SUBS????

Re: SUBS????

Under $200 is probably tough. Depends on how big a room you have also. On another forum most people seem to recommend at that price range the BIC H-100 which can be found for ~$250 shipped on E-bay.


Almost no receivers provide amplification for the subwoofer channel, and most subwoofers are self-powered, having their own built-in amp. So your receiver is irrelevant as the sub amp is providing the power to the driver.

Re: SUBS????

I looked up the specs on the yamaha htr-5760....there was an important point that I didn't see in your original message:

"Preamp: Preamp output for subwoofer, with 9 selectable crossover points. "

So, that processor has a preamp for your subwoofer - you just need to get cable and hook it up correctly. Be sure to bypass any crossover on the sub itself - use the amp to select the crossover point.

Re: SUBS????

How big is your room? Is it open to hallways and other rooms? What type of movies do you watch? Compared to reference level, how loud do you listen to movies?

Big rooms take a larger/more powerful sub to pressurize it. Without pressurization, you don't get the tactile feel (the thump in the chest, etc). Action movies have more bass content and it takes quite a sub to reproduce that content accurately. Once you calibrate your speakers with an SPL meter and calibration DVD, were is the volume control? I watch movies at -20db or -15db from reference when I'm by myself or -25db when my wife is with me. For demonstrations, I'll go to reference levels but that usually brings the wife screaming into the room that I'm going to break all of the dishes in the kitchen.

-Robert

Re: SUBS????

You just need a cable going from the subwoofer pre-out of the receiver to the line-ins of the sub. A low-pass crossover is an electronic filter that passes only signals below a certain frequency to the sub, attenuating (reducing) the amplitude of signals above that frequency on a sloping curve; the higher the frequency of the signal above the crossover point the more it is attenuated. E.g. sound below something like 80hz or 100hz (if selectable on your receiver, what you would pick depends on how low frequency your main speakers can reproduce).

Since the receiver already has the sub pre-out filtered, generally you bypass the crossover on the sub using a bypass input, or by turning the crossover all the way up, so that do you don't further attenuate the signal.


Wattage isn't really at all a good spec to look at as different speaker designs & sizes have different efficiencies, some need more power than others to be driven to a given volume. For room shaking deep bass generally one needs a big driver in a big enclosure, or a TON of power. That's a small sub; in comparison the one I have on order is roughly double the volume & weight, and has a 12" driver vs. 10". But at close to $400 the sub I'm getting costs nearly as much as that entire system. (And the real bass nuts on this forum are spending even more for even bigger subs, and/or multiple subs)

That's probably an OK system as inexpensive small sub-sat systems go, but I think you probably won't get "room shaking" performance out of it. If that's all you can afford for your speakers then go ahead; something is better than nothing, a lot better than most TV speakers. But if you can afford it and have the space for it bigger speakers all around will give better bass performance. If that is your cost ceiling, perhaps shop around for a package with bigger satellites and plan to upgrade the sub later when funds are available. That Onkyo system recommended by others in your other thread looks reasonable.

Re: SUBS????

Martino: What exactly did you mean by "you just need to get cable and hook it up correctly. Be sure to bypass any crossover on the sub itself - use the amp to select the crossover point."


The advice that Stephen gave above is correct - you don't want to have multiple crossovers in your line. As far as the correct cable is concerned - they are just long RCA cables, that run directly from your receiver to your sub...I found this definition:

"Unlike speaker cable which conducts a powered signal, a powered subwoofer cable transmits an unpowered signal from your home theater receiver or decoder to the subwoofer."

Here is what I use - sounds good and is fairly cheap - 12' for $17.00, 30' for $24.00.


Powered Subwoofer Cable

You can pick up something similar at most electronic stores....