Help with Sub and sound fields (1 Viewer)

[JeffD]

I need some advice. I have a Sony STR-DA 50 ES receiver. I have not used the tuner until
recently. I have a single cable running from the Sub-woofer output to the sub. I noticed
when using the tuner with a sound field turned on I have a signal to the sub and it sounds good. But when I turn off the sound field I lose the signal to the sub.

I turned the sound field off to hear the music more like it was recorded.

If I connect two cables from the preamp out for the front left and right to the sub and disconnect the single cable from the sub output I get all the bass I ever wanted. But then If I try and watch a movie the bass is very low.

My questions are 1. Is this the way it should be working? And 2. would it hurt anything to leave all the cables connected which would give me good bass during a movie and then on music without a sound field also.

My concern is, if the sound field got turned on while playing music I would have a signal on the two cables from the front L/R and from the sub output. Could this damage my amp.

Does any of this make any sense?? I feel like I’ve started to ramble….

Thanks for any help!

Jeff in Wichita

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Jeff. Welcome to HTF.

I dont think it would hurt anything to leave both connected. My guess is the single subwoofer cable is the better choice, but you have to do some adjustments on your reciever.

Try this:

- Just connect the subwoofer cable.

- Tell your reciever that all your speakers are SMALL and that you have a external sub (read your manual to find out how to reach these settings)

- Go to the subwoofer and turn up the volume/intensity to about 75% of it's full travel

- On the subwoofer you have a "crossover" dial. Set it to it's highest value (this way the reciever controls what frequencies the sub gets).

- Get a Radio Shack SPL meter and get your speakers to produce 75 db of sound, then get the sub to produce 83-85 db of sound. (Your reciever has a separate adjustment to increase/decrease the subwoofer signal. My guess is this is the main problem you have) See our Primer/Faq on Calibration for more info.

You may also have to play with the reciever crossover setting (I believe the ES series of Sony recievers have adjustable crossovers). Set it to something like 80 hz to start.

This should solve your problem.

 

[Michael Young]

I too have a Sony receiver. I did run 1 RCA to the Sub, and it seemed fine, after all subs are mono right??

Anyhow eventually I got a Y splitter, and plugged 2 into the sub, split from the receiver.

Ends up After runnin 2 wires from the Receiver to the SUB, this was the best choice. I don;t know why 1 connection wasn't good enough, but since I ran 2 everything has been fine, maybe its just a sony problem?

 

[JeffD]

Bob, Michael,
Thanks for the help!
I'll give it a try over the weekend and see what works.
I forgot to mention I have a "Y" at the sub being fed with a single line from the receiver. We'll see what happens.
Thanks again, it's good just to be able to talk to others who have been down the road.
Jeff