Yamaha YAS-108 subwoofer settings

H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
I am using an external sub with the Yamaha YAS-108 soundbar and am wondering about optimal settings. Should I turn the subwoofer volume setting on the soundbar all the way down (to minimize the use of the internal subwoofers) and adjust my output on the external sub or find the level where the internal subs sound ok and then adjust the external sub output. I believe the subwoofer volume affects both the internal and external subs. The subwoofer volume setting goes from -4 to +4 and I currently have it set at -2.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
This is an interesting one. What is the external subwoofer?
Since the “subwoofers” in the soundbar won’t be nearly as useful in bass as a real subwoofer, and won’t likely have much shared FR I would just blend them in as much as you can to your liking. “0” is probably fine but I would adjust it up and down and listen to some content with good bass and see if the soundbar sounds bloaty or whatnot, then back it off.
AFAIK there’s no way to actually level match this thing, so it will all be by ear.
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for the reply, I was using a Polk Audio PSW10 and now have a Yamaha SW-P270 connected (PSW10 got promoted to my 5.1 setup). Last night I tested using -4 sub volume with the external sub turned up a bit more, but it did feel like it was lacking some presence in the low intensity scenes, perhaps due to lack of crossover control on the Yamaha sub? I’ll do more extensive testing today and probably end up with the internal sub drivers having a bit of output. My main concern (whether I can actually notice it or not) is “tainting” my low end with an inferior medium.
 
R

rnaeye

Junior Audioholic
I have the same soundbar. I connected it to RSL Speedwoofer 10S. I had good success with it. I suggest you experiment with it. I believe finally I set it to manually RSL's crossover controller at 90Hz. It's all thread. I am sure you figured it out by now.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
This is an interesting one. What is the external subwoofer?
Since the “subwoofers” in the soundbar won’t be nearly as useful in bass as a real subwoofer, and won’t likely have much shared FR I would just blend them in as much as you can to your liking. “0” is probably fine but I would adjust it up and down and listen to some content with good bass and see if the soundbar sounds bloaty or whatnot, then back it off.
AFAIK there’s no way to actually level match this thing, so it will all be by ear.
You should be able to do some level matching with the sub's gain control and an spl meter.....and after I did some basic level matching I'd start with 0 and see just what that range of adjustment does.
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
I have the same soundbar. I connected it to RSL Speedwoofer 10S. I had good success with it. I suggest you experiment with it. I believe finally I set it to manually RSL's crossover controller at 90Hz. It's all thread. I am sure you figured it out by now.
Thanks for the input. I talked to a Yamaha rep who said an external sub was indeed to be used in conjunction with the internal drivers and to experimenting until desired results were attained.
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
For any interested parties, I used the -1 setting which is what I had it set to before adding an external sub. Any higher and it started to sound muddy in both configurations. I’m sure results will vary depending on space and person. Thanks to everyone for the help!
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
For any interested parties, I used the -1 setting which is what I had it set to before adding an external sub. Any higher and it started to sound muddy in both configurations. I’m sure results will vary depending on space and person. Thanks to everyone for the help!
Curious, how did you settle on a gain setting on the sub itself initially?
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
Curious, how did you settle on a gain setting on the sub itself initially?
The first sub I was using was the the Polk PSW10, which doesn’t have gain control. I adjusted phase and crossover to attain the desired sound, but it wasn’t used with the soundbar for long before being promoted to my tsi heavy 5.1 setup. Currently using a Yamaha SW-P270 with the soundbar (works well for the space, but an 8” would probably work well-er, lol) and it has no gain, no phase, no crossover. The best I could do to simulate gain control or input level was to adjust the subwoofer setting on the soundbar, basically just trial and error until I was happy. Hope that answers your question.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
The Polk PSW10 I looked up had one labeled "volume", yours doesn't have that? Even a phone spl meter app could help.
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
The PSW does indeed have a volume knob as does the P270, but my understanding was that voulme is not the same as gain. Volume being raw output and gain being similar but affecting tone by adjusting input levels, I could be wrong though. To answer your previous question in the context of volume, I listened to a variety of media from multiple sources until it sounded good across the board while using the features I wanted (ie. clear voice for cinema).
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Not really, the volume knob is merely a way to adjust for gain. I call it a gain adjustment as I think that's more accurate. All you need do is set your sub so that the signal can use full capability of the amp of the sub (as well as level matching). Doing things by ear alone tends to be inaccurate.
 
H

hypermodecrits

Audioholic Intern
Not really, the volume knob is merely a way to adjust for gain. I call it a gain adjustment as I think that's more accurate. All you need do is set your sub so that the signal can use full capability of the amp of the sub. Doing things by ear alone tends to be inaccurate.
Thank you, that’s good information to have. I agree that the accuracy is very likely not optimal so I’m currently browsing SPL meter apps, hopefully I can find something helpful. I’m totally open to any further suggestions or recommendations.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Thank you, that’s good information to have. I agree that the accuracy is very likely not optimal so I’m currently browsing SPL meter apps, hopefully I can find something helpful. I’m totally open to any further suggestions or recommendations.
If all you have is a phone some of the spl apps with your gear would likely be just fine. Measurement mic/software would be better but not really necessary. Most important is to match the levels of the sub/lfe content with your speakers. Once set then the volume control should suffice in most instances for adjusting, but there can be other options to adjust for lower volume playback for example....
 
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