Question about Def Tech 7002s LFE input?

[Midcow2]

Okay I will take the flames up front. This is probably a simple, stupid question that I should know, so I will say sorry ahead of time.

I have Definitive Technology 7002s and they are set-up and tuned with Avia 2and SPL meter and they sound very, very nice. I have the speakers set on "small" and the crossover set fairly high at 150 Hz. The speakers are connect via monoprice banana plugs and 12 gauge speaker wire.

What bothers me, and hence my stupid question, the LFE is not connected and the auto light is always on "red". Does that mean I am not using my built in 12' 300watt sub-woofers on the 7002s at all? I know I have my 2006s upstairs connected the same way and I can definitely hear bass coming out of the speakers. Maybe it is just that I have the SVS PB12-Plus cranked up enough to drown out the 7002 bass sound, I am just not sure.

So am I good, or should I get a splitter and sent LFE to each 7002 also ?

Again, I apologize for asking such a stupid question... it is just that "red' LFE input light

Thanks,

MidCow2

 

[Adam]

Hey, man. According to your owner's manual, you don't need to connect the LFE input to get bass from those speakers.

However, you are setting them to small with a 150Hz crossover. That alone will block out everything below 150Hz from going to the speakers. Do the speakers have a crossover on them, too? If that doesn't go up to 150Hz, then I wouldn't be surprised that the internal amp isn't turning on.

Try setting them to large and see if the light turns green (with no additional connections). If so, then the red light would mean that the amp isn't powering up.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Since you are setting the BP7002s to Small and only connecting the speaker wires, no bass is being sent to the BP7002s. You could just unplug the power cords and not notice any difference.

The only reason to plug them in is to use the internal subwoofers. This means you either have to set the speakers to Large or use the LFE inputs.

If you set the speakers to Large, then the internal crossovers will send the
bass to the internal subwoofers.

The Red LED lights go on just because there are signals being fed to them. The red LED lights on my speakers stay on 24 hrs a day even when the receiver is turned off! It doesn't hurt them.

 

[Midcow2]

Hey, man. According to your owner's manual, you don't need to connect the LFE input to get bass from those speakers.

However, you are setting them to small with a 150Hz crossover. That alone will block out everything below 150Hz from going to the speakers. Do the speakers have a crossover on them, too? If that doesn't go up to 150Hz, then I wouldn't be surprised that the internal amp isn't turning on.

Try setting them to large and see if the light turns green (with no additional connections). If so, then the red light would mean that the amp isn't powering up.

Thanks for the response Adam,

I have tried lots of different settings form "Large" and different crossovers.
The light is always red; I think the LED is just detection of a signal coming into the LFE and nothing else because it is right next to the LFE input.

Anyway thanks for the response!

MidCow2

 

[Midcow2]

Thanks TLS

Since you are setting the BP7002s to Small and only connecting the speaker wires, no bass is being sent to the BP7002s. You could just unplug the power cords and not notice any difference.

The only reason to plug them in is to use the internal subwoofers. This means you either have to set the speakers to Large or use the LFE inputs.

If you set the speakers to Large, then the internal crossovers will send the
bass to the internal subwoofers.

The Red LED lights go on just because there are signals being fed to them. The red LED lights on my speakers stay on 24 hrs a day even when the receiver is turned off! It doesn't hurt them.

I had the speakers set at "large' before and will probably set them back. I have tried lots of different setting and the lights were always "red".

Your response clears things up as usual. Thank you very much Mr. expert! ( and I am not saying that fictiously).

 

[Nemo128]

LFE on the BP700* models usually sounds better than just setting the speakers to Large.

However, setting the speakers to Large and using the LFE got the best result from my experience. It's also recommended in the manual to do it this way if you use the LFE in. The reasoning is that it will still send any appropriate freq coming out of the speaker level inputs to the sub anyway while the LFE is connected, so your crossover point can be lower to allow the towers to get the midrange better.

YMMV.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I had the speakers set at "large' before and will probably set them back. I have tried lots of different setting and the lights were always "red".

Your response clears things up as usual. Thank you very much Mr. expert! ( and I am not saying that fictiously).

You betcha.

Yeah, the only red LED light that goes off in my room after everything is put in Standby mode is the Trinity subwoofer. I guess in Standby mode, some current is still flowing and that is all it takes to turn on those LED lights. The only time all the LED lights go off is when I actually turn the receiver completely OFF, not just Standby mode.

 

[GlocksRock]

I have all my towers set to large and LFE is set to both, so all the LFE is sent to the sub and the towers, and I get the best sound that way. As far as the color of the led on the internal amps, I've never really bothered to see if it changes from red to green like my svs.

 

[MatthewB.]

I have the BP7001sc and yours is one step down from mine. If I were you I would set the speakers to small, and your crossover at 40Hz. The 7000 series have excellant crossovers and although they do have great subs built in, they cannot get down to what DT says they can without dropping off like a lead balloon in sound output. In fact although they say my 7001's can get down to 18Hz, I find anything below 30Hz and the bass gets bloated and just drops off from anything below 30Hz. My Onkyo internal crossover only can get down to 40hz (and not 30hz) so I have it set there, and the bass is more tight and controlled and I am getting great overall bass in use with my SVS.

