Do I have to use a subwoofer?

[DataWumpet]

I have a Yamaha V377 AVR with Polk RTi6 fronts and Polk and, as of now, Polk T15s for surround with a Klipsch RC52II centre speaker. I have all the bass I want right now. The AVR has allows you to turn the subwoofer off but this routes the sub output to the fronts. My question is, can I leave the AVR configured with the subwoofer on and just not hook one up or does this risk damaging the AVR? My limited knowledge tells me that since there is nothing hooked up to the sub out jack it should be OK but I am not sure.

Thanks!

 

[markw]

Why would you not want the receiver to route the bass to the fronts if you don't have a sub?

Of course, you could "lie" to the receiver and say you have a sub but you may not* get the bass to your front mains. Is that what you want?

But, in any case, you won't hurt the receiver.

* depends on your receiver. RTFM.

 

[3db]

I have a Yamaha V377 AVR with Polk RTi6 fronts and Polk and, as of now, Polk T15s for surround with a Klipsch RC52II centre speaker. I have all the bass I want right now. The AVR has allows you to turn the subwoofer off but this routes the sub output to the fronts. My question is, can I leave the AVR configured with the subwoofer on and just not hook one up or does this risk damaging the AVR? My limited knowledge tells me that since there is nothing hooked up to the sub out jack it should be OK but I am not sure.

Thanks!

You want to route bass to a sub that doesn't exist to reduce the amount of bass going to your fronts? Is this what you are after?

 

[DataWumpet]

Why would you not want the receiver to route the bass to the fronts if you don't have a sub?

Of course, you could "lie" to the receiver and say you have a sub but you may not* get the bass to your front mains. Is that what you want?

But, in any case, you won't hurt the receiver.

* depends on your receiver. RTFM.

Thanks for the reply. You would agree that listening is a subjective experience, that what sounds good to one may not sound good to another, yes?

I do not like a lot of bass. I especially do not need to have explosions, natural disasters, car crashes, etc., recreated in life like acoustical detail in my living room. I watch films for the story and, with the exception of dialogue, as long as the sounds are reasonably represented that is all I am interested in. BTW, I did read the manual and could not find the answer to my question so I posted it here.

 

[markw]

Yes, I agree that listening is a subjective experience and you are more than entitled to use your system as you choose. I hope I put your fears to rest.

 

[DataWumpet]

You want to route bass to a sub that doesn't exist to reduce the amount of bass going to your fronts? Is this what you are after?

Not actually. I can configure the receiver to run with or without a sub. If I tell it there is no sub then it routes the sub output to the fronts. What I did was tell it that there is a sub when there is not, so the sub output goes to the jack but there is nothing attached. I wanted to make sure that running the receiver in this configuration wasn't going to damage it. Since there is no actual circuit being completed as there is nothing plugged into the sub out jack I'm thinking it's OK but wasn't sure, hence my original post. I did try configuring it without a sub and decreased the db to the fronts but then that decreased all front output and I didn't care for it. Do you have another suggestion?

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

The sub preamp output isn't powered so there will be no effect on anything configured this way, as mark did mention in the first response.

 

[herbu]

I have a Yamaha V377 AVR with Polk RTi6 fronts and Polk and, as of now, Polk T15s for surround with a Klipsch RC52II centre speaker. I have all the bass I want right now. The AVR has allows you to turn the subwoofer off but this routes the sub output to the fronts. My question is, can I leave the AVR configured with the subwoofer on and just not hook one up or does this risk damaging the AVR? My limited knowledge tells me that since there is nothing hooked up to the sub out jack it should be OK but I am not sure.

Thanks!

DataWumpet, these guys are right. There is no danger to your receiver. Please let me try to explain how this works.

There are 2 separate bass signals. One is LFE, (Low Frequency Effects). This is a completely separate signal present in movies only, not in music. It has the big booms and rumbles that shake your chair, and is ONLY sent to your subwoofer output.

The second is the bass contained in everything, including music, and is the low frequencies like a bass drum, bass guitar, low notes on an organ, thunder, etc. This bass can be managed by you between your sub and speakers.

When you tell your AVR you do not have a sub, you automatically lose LFE, and all "normal" bass is sent to your speakers.

If you tell your AVR you DO have a sub, a thing called "crossover" comes into play. The crossover is the frequency where the AVR splits your bass signal, sending frequencies below the crossover to your sub and frequencies above the crossover to your speakers.

So if you tell the AVR you DO have a sub, but really don't, you can still set your crossover to suit your taste. Most people can hear down to 20Hz. You can set your crossover at 40Hz and see what you think... or 60Hz, or 80Hz. You can play with it to find the frequency below which you want attenuated.

Just be sure to also set your speakers to "Small". This allows the crossover setting to work. If you set your speakers to "Large", there will be no crossover and no control for you, as "Large" speakers get the whole signal, (except LFE).

 

[3db]

Not actually. I can configure the receiver to run with or without a sub. If I tell it there is no sub then it routes the sub output to the fronts.

I understand that. Check my signature

What I did was tell it that there is a sub when there is not, so the sub output goes to the jack but there is nothing attached.

Why? That's the point I'm trying to understand. If you don't have a sub, why tell the AVR you have one? If you do this, you will need to make sure that your front speakers are set to large and that you route bass to both sub and fronts.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I get it. You don't want the low end. While others may disagree, we don't live in your home.

Turn the sub on in your receiver, set your crossover to whatever makes you happy.

No, you won't damage anything at all.

Cut the bass? Fine. Your home, your choice.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I have a Yamaha RX-V375 that is almost the same as your receiver. I like the auto EQ, which Yamaha calls YPAO. On mine there is also an EQ that can be set by the user. There are also bass treble controls. You should be able to adjust it to your liking without using the subwoofer choice. My front speakers have very good bass, so I do not use the subwoofers much. Peace and goodwill.