A few speaker setup questions (1 Viewer)

[DaveD']

I never had a subwoofer in my home theater before now. The one I just bought has a pair of speaker in and speaker out jacks. Should I be running speakers to it? And what's the purpose/advantage(?) of this over just running them to the receiver?

I also just bought all new fronts, rears, and a new center channel. I haven't taken the time to calibrate it all yet, but I have been fooling with it just to check out how different settings sound. One problem I seem to be having is how the sub and speakers work with each other. For example, when I set the fronts on the receiver to "small", it's apparent where the bass is coming from, which is definitely the sub, but when I set them to "large", the bass sounds more naturally blended in but it's not as deep it seems. Would buying a calibration dvd help remedy this problem(and probably more I have and don't realize)? I'm really lost here and all I want to do is enjoy my new HT. :frowning:

 

[Frank Zimkas]

If your receiver has a sub-out jack (aka LFE) simply connect a single rca cable to it and connect the other end to the input on the sub. you might have to take a look at the sud manual to confirm, but generally the left (mono) input is used for this type of hook up.

As for the rest of your set up options, it would help to know what speakers you have. For the simplest set up you can set the speakers to small and the receivers crossover at 80hz (thx standard) and let the sub handle all of the low frequencies.

Proper calibration with an SPL meter and a calibration disk will make a huge difference. The S&V disc does a good job of explaining the basic connections as well.

 

[DaveD']

My receiver(Pioneer VSX-D509S) has a sub preout jack which is what it's connected to now. The other end's connected to the subs L LINE IN(filtered). The other jacks on the sub are R and LFE IN(unfiltered). This is a setup I followed through the manual. Is a subout and sub preout the samething? Because the manual actually says subout, I just wasn't sure. About the speakers, I bought Polk R50s(fronts), Polk R20s(rears), and Polk CSi30(center), along with Polk PSW404 sub, but I may upgrade that. I tried adjusting the crossover, but all I can seem to come up with on the receiver is a choice between 100hz, 150hz, or 200hz. There is a low pass adjustment on the sub but the manual says it will not work when the sub is setup like I have it now.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Have you gone through the receivers OSD to tell it that you do have a sub?

 

[DaveD']

Yes, I have switched the subwoofer on in the receiver.

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

set your reciever to 100hz crossover. turn any corssover settings on the sub itself off, or all the way up as high as it goes if "off" is not an option. Set all speakers to small.

The most likely reason you are able to localize your sub when you have speaker set on small is that tyhe volume is turned up to high in releation to the rest of the system. That would also explain why it is more blended when you have the fronts set to large, with them handling more of the bass, you dont notice the sub as much.

Definitely get a calibration disc and make sure your sub is set to the right volume. I ran my system for weeks wihtout having calibrated it, and managed to not notcie that the sub was working "too much" that is there was a constant thumping even during quiet scenes. When I first got the system calibrated it seemed like the bass had lost its punch. But it wasn't long before i got used to the much more natural, smooth sound.

A good "by ear" test is a THX trailer. If you sub is up too loud you will almost certainly hear an ugly, almost painful thumping...