I set up a home theater a few years ago. It is at the end of a long narrow basement room. The width of the room is about 14 ft so the tv is about 9 ft away. I have a Panasonic SA-HE100 receiver, JVC xv-n55 DVD player and initially a 5.1 set of inexpensive speakers that I read decent reviews of. I was happy with it--I don't have audiophile standards, however I found the voice quality out of the center speaker a bit muddy, meaning too often(once every 10 minutes) I wasn't exactly sure of what the spoken dialog was, spending too much time asking the person I was watching with, "what did they say?", but usually no one in the room could hear it either. Before I got the digital system, I did not have this problem with the tv speakers so I don't think it's the room or my ears. Finally, out of frustration, I purchased a set of nice 5.1 speakers, the KEF 3000 series.

Much to my chagrin, although the overall sound is wonderful, I still have the muddy quality problem. I wonder if a bad receiver can do this although I have no reason to think the receiver is a problem. Although I do have a hazy sense that months after getting the receiver I suddenly had to set the volume higher than before. I believe a setting of 32 was usually quite loud but now I go to between 23 and 28. The other day I watched a lecture on DVD that was produced in stereo, not 5.1 and the voice quality was fine.

So I could get a new receiver but I don't have a clear sense that the receiver is at fault. What should I be thinking about, height of the speakers, subwoofer adjustment, DVD player? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.