LAV Audio from K-lite install vs. from MPC-HC standalone install

Built a brand new Win10 HTPC - now I have audio out via HDMI that supports surround formats, instead of 2 channel only

I've been playing around with different software and because MPC-HC standalone now has LAV splitter, audio, video built-in, I decided to compare that to K-lite standard. One of the differences that caught my attention was access to the LAV audio options windows via the options menu of MPC-HC. In the standalone (latest stable, not nightly like K-lite) when I am in the options menu, internal filters section, I can click on the Audio decoder button and it brings up the LAV audio options windows. This same button is grayed out in the K-lite installed MPC-HC (different computer). Not a big deal, but I was curious why. I've uninstalled and re-installed K-lite to see if I'd corrupted the link in the older installation but that wasn't it. Is this strictly a difference between the nightly build and the latest stable build of MPC-HC? Do I have multiple audio decoders associated with MPC-HC or something?

I've always liked K-lite, but I think all I really need is LAV video to decode h.264 and LAV audio to bitstream to my AVR. Even though my new setup can pass 5.1 audio as PCM over HDMI, I'm not thrilled with the results relative to bitstreaming. Sending PCM using MPC-HC/LAV, I'll need to find the right mixer settings because the center channel dialog levels are way, way too low. Bitstreamed, the same rip had dialog levels just fine. And even worse issues in audio playback for PowerDVD15 (which I won't use for anything other than actual BR discs) - a rip with AC-3 encoded audio bitstreamed fine w PDVD, but letting it decode the audio gave some static hiss during louder, bass-filled scenes. bleh.

Those configuration buttons only apply to the internal instance of the LAV Audio (with settings private to MPC-HC). K-Lite uses an external version of LAV Audio (where settings are shared with other apps). You can also access setting through Menu>Play>Filters, or the Start menu.

One way to boost center volume is by enabling volume normalization in MPC (options > audio switcher).