Weird Polk Sub config and Dolby 5.1 (1 Viewer)

[Adam J]

I have the Polk RM6000 Surround speakers. The manual says to connect the sub to the Front speaker jacks on the receiver and set the front speakers to "Large". Then run the front speaker wires out of the Sub to the front speakers.

The reason is that the Sub has its own build in "Low Pass Filter" and Polk says that the Sub will take care of splitting up the signal to the front speakers and the sub. They say not to set it up the normal way because then both the receiver and the Sub will each be running the signal through a "Low Pass Filter" and this could result in signal loss.

I know the 5.1 encoding has 6 different channels. Based on this, it sounds like I will be getting "Dolby Digital 4.1" with the Polk "Low Pass Filter" deciding what signals to send to the sub and which ones not to.

My question is: Will this configuration cause my system to not be able to play 5.1 encoded media properly?

Hopefully I am wrong and this isn't a big deal, but I would love to hear from someone with more knowledge about these things that could clear things up for me. I already sent the question to Polkaudio.com if they reply with anything useful I will post it here. Thanks.

 

[CameronJ]

Adam,

In this case, your sub will essentially be responsible for processing a number of different signals. First, assuming that you have the sub hooked up to the LFE output on your receiver, the sub will receive the .1 track. Secondly, your sub will, depending on the frequency of it's low pass filter, use the lower frequencies that are destined for your main speakers.

Most receivers perform a similar function when you set your speakers to "Small". By setting your speakers to "Small", the receiver sends the lower frequencies (depending on your receiver's crossover setting) to the subwoofer instead of the speakers. In this case, the receiver still sends the .1 signal to the sub through the LFE output.

Having just discovered DVD-Audio, I find that the first setup helps overcome some of that format's lack of bass management. As I don't have full-size mains, the sub filters and plays the lower frequencies, with the higher frequencies going to the mains (which the receiver doesn't do in this case as DVD-Audio comes in through my EXT-IN jacks, which bypass most of the receiver's processing functions).

Hope this helps.

 

[Adam J]

Thanks for the reply.
I also found this article at the Polk site. I guess I was not the only person confused
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/...cle=bassmanage