Why is the dialogue so soft in my home theater?

Question

I have an old Yamaha rx-v530 receiver. It supports Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Pro LogicIIx and DTS 96/24. I have a 5.1 speaker set-up, all polk speakers. 2 floor standing front speakers, 2 decent sized bookshelfs in the back, a decent sub, and a tiny center channel.

I find myself constantly adjusting the volume on my stereo because the sound effects are so loud and the dialogue is so soft. I have done many level tests on my system and tried to make each speaker have equal volume, but then I can barely hear the dialogue at all, so I wind up turning up the center channel. Then the problem is 95% of the audio comes from there.

Should I try to upgrade my center channel, buy a new receiver, buy a whole new speaker system, or is there anything else you guys can recommend?

Answer 1

It sounds like everything is set up properly. i would agree with the first poster and say set the center channel level higher than the rest. your rears should not be as equeal as the fronts as the rear speakers are only ambience sound and should not be the focal point of your surround system. other than that i would start looking at a possible defect in the center channel output

Answer 2

In that setup all the channels set at the same level will give you, your problem.  Up the db level on the center channel.

Yes it is time to invest in a new center channel