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The Low Frequency Content Thread (films, games, music, etc)


maxmercy

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Kong: Skull Island (Dolby ATMOS)

Level - 4 Stars (111.38dB composite)

Extension - 5 Stars (1Hz)

Dynamics - 5 Stars (28.84dB)

Execution - TBD

Overall - TBD

Notes - This film delivers bass in spades, especially in the shake-and-move-stuff wheelhouse range of 12-25Hz.  Clipping analysis shows flat tops in nearly every channel, Center is most egregious, but all the clipping appears to have rounded edges as if some sort of limiting was put in place like Pixels, so not completely objectionable, like Tron:Legacy clipping was.  LFE channel clips with sharp corners, but low-pass filtering will smooth them out.  Better movie than anticipated, but it almost always seems that way when you expect nothing from a film.  Good surround use, good soundtrack.  BEQ should make this a structure-endangerer.

 

JSS

Kong Skull Island.jpg

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BEQ?  Are you crazy?  I'm not sure I'll be able to play back a BEQed version at my typical reference level.  Look at that near-DC peak that's already pushing up to -20 dBFS.  :)

Edit: I guess that's what Crowson's are for.  I am starting to think about getting those some day.

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12 hours ago, maxmercy said:

Kong: Skull Island (Dolby ATMOS)

Level - 4 Stars (111.38dB composite)

Extension - 5 Stars (1Hz)

Dynamics - 5 Stars (28.84dB)

Execution - TBD

Overall - TBD

Notes - This film delivers bass in spades, especially in the shake-and-move-stuff wheelhouse range of 12-25Hz.  

Dang. That's my favorite bass range for big movie LFE effects. 10-25Hz. I much prefer movies that have this type of weighting to the mix than the overly hot 25-40Hz typical action movie rumble fest. Too bad about all of the clipping though.

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I had to turn down my subriser for Skull Island.

May need to revisit it. I think I watched it too loud or something. My sub system went bonkers when the two soldiers are on the hillside and Kong shows up for the very first time. Was scrambling for the volume it seemed like some of the heaviest bass hits were clipped or distorted or something. Something was off. Usually movies like this sound epic.

Alien:Covenent on the other had was epic and reference quality all the way.

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Interesting that so many people are describing struggle from their sub systems on "Kong".  Form the PvA, it doesn't look that bad.  The level score is only 4 star.  What's going on here?  Are people hearing the clipping in the track and thinking it's their systems?

I'll comment when I watch it, being that I have (1) lots of headroom above 20 Hz; and (2)a  peak level indicators display to tell me approximately how close I'm get to clipping myself.

From what it looks like, I expect my sub system will seriously kill on this track.

Too bad GOTG2 appears humped and filtered.  Maybe BEQ can do it some favors.  :)

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I watched Kong at -7dBRef (Reference Level per se for my size room, with -0dB set at 85dBC calibration), and no bad noises, but I expected some flat tops based on the listening experience.  Not as bad as the 'lunge for the volume control' as in Tron:Legacy, and DEFINITELY not as bad as Star Trek:Into Deafness....

According to MrEdge's graph, GoTG2 has less of a rolloff than the original.  That is a good thing.   

I do not use an LT boost anymore to watch films, as I get very little room gain in the new room.  The Crowsons did get a workout, though.

JSS

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The better my system gets, the less clipping bothers me.  I think clipping tends to bring out the worst in any speaker it encounters.  I actually enjoyed Thor quite a bit cranked up way higher than I would have imagined liking it before.  (BEQ helped too.)  I'd still prefer that the tracks were cleaner though.

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So much EDM and DnB is a clipped mess (often intentionally), that I think we are almost conditioned to accept it as a fact of life.  Some of my fav bass drum hits in some EDM have lots of flat tops....

You cannot ask more of a sound system than to playback what is on the disc, clipped or not.

JSS

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2 hours ago, maxmercy said:

I can't remember who gets credit for that one, but I didn't originate it.

That was one clipped mess.  It was horrible.

JSS

The first place I saw it was someone (I forget his/her handle) with all the JBL cinema gear.  He/she was a bit moody (not sure of a nicer way to put it), and one day he/she got upset over who knows what and edited all of his/her posts here, removing all their content.

My wife is insisting that we re-watch STID.  I guess I'll get to hear how much a "good system" makes a difference.  Hopefully I can still hear afterwards...

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On 8/16/2017 at 2:22 AM, SME said:

BEQ?  Are you crazy?  I'm not sure I'll be able to play back a BEQed version at my typical reference level.  Look at that near-DC peak that's already pushing up to -20 dBFS.  :)

Edit: I guess that's what Crowson's are for.  I am starting to think about getting those some day.

Hope to give this a spin soon, with the Crowson :D.

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1 hour ago, MikeDuke said:

Max,

what does this mean

" LFE channel clips with sharp corners"

Does that mean it's dangerous to put this really loud for fear of "hurting" the sub or the Crowson?

Nope.  It shouldn't be a problem anyway, but even if it were, the LFE channel gets filtered at 120 Hz in the playback pipeline.

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