Bass Management help (1 Viewer)

[ChrisT]

Ok, I feel like a moron here. I've searched the owners manual for my Kenwood VR-806 receiver countless times, and I've searched these forums as well. There are a few features that I'm trying to tap into however the owners manual isn't being quite clear enough for my level of "newbness" (this is indeed my first receiver).

The owners manual says that I can adjust the loudness and tone while in the "PCM stereo" and "analog stereo" modes. I don't know what these are...do they have to do with the "listening modes"? I'm lost...

The other thing is that Kenwood boasts that this receiver has "Full Digital Bass Management." It describes it as a way the user can adjust the system so that bass is sent only to those speakers designed to handle it. I could really use this feature because right now it seems that my subwoofer is doing all of the bass work, and that there is a significant frequency hole where bass is getting lost. Does this feature have anything to do with the "large or small settings" for the different speakers. One again, I'm lost...

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[David Judah]

Loudness is a little booster and tone controls, usually bass and treble can be adjusted to tailor the high fequency and low frequency tilt.

Digital Bass managment does involve the large and small speaker settings. It would be helpful to know what speakers you are using and their useful range as well as the crossover points that are available on the receiver. Commonly, speakers are set to small with a filter point around 80 Hz, but that is by no means the only way to do it and the settings will depend on the speakers(including the sub)and the source.

 

[ChrisT]

Ok, thanks for the info!

 

[BrianWoerndle]

"PCM stereo" and "analog stereo"

PCM stereo is stereo sound over a digital connection. Most common when you connect a CD player with an optical or coaxial wire.
Analog stereo is anything coming over the red and white wires.

What the manual is trying to say is that the tone controls will only work in stereo. When listing to Dolby Digital or DTS the tone controls are ignored.

 

[ChrisT]

Regarding tone adjustment, the receiver is still not letting me change these settings or activate bass boost. Neither the Dolby Digital nor the DTS lights are on, so I'm assuming a signal isn't going through. I'm just listening to music from my laptop through the aux listening mode. I press the button on the remote and nothing happens. Can someone help please?

 

[FeisalK]

Chris, DD and DTS lights will only come on if you're feeding the receiver with a digital signal thru the digital (optical or coax) input.

If, as you say, you're listening thru the AUX input from your laptop, its an analog input. You should still be able to get some faux surround (turn on Pro Logic, or PLII).

Even thru the AUX input, if on the receiver settings you have set the mains to be small and Bass = LFE (options on most receivers are BOTH, LFE, MAINS) the digital bass management will kick in and send the bass to the subwoofer.
isn't it supposed to be doing all the work anyways? if you think theres a freq 'hole' where the bass is getting lost, maybe you need to change the crossover setting on your receiver? normally it's between 80Hz to 100Hz

 

[ChrisT]

Hmm...I don't think I have the option to change crossover settings. It's not mentioned at all in the manual. Doesn't surprise me much, it's a low-end receiver. The one thing that does bother is the fact that I cannot make use of the Tone Adjustment or Bass Boost features. I press the buttons on the remote and nothing happens. I've tried it in all the listening modes including PLII.