Sub not producing loud deep bass (1 Viewer)

[natestarsfan]

Hello all....I now have my home theater setup and going....I have noticed that the sub is not producing the same loud deep bass that it did before...before I had it running from my htib sub (clip) to one of the LR clips on the back of the sub..now its connected via the LFE...Is this normal? what should the crossover be to have the loud bass?? Please help as this is the only thing I am not happy with...

 

[Dave Upton]

Crossover should always be set to maximum - as that is usually handled by your AVR (Audio Video Receiver). The knob you will need to play with is Gain. This is very likely to be different from before as an LFE output has a constant voltage relative to the AVR's overall volume level. The best way to do this is to get a Radio Shack SPL meter and enter the setup menu, turning the gain knob until a subwoofer test tone reads 75dB C-weighted with slow timing.

 

[natestarsfan]

On my Denon the crossover goes on up into the 200's......from 40 to up into the 200's....with it connected via LFE the controls on the sub itself can no longer be used.....so are you saying to put it on up into the 200's? and should I select LFE or LFE + Main in the Bass control setting?

 

[FoxyMulder]

You should really get an audio calibration disc and radio shack meter, i recommend something like AIX, link below, you need to test your room to check that the position of the subwoofer is correct and room modes are not causing issues, set the level on the subwoofer crossover dial, thats the actual subwoofer one and NOT the AV Receiver to maximum or switch it off, your AV Receiver will control the crossover, set gain on the subwoofer to around half when you do the testing and drop as required or leave alone, never set gain to maximum or you will get very bloated bass.

Seriously you need to get a calibration disc and meter, its likely you have been listening to bloated fat bass and real true deep bass ( if your subwoofer can do this - i assume it can ) will astound you by its clean and deep nature, link provided for a calibration disc i have used.

http://www.aixrecords.com/catalog/bd/oppo_sampler_bd.html

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Hello all....I now have my home theater setup and going....I have noticed that the sub is not producing the same loud deep bass that it did before...before I had it running from my htib sub (clip) to one of the LR clips on the back of the sub..now its connected via the LFE...Is this normal? what should the crossover be to have the loud bass?? Please help as this is the only thing I am not happy with...

When you say "clip"...it sounds like you are referring to speaker level inputs? Did you use regular speaker wire for this connection?

If so that would give the subwoofer amplifier a different type of input signal. (different voltage level)

Can you simply turn up the subwoofer "gain" control to get back to your desired bass levels?

Tom V.

 

[natestarsfan]

 

[natestarsfan]

This is my Sub....I currently have the crossover and sub volume all the way up....when I turn these there is no change in the sound..I'm assuming that is because my receiver controls it now...before with the HTIB I have regular speaker wire running from my sub outputs speaker wire "clips" to one of the speaker level "inputs" thats where I got the loud deep bass from...

 

[natestarsfan]

This is the back of my receiver

 

[schan1269]

My guess is you had tons of mid-bass before, and you aren't used to a proper setup yet. What are your main speakers?

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

This is my Sub....I currently have the crossover and sub volume all the way up....when I turn these there is no change in the sound..I'm assuming that is because my receiver controls it now...before with the HTIB I have regular speaker wire running from my sub outputs speaker wire "clips" to one of the speaker level "inputs" thats where I got the loud deep bass from...

The bass level should change as you adjust the "sub volume" dial. I suppose it's POSSIBLE that this subwoofer amplifier bypass ALL the controls if you use the LFE input. That's unusual but not completely unheard of. Try the *right input* jack on the subwoofer.

Tom V.

 

[natestarsfan]

Left and Right are Energy CB5's and the Center is Energy Take

 

[schan1269]

I remember now.My guess is you were used to the sub running all the way up to 200hz. Now that it is doing

 

[natestarsfan]

Right now the left and right channels already 90 Hz the center channel is 80 Hz to surround channels are in the hundred and 20 Hz and the sub is 150 Hz

 

[natestarsfan]

Sorry for all of the miss spells it's Siri's fault

 

[schan1269]

Is the bass keeping up with the remaining 7 speakers?I would also set the center at 120. The main should be at 70 or 80.Also make sure LFE + main is off, if you have the option.

 

[natestarsfan]

Main meaning the front l&r correct? I'll try that.. Bass sounds decent at 150.. And lfe main is off

 

[FoxyMulder]

You have Audyssey on that AV Receiver, did you run it, a guide below for using it.

http://www.audyssey.com/audio-technology/multeq/how-to

 

[schan1269]

I still have the feeling he's focusing on the wrong thing here...

He had his sub wired from the subwoofer terminal on a HTiB that probably had zero settings(we don't know what HTiB...or if he did say in the other threads, I don't remember).

Meaning the HTiB was probably sending 200-250hz(who knows...has anybody out there actually measured the frequency response of the $250-$500 craptastic?). His 5(or 7???) in that thing probably only went down to 200hz. Maybe not even that low.

Now, he has 7 speakers capable of 70hz and 120hz. Instead of 5 barely capable of 200.

Meaning...the subwoofer has much less work to do.

There are three things here you need to consider before complaining about the "lack of bass"...

1. How much more performance is there in your 7 speakers..compared to the 5(or 7???) you had before(volume and frequency extension)?
2. Your AVR doesn't "turn up" the same way as your HTiB did. I'm sure your HTiB used linear volume, the AVR uses relative. Big difference.
3. You have bass management now which is allowing the subwoofer to "work as intended" instead of making up for what wasn't there(the HTiB).

To help us, help you further...

What "gain" do you have the AVR set on(whether you did it or Audyssey did it)? -12 through +12...where is it?
What is the gain on the subwoofer?

If you don't understand linear vs relative volume control...we can explain it.

 

[schan1269]

There is another issue here, which I forgot in the prior post...

Overall speaker efficiency...and it sorta ties into the relative vs linear volume control...

Your prior speakers were woefully inefficient. Your new speakers are way more efficient. Meaning, before, your sub easily overpowered the 5 it was up against.

Essentially, if your sub is an F/A18 Hornet.

Before, you had it playing around with some Fokker M.5k.

You've simply leveled the playing field...ergo...the sub is still doing what it was...it is just not overpowering everything else.

 

[natestarsfan]

You are right... Overall the system performs much better.. I did do the audyssey setup and do not know what the gain was for the sub .. I believe it was -3.......