I would immediatly adjust your crossover from it's 150hz, because anything below that is going to the sub, so your speakers mid range is severly lacking in what it was meant to do. Just set it to 40Hz and let the DT internal crossover do what it was meant to do. If you do not have an external subwoofer than I would set them to Large and in the future consider buying a great sub to help with the real low end that the 7002's cannot achieve by themselves.

 

[Midcow2]

thanks for your response

I have the BP7001sc and yours is one step down from mine. If I were you I would set the speakers to small, and your crossover at 40Hz. The 7000 series have excellant crossovers and although they do have great subs built in, they cannot get down to what DT says they can without dropping off like a lead balloon in sound output. In fact although they say my 7001's can get down to 18Hz, I find anything below 30Hz and the bass gets bloated and just drops off from anything below 30Hz. My Onkyo internal crossover only can get down to 40hz (and not 30hz) so I have it set there, and the bass is more tight and controlled and I am getting great overall bass in use with my SVS.

I would immediatly adjust your crossover from it's 150hz, because anything below that is going to the sub, so your speakers mid range is severly lacking in what it was meant to do. Just set it to 40Hz and let the DT internal crossover do what it was meant to do. If you do not have an external subwoofer than I would set them to Large and in the future consider buying a great sub to help with the real low end that the 7002's cannot achieve by themselves.

MichaelB,

Thanks for your response; your 7001s are very nice but I am more than please with my 7002s. I just recently received a SVS PB12-Plus and reset speaker levels with and SPL meter. Actually right now I have the front speakers set at large and the LFE=both so the crossover frequency is disabled. The sound is very good right now, the red LED light bothered me. Anyway, I am still going to do some more experimenting. I ordered some audio cables on some splitter from Monprice today and I am going to try connecting the LFE to the 7002s as well as the sub and then try small with varios cross overs and you are probably right about lower than 150 Hz. i was tring to see how the SVS sounded.

Thanks for yours and everyone elses advice.

 

[Midcow2]

Red light stays on

Okay, I did an experiment just to see, I bought some more audio RCA cables and some splitters and split the sub out signal to three feed. one to each 7002 LFE and one to the SVS.

The red light still stays on the 7002s. At higher volumes the 7002s become a little boomy on lower frequencies.

I actually like just setting the front speakers to large and sub to both and lettling the 7002 internal crossovers handle it.

Oh well, I had to know and know I know.

------

The wife is thinking she wants a new coffe table in the den and she is also thinking a new TV stand. She has found some slte tables that match/ enhance our entry foyer slate.

But the best part... she is planning on one that will handle a much larger TV and accomodate my CLR3000 and the revceiver , DVD and satellite. I really like that thinking

Take care and have a great Christmas.

MidCow2

 

[brendy]

To the OP

From the owners manual :
The red LED on the back panel will light up when a signal is sensed and the amplifier turns on. Please note that after the cessation of a signal, it may take up to an hour for the amplifier to actually turn off. In some instances, because of RF presence in your area, the red LEDs may not turn off.

 

[Midcow2]

From the owners manual :
The red LED on the back panel will light up when a signal is sensed and the amplifier turns on. Please note that after the cessation of a signal, it may take up to an hour for the amplifier to actually turn off. In some instances, because of RF presence in your area, the red LEDs may not turn off.

Brendy,

Thanks fro your response. My point was that it doesn't turn from red to green when a signal is present.

I have obsrverd exactly what you say with both the LFE connected and not connected.

MidCow2

 

[GlocksRock]

Yeah, I finally looked and noticed the led doesn't change color. So you too prefer setting the fronts to large and LFE to both... that is how both of my systems are setup.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

In fact although they say my 7001's can get down to 18Hz, I find anything below 30Hz and the bass gets bloated and just drops off from anything below 30Hz.

Tom Nousaine (Sound & Vision Magazine) measured the BP7001 & CLR3000 in his 7,500 c.f. room from 2 meters away:

7001: 27 Hz - 20 kHz +/-3dB; @ -10dB, it goes down to about 21 Hz
CLR3000: 28 Hz - 20 kHz +/-3dB; @ -10dB, it goes down to about 22 Hz

 

[MatthewB.]

Correct, the red light never changes color, if it senses a bass signal it will turn on. If it senses no bass it won't be on at all. I still think you should forgo the RCa cable hookup and just use 12 gauge speaker wire and set the crossover to 40hz. Your &002 have a cutoff of about 35Hz (so 40Hz would be great) this way your sub drivers in the 7002's are not straining and dropping off. Let your SVS do what it was meant to do and take care of the lower bass. I used to use Mains + Life also but found the bass was too bloated. Once I adjusted to small and crossover at 40Hz, and let my SVS handle the lower portion of the mains, I found the bass tightened up (ALOT) and the overall performance was way better. (Rooms are different so experimenting will work for each room). But having a preponderance of bass is never a good thing for overall sound. You want the bass to be noticed when it is needed and you want that bass to be deep and clean not just loud and strained.