Need help with newly purchased Subwoofer :(

[tiesto81]

Hey everyone,

I am having issues with a new subwoofer I purchased. I'm assuming I'm supposed to hear a little more bass than I currently am (I don't feel anything coming out of the bass during actual music/HT and don't feel any air coming out of the back chamber).

I have a Yamaha RX-V573 receiver. When I purchased my Polk front and center speakers, I could just use the YPAO and have it automatically get things setup. I just got a Rythmik LV12R (it's their newer version of the FV12). It's plugged in power wise of couse, running the LFE cable from it to the only subwoofer port on the Yamaha's back.

When I ran the YPAO the first time, I had to change from auto detect for powering to always on, because it didn't even detect it. Now, it does detect it, but barely any bass comes out of it. Is this normal? Even if I crank the volume all the way to the max, it's not sounding like it gives much bass output. Heck, my Onkyo 200 dollar HTIB back in the day cranked out more than what I'm detecting and from the reviews I've read on this SW, it should be pretty darn good for the amount spent.

Any recommendations on what to fix/tweak? Thanks.

 

[shadyJ]

Have you followed the instructions according to Yamaha's manual? When you run the YPAO sweeps, make sure the sub is only at 1/4 on the gain. Don't crank it high for the YPAO test tones. Make sure the sub's crossover is either set to external or run for maximum range at the highest frequency which on Rythmiks is 120 hz. Also, if you have anything you else can connect to the sub to see if its working, try that. Anything that has a line level analogue output, your computer, CD player, mp3 player, whatever. This will help rule out the sub's amp as the cause of the problem.

 

[tiesto81]

I had the gain on the sub set to 1/2 per the instructions that came with the subwoofer. I'll try 1/4 gain (although the instructions included said otherwise, I'll see what this does!). The crossover is set to max (also per the instructions that came with it) although it says the crossover is not even used when running via LFE for this particular sub.

So the sub is definitely working it just seems faint. What I'm noticing is that after the initial YPAO settings, it detected the sub. It's set at -10db. Cranking this up to +10db makes it more noticeable (although the front and centers are set to around +3.0db. The other thing is the YPAO set the crossover on the Yamaha to 40hz and kept the fronts and center set to 'Large' for the speaker size. In reading the manual for the receiver, it says:

Crossover
Sets the lower limit of the low-frequency
components that can be output from a speaker
whose size is set to “Small”. A frequency
sound lower than the specified value will be
produced from the subwoofer or front speakers

I noticed when I set the speakers to small it's more noticeable but does that mean there won't be any bass coming out of it then? Sorry, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff.

 

[Adam]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

The auto setup routines (like YPAO) often set speakers to "Large" even though they really aren't capable of full range playback. If you set them to "Small," that means that frequencies above the crossover will go to your speakers, and frequencies below the crossover will go to your sub. That's how I run my system, but my subs are much more capable of playing low frequencies than my bookshelf speakers.

What model of Polks do you have?

 

[shadyJ]

Yes, you will want your speakers set to small for this. Yes, not as much bass will be coming from them, but your subwoofer is what you want to handle bass, it does it with much more ease than your speakers. You need to test your subs with something else to make sure it works. Connect it to your computer playback some frequency sweeps. If you see the woofer really start to move, the sub should be OK.

Next to all that, you will want to experiment with placement. Even powerful subs can sound like nothing in the wrong location, especially if your listening position is near the middle of the room. Try the subwoofer crawling method of finding the optimal placement for a sub in your room. This is where you place your sub at your listening position (with the woofer at your ear level, if possible), crank some test tones, and you bring your ears down to the places where your sub could go. Place the sub in the location where the bass sounded the loudest. If you want to be spared the indignity of crawling around on your hands and knees in your room, you can do this with an SPL meter too, if you have one handy.

 

[tiesto81]

Great, thanks all for the advice. I've finally gotten the hang of this and figured out it had to do with the crossover settings and the speakers being set to large (as well as not having the initial gains set right on the sub during YPAO calibration). I have the polk RTi A3's for the front, the A6 for the center and the Rythmik LV12R which is a replacement for their FV12

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Get Good Bass | Audioholics

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Great, thanks all for the advice. I've finally gotten the hang of this and figured out it had to do with the crossover settings and the speakers being set to large (as well as not having the initial gains set right on the sub during YPAO calibration). I have the polk RTi A3's for the front, the A6 for the center and the Rythmik LV12R which is a replacement for their FV12

So is it sounding good now?

If not and if reading the articles in the link BSA provided didn't help here's a quick rundown.

1) Double check that all your wiring is correct and securely connected including speaker wire polarity.

2) Turn off all EQ on the sub if so equipped.

3) Disable the crossover on the subs amp and adjust the volume knob to desired starting point. (refer to your manuals) If the sub dose not have a switch to disable the crossover then just turn the knob all the way up to the highest setting.

4) Manually set your receivers distances for all your speakers.

5) Manually set all your receivers speaker sizes to small.

6) Manually set your receivers crossover setting to 80hz.

7) Manually set all speaker trim levels to zero.

8) Manually set your receivers phase setting to normal.

9) If your receiver has a setting for base output, set it to output to the sub only (SWFR), not both or front. (these labels might be different on your Yamaha but that's how they are named in mine)

10) Turn off or zero out all settings for EQ and tone controls.

11) Save this setup (at least for the time being) It is the starting point that most of us here begin with.

12) If your receiver will let you run YPAO so it only adjusts the volume level and EQ of each speaker with out changing size, crossover and distance then do so and see how it sounds.

13) Tweak to your liking. Getting a SPL meter is the next step if you don't have one. Manually setting speaker level is more accurate in most cases.

All of this wont take you long. Remember, these are starting points. You might not need to change them you might need to change all of them. Most of us change very little from the small / 80 hz settings though. YMMV. (Speaker trim settings will change)

If you have questions...ask! There are many here who are very helpful...some are even patient!

 

[theJman]

What do you have the crossover dial on the sub set for? What about the Bass Extension switch? With the LVR12R I found it needed a Y adapter connected to the L/R inputs, as opposed to just the LFE input, in order to get an acceptable amount of output. I also set the Bass Extension switch to Low and the crossover to match my AVR setting.