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The original was posted on /r/hometheater by /u/Longjumping_Store704 on 2024-01-18 21:38:20+00:00.
I've been using a 4.1.2 setup with a little Denon AVR for quite a bit of time now (no center channel due to lack of space) and been pretty happy with it. I calibrated the system with Audyssey MultEQ XT (non-32) and it was really, really good.
There were two things that bothered me though: the volume of voices was strangely low, which was unpleasant as the music was sometimes too loud over them. It was only affecting voices. Also, bass wasn't as good as I would have hoped to with a beefy subwoofer.
Due to space constraints I've always had specific problems with speaker placement, notably spacing them from the wall. My towers are at a distance of about one foot from the wall, and they have two holes on the rear for the lows.
Well I just tried to plug them up with a little acoustic foam, recalibrated everything (also using more positions than before, 6 instead of 3, which I never did before because it was long and I didn't see any advantage given the very small space my HT is in).
And the difference is MASSIVE! The soundstage is so much more immersive, bass is soooo deep compared to what it was before. It's almost like an entirely new system!
All I did was to plug up the rear ports and calibrate with more positions. I certainly didn't expect that to have such an impact, especially given how many people are describing the non-32 XT as trash.
Anyway, just wanted to share this little experience, I'm so happy to finally get a complete system that's fully satisfying for me without having spent "too" much (~ $4000 total, which was an unreasonable expense, but it could have been so much worse :p)