Help! No Bass (1 Viewer)

[Jimmy_S]

Ok, I just got my new system setup at home.

Here is the run down. I have a Denon 3805 and Sapphire speakers with a Velodyne VX-10 sub.

I have to mains and center wired to the receiver, using 12ga wire with bannana plugs, these are connected to the amp'd plugs on the receiver.

I have the sub plugged into the pre-amp section of the receiver, using a standard RCA cable. But I got no sound from the sub.

I have checked to configuration on the Denon, subwoofer is ON in the config, I plugged the sub into the wall, it is turned all the way up.


What am I missing?

--Jimmy

 

[Nathan Stohler]

What kind of source are you listening to? If it's a CD, for example, you need to make sure your main speakers are set to small in order for the bass to be redirected to the sub. Also, some receivers have a "direct" mode which bypasses the sub altogether.

 

[Jimmy_S]

Thanks, I will try setting the mains to small, and see if that makes a difference.

I was watching Bourne Identity, it does have an LFE track.

Is there anything else I should try?


--Jimmy

 

[Nathan Stohler]

(1) Make sure you're playing the right audio track on your DVD (5.1, not stereo).

(2) Make sure your DVD player is outputting Dolby Digital (not PCM) on its digital output.

(3) If you happen to have your DVD player hooked up to your receiver with both analog and digital connections, make sure your receiver is using the digital connection.

 

[Rick_Brown]

For goodness sakes, don't leave your sub volume up all the way as you try to get it working. When you do get the bass it will come on with a vengence! You don't want to wreck the sub by mistake.

 

[Jimmy_S]

OK, will turn down sub first thing.

 

[Jimmy_S]

Alright all,

Here is what I have found. Just as a recap I have a Denon 3805 and a Velodyne VX-10.

By pluging in a small cd player I get sound from the sub.
Then if I plug the sub back into the receiver I get sound. After a while the sub will go to sleep, ie, the light on the back goes from Green -> red. According to the manual the sub will shutdown untill it gets a signal.

If I plug the cd player back in, I get more sound, either from the CD or receiver.

How the question becomes, is this a problem with the Sub or the receiver? or is it just the combination?

Should I have to have the Sub turned all the way up, to get any bass?

Any idea?


--Jimmy

 

[Rick_Brown]

You should not have to turn the sub all the way up, so something else is out of whack. As a start, try turning your sub to halfway. Then go to your receiver's setup and adjust the sub's level higher. This way you will get a higher level signal to the sub which will hopefully prevent it from going to sleep.

Of course, you will still need to make adjustments in order to balance the sub to the rest of your speakers.

 

[Jimmy_S]

That is basicly what I have done. In the receiver the Sub is set to +12db, everything else is set to 0db.

 

[Greg Thomas]

Why don't you just turn the sub ON instead of AUTO mode? Then you don't have to worry about a signal waking it up.

 

[Jimmy_S]

I will once I get the Polk PSW404. The Velodyne vx-10 does not have such a switch.

I tried last night at Tweeter, same thing happed with a Denon 2805 and the vx-10. Had lots of bass from the Polk Sub, switched over to the Velodyne, and nothing.

My solution to this problem is that I am replacing the Velodyne with a Polk Sub.

Is the Polk PSW404 a good sub?

--Jimmy

 

[Nathan Stohler]

I'm curious how the crossovers on the receiver and subwoofer itself are set.

If the crossover is too low, maybe you're not getting much bass to the sub, depending on the source material.

 

[Jimmy_S]

I have run the crossover all the way up to 250. And turned the crossover on the sub all the way up as well.

--Jimmy

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Before you do that, have your tried turning the output down at the sub and turning it up at the receiver to increase the signal strength to the sub? This will give a stronger sub output from the receiver, thus telling the sub that it has to stay on. You can also try a 'Y' cable from the sub cable to the sub, if the sub has L and R inputs, that is. This will also increase the signal strength to the sub, making it stay on longer. Make sure to re-calibrate after doing this.

Replacing the Velo with a Polk is not necessarily an improvement and may not even solve the problem, which is probably lack of signal strenth, not the sub.

 

[TonyWright]

You may want to try another cable. I have read a number of posts where the problem was a faulty cable. Just another possibility.

Good luck man.


Tony

 

[JurgenV]

Trade the sub in. I had the VX-10 for a week. I had the same problems. I thought for sure something was wrong with my system as I could not get any bass! I pretty much had to max gain on the sub amp, turn sub pre-out to +12 (Denon 2802), and corner load it before I got any decent bass. Even then, the just couldn't keep up... too bad though, it looked pretty nice and was a fair price.

Replaced it with a DIY Tempest+Sub amp. Four words: IN-CRED-I-BLE!