre speakers are woefully small compared to the left and right fronts being towers.
Center speaker is matched to stereo front, rear are intentionally under powered… as someone who appreciates good sound - the mixing on most every movie is fucked (and some TV - HBO looking at you). It’s not a set-up issue.
Interviews with sound mixing techs indicate this is because everything is optimized to theatres and then only slightly remixed.
For the basic consumer we would much rather have audible dialogue than ear shattering gun shots…
Have you checked that all your speakers are in phase? Specifically that the positive on amp cable goes to the positive connect on on the back of the speaker?
If your system is otherwise matched especially the left/centre/right then it should function.
Depending on your surround sound amp/processor some of them can get stuck in stereo vs surround.
A quick test is here.
Verify the dialog with a well mixed movie or dvd though that adds another level of possible issues. (most appletv stuff works as expected)
Good luck with it.