Outlaw 950 bass questions

[Dave George]

I'm sure this has been asked before, so I apologize in advance, but I've been reading up and there are some things I'm still confused about.

First - the double bass problem. I'll be using bookshelf mains, so I want to use my sub for music. If I have the mains set to small and I'm in analog bypass mode, do I get double bass? In other words, does the crossover to the mains get overridden and bass information sent there as well as the sub, or does this only happen if they are set in large mode?

Second - Am I still going to need my Paradigm x-30 crossover? I know there are variable highpass crossovers on the 950, but what about lowpass?

Finally, would this work as a way to get around the double bass issue - set the sub seting to off, redirecting the sub info to the mains, and just use the low/highpass crossovers in the x30 rather than the outlaw.

Hope the above makes sense to everyone, as I'm pretty confused at the moment. TIA for any advice.

Dave

 

[Chris PC]

All I can say is..

If I have the mains set to small and I'm in analog bypass mode, do I get double bass?

..setting your front speakers to SMALL will have no affect in the bypass mode. Another words, the SMALL crossover setting will not be used. Your front speakers will receive a full range signal and your subwoofer, I'm not sure whether there is a crossover when it gets bass in analog bypass.

 

[Dave George]

Thanks Chris, I think I understand now.

So that means my solution of using the x-30 and sending the LFE to the mains should work, correct? In bypass, the mains will get the full signal, and the x-30 will seperate it between the mains and sub.

Any drawbacks to this idea? Is there any degradation in sound by sending the LFE to the mains?

Dave

 

[Dave George]

anyone?

 

[Mal P]

Hi Dave,

From what I understand, what you wish to do is set your centre and rear(s) speakers to small, and your fronts to large, with the subwoofer to "off". What this would do is re-direct all the bass from the centre and rear(s) channels as well as the LFE, to the front channels. Then you plan to take the L/R front channel outputs and feed them into an X30 cross-over, which would then remove the bass below a certain cross-over frequency and send it to the sub, with the rest of the signal (mids/highs etc) being sent to the amplifier.

The only major problem I can see with this solution is the inability to adjust the level of the subwoofer output via the Outlaw 950, and hence the remote control. This is because with the sub set to off, there's no "bass" channel you can attenuate as you wish.

Also, as the X30 does the crossing over in the analog domain, *some* phase response may be smeared, thus affecting the imaging/soundstaging. I would not expect this to be a problem, as the X30 is a high quality unit made with good electronics.

What type of CD player do you have? Have you considered feeding the Outlaw 950 a digital signal? From all reports, the internal DACs of the 950 seem quite capable of decoding a PCM signal with competence. This would generally solve your bass management issues.

Cheers,

Mal

 

[Chris PC]

I think my question is, is it necessary to use the analog bypass for analog stereo? Is there enough of an increase in sound quality? If there is not, then I would abandon the idea of an external crossover.
I don't think the external crossover is out of the question. it would work and only after trying would you know for sure.
Problem with the X-30 is that you are stuck with pre-set high pass frequencies of 50hz , 80hz or 120 hz.
http://www.paradigm.com/Website/Site...Unit_Specs.htm
I'd rather have a crossover with more choices than that. Say 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 hz?
Mirage has a old crossover you might find called the LFX-1 that has a variable crossover for the high and low pass of 50-100 hz in both cases. Sound quality is a concern as some say the variable crossover is not ideal, and yet, thats what subwoofers are supplied with. Only testing it will tell you if it works for you.
I say just hope that the bypass is not necessary.