HK AVR525 questions (1 Viewer)

[Allen C Hecht]

I have an HK avr525, a Yamaha SW150 sub, and Polk Audio RM6500 speakers. I have recently wired my sub directly to the receiver rather than having the front speakers run in and out of it. I have noticed that my bass response is not as strong as before. On the 525, there are sub settings for Global, or Independent. Which should I use, also, what should I have the crossovers set for the fronts, center, surrounds and sub, to improve the sound quality?

Thanks!!

 

[GregorySB]

If you find you need more bass you have a couple of options: either boost the LFE (subwoofer) channel by a few dB in the 525 or turn up the gain on the subwoofer. (Note: the bass should not overpower everything else, so don't set it *too* high. Use an SPL meter if you have one).

I believe that Global vs. Independent means that your crossover settings will be the same for all inputs (global) or different for each input (independent). Start with Global and tweak from there if necessary.

I'm not familiar with your speakers, so I can't suggest specific crossover frequencies, but in general the crossover set in the receiver should be about half an octave to an octave above the lowest frequency that your speakers can reproduce at -3dB. 80Hz is what THX recommends in their specifications, and usually works pretty well, but for some satellite speakers, 80Hz is too low and 100Hz (or maybe even 120Hz) makes more sense. If you can find frequency response specs for your speakers, start with those, setting the crossover in the receiver above the minimimum frequency listed in the specs. Since the 525 allows different crossover frequencies for each set of speakers, you have more flexibility than with many other brands of receivers.

Hope that helps.