Subwoofer troubleshooting

[sTEALtooth]

My sub is not producing much sound. I've checked the cables, checked the settings, and it still is very quiet. My front speakers produce more low end when set to large with the sub disabled. When I tried the YPAO config on my AVR, it wouldn't recognize it unless the volume on the sub itself was turned all the way up. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot would be much appreciated. I have a Yamaha vx373 receiver and pioneer Andrew Jones speakers.

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[lovinthehd]

What sub is it?

With the gain on the sub up to max you could successfully run YPAO? What was the sub level set by YPAO after that?

What content/source are you testing the sub with?

 

[sTEALtooth]

What sub is it?

With the gain on the sub up to max you could successfully run YPAO? What was the sub level set by YPAO after that?

What content/source are you testing the sub with?

The sub is the Pioneer sw-8mk2. Yup, the YPAO config wouldn't recognize the sub with it set to half volume and the crossover all the way up. But even at full volume, the sub barely made any noise during the test. I'm testing mainly with my xbox one s, playing back blurays and my phone plugged into the aux port for music.

The strange thing is, I had this sub setup up at work with the two bookshelf speakers and it would thump. But for some reason it's nowhere near as loud in my living room.

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[agarwalro]

Rerun YAPO with the sub gain and crossover at max.

 

[Pogre]

Another thing you can do is experiment with placement. That often times has a much larger effect on things than most people realize.

 

[lovinthehd]

The sub is the Pioneer sw-8mk2. Yup, the YPAO config wouldn't recognize the sub with it set to half volume and the crossover all the way up. But even at full volume, the sub barely made any noise during the test. I'm testing mainly with my xbox one s, playing back blurays and my phone plugged into the aux port for music.

The strange thing is, I had this sub setup up at work with the two bookshelf speakers and it would thump. But for some reason it's nowhere near as loud in my living room.

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What was the sub level set in the avr by YPAO?

 

[sTEALtooth]

What was the sub level set in the avr by YPAO?

+10

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[lovinthehd]

+10

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Even if that's 10 out of 12 or 15 that's a pretty high setting. Seems your sub needs a higher output from the avr than your current avr provides. What speakers are you running? IIRC Yamaha's YPAO somewhat ties the levels of the speakers and sub together.

You said cables, so you're currently using both the left and right inputs on the sub? If not, you might try a splitter to use both inputs, as sometimes you can increase gain that way.

Other thought is how big a room is this? That's a very small sub for a large room and that could be a factor.

 

[everettT]

Are the speakers set to large by chance?

 

[lovinthehd]

Are the speakers set to large by chance?

Good point!

 

[Pogre]

I thought to ask that too, but he mentioned more bass from his speakers than the subs when he set them to large.

 

[lovinthehd]

I thought to ask that too, but he mentioned more bass from his speakers than the subs when he set them to large.

An even better point

 

[sTEALtooth]

Thank you all for the ideas, but I think I have to face the fact that there's probably nothing wrong with my sub/settings, it's just underpowered for my living room. If I figure something out I'll update the status, but for now, I think it's time to go browse some subs online

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[Pogre]

Thank you all for the ideas, but I think I have to face the fact that there's probably nothing wrong with my sub/settings, it's just underpowered for my living room. If I figure something out I'll update the status, but for now, I think it's time to go browse some subs online

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Did you try moving the sub around? Even a few inches can make a surprising difference.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thank you all for the ideas, but I think I have to face the fact that there's probably nothing wrong with my sub/settings, it's just underpowered for my living room. If I figure something out I'll update the status, but for now, I think it's time to go browse some subs online

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Underpowered isn't a great way to think about it, the power relates to the sensitivity of the system. Inadequate would perhaps be better. What's the total cubic feet of your living room and spaces open to it?

 

[lovinthehd]

You might want to check this article out http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/subwoofer-room-size

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What are the dimensions? I have an 8” sub that I’ve used in my bedroom and it does pretty good in there, but I brought it out into the LR which is pretty big and has other rooms attached. I couldn’t even tell it was on. It was sad...
I agree, time to go shopping!

 

[sTEALtooth]

So, I ended up finding the SW-10 on sale, and holy crap! It's"only" 2"bigger than my original sub, but it's so much more powerful!

I turned the level back to default in the AVR, and still had to turn the volume on the back of the sub down to 20%.

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