Want mono sound

[wetcamelfood]

This is probably too general and may sound silly but since I'm new to all this I hoped someone would have some ideas for me: Without trying to sound like a whiner, it seems like no matter what DVD, TV, DVD player & recorder I've bought since 2000 I have to keep the volume remote in hand the whole time due to needing to turn up the sound to hear what the actors are saying then having to turn it down quickly due to explosions in the movie, loud background music, whatever (I live in an apartment so don't want to hear it from the neighbors). I figured it might have to do with being forced to buy equipment with 5.1, surround sound, whatever. So maybe I don't want mono as such but I just wondered what the best methods are for normalizing volumes for movies whether the issue be via the disc, player or TV. Thanks in advance for the replies.

[aedipuss]

with a surround sound processor and speakers you could increase the volume of just the center channel where most dialog is sent with the mixer built into the setup menu. and if you wished turn down the volume of the effects channels.

[guns1inger]

It is also worth checking out your DVD players, as most have a method of dealing with this built in. I have variably seen it called Dynamic Range Control (DRC), Dynamic Range Limiting (DRL), Normalise, Soft Listening Mode and Midnight Movie Mode. All of these will compress the dynamic range of the audio mix to reduce the difference between soft and loud noises on the audio track.