center channel ?

The other day, I was re-positioning my sub. So I was playing one scene from TLOTR over and over. I noticed that I couldn't hear a part of the dialog, the music was all over it. All of my speakers are Polk, my center is the CSi5, which I don't think, is a slouch for the center. I used a SPL meter to set up all my speakers, so I was at a loss for this.
Well, I contacted folks at CC who suggested I try something. So I lowered the main settings by
-5, there was a big improvement, I mean everything improved. Why did this occur? I don't understand this yet. I have the mains bi-wired, but the center isn't. I don't really think that's the reason.

I do have something to share. I read at another forum where someone bought the Rockets and had the pro's set them up for him. They didn't like the sound, he had cathedral ceilings. They placed phone books underneath to raise them another 5".
I applied the same principle to my Polk RT3000p. I placed phone books between the sub and the satellites. It was almost like hearing new speakers. [not to mention it puts their tweeters much closer to the height of the center channels, which sits on the big screen.]

When you set the levels, how did you do it? Did you use a setup disk from your player or internal test tones?

Owl's_Warder
I did use the internal test tones of the 950.

I'd recommend using a setup disk like Video Essentials or Avia. That way you're testing your complete signal path, including the player. I initially set up my 1050 using the test tones and wasn't very happy with it. It was ok, but not great. I bought a copy of V.E. and had MUCH better results.

I agree, once I used AVIA with my system it was a huge improvement over the test tones.That was not only with the 950 but my previous Yamaha receiver as well.

Newbie again. I looked at info on VIDEO ESSENTIALS and AVIA. Big differenbce in price !!
Aside from the PAL discs, is the difference in price really worth it? Thanks

AVIA costs more, but it is also older and I'm not sure how helpful it is with test tones for 7.1 speaker systems. I know the original Video Essentials (from around the same time as AVIA) was not extremely well-suited for that when I used it with my Model 1050. Digital Video Essentials is several years newer, and would be my choice.

I do have Video Essentials, but couldn't get a sound from the sub. test tones are there, but not from the V.E. disk.
I do have a test DVD as well, but I thought I had everything set. Just plays better now that I have dialed down the mains. Maybe that's what they mean in the manual, setting the trim. Guess I could have adjusted the center up instead. Talked to my cube mate at work. he said he has done the same watching different movies, adjusting trim levels, b/c sometimes you lose the dialog. Thanks for the replies and ideas.