Connecting two sub-outs of receiver with single sub

[Eppie]

@TLS Guy probably has a more accurate idea, but connecting two line level outs together with a Y-adapter will not double the voltage. Audio circuits don't work that way. You might think that it's the same as bridging a stereo amplifier into mono which increases output, but that uses a totaling different wiring method and is not the same as using a Y-cable. And to be clear, never bridge amplifier connections like this! And each output will not see the other output as short as mentioned above. Line level outputs are high impedance. That's why connecting them with a Y-cable will not short out the output.

When would you want to use a Y-adapter? If the OP's AVR has stereo subwoofer outputs, but a mono input connection on the sub, then you need to bridge the output to get both L+R channels to the sub. If the output of the AVR is mono, then you only need to connect the LFE input on the sub with a single cable. If the input on the sub is stereo, then use a stereo cable if the AVR has stereo sub-outs, or a Y-adapter on the sub if the AVR has a single sub-out but the sub has no LFE input.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

The systems are ancient.. The AVR is Yamaha RX-A 1030 and the sub is DT Pro-Cinema 800.
The sub-outs on the AVR are marked as S1 and S2 and it is not clear whether it is the same as L & R. The S1 and S2 are part of the 7 channel pre-outs from the AVR. The AVR manual says that you can connect up to two subs to the unit and the subs can be placed on left/ right or front/back of the room.

The sub has only one Low level in connection. The intent was to join the two sub outs from the AVR with the wye-connector and to connect it with the single sub-in with a single cable. I can't blindly experiment because, if something blows up, for a new equipment whatever you pay there, I have to pay minimum 1.4 times, the 40% addition is for customs duty on the list price.

Other than this, the sub has L&R "high level in terminals and corresponding L&R out terminals. You can connect the front L&R speaker outputs of the AVR to the "High Level" L&R ins of the sub and connect the L&R outs from the sub to L&R front speakers. The sub is part of a 5.1 system of DT and the L&R speakers provided are small bookshelf speakers (Pro-monitor 800). You need to configure in the AVR: front L&R speakers -large and no sub. I don't use this configuration because I have a pair of full range floor standing speakers which I use as front L&R. The sub switches to standby even when this option is used with the DT Pro-monitors as front L&R. This is not part of the topic, mentioned it just for completeness.

So what's the risk assessment, safe or not safe? Just looking for an informed opinion.

 

[ryanosaur]

This from CNET re the PC600 system, but the 800 is the same:

You can hook up the ProCinema the usual way and run all the satellites as "Small" speakers and let your AV receiver handle bass management, but Definitive recommends an alternate hookup method to maximize sound quality. Basically, you run the front left and right speaker cables to the corresponding inputs on the subwoofer, and then run a second pair of cables to the actual speakers. Indeed, it does sound a bit better--producing a better blend between the satellite speakers and the subwoofer--but it was somewhat annoying to have to deal with those extra cables.

I would try as they recommend and use the speaker level connections and see how that works.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

I have done that Ryan, and what they say is right. But since I have the floor-standing pair which I can use as the front L&R, the situation becomes different.

Also, even after following their recommendation the sub goes into standby mode while the L&R satellites continue to work without the audio- backing of the sub.

Connecting the towers to the sub instead of the satellites in the way they have recommended becomes too complicated and probably not recommended as the towers are not part of the Pro-cinema system..

The towers as the front L&R with backing from the sub is good enough .....the wye-connector idea is just to extract a little more from the combination and avoid any temptation to go for a second sub.

 

[ryanosaur]

I have done that Ryan, and what they say is right. But since I have the floor-standing pair which I can use as the front L&R, the situation becomes different.

Also, even after following their recommendation the sub goes into standby mode while the L&R satellites continue to work without the audio- backing of the sub.

Connecting the towers to the sub instead of the satellites in the way they have recommended becomes too complicated and probably not recommended as the towers are not part of the Pro-cinema system..

The towers as the front L&R with backing from the sub is good enough .....the wye-connector idea is just to extract a little more from the combination and avoid any temptation to go for a second sub.

My initial concern and reaction to your proposal is unchanged. I personally would not do this. I think two others said it shouldn't hurt, but the rest of us were not so convinced.

How old is the Sub? It is definitely not unheard of, Def Tech products having Amp issues. But beyond that, perhaps it is simply time to start saving for a better Sub.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

My initial concern and reaction to your proposal is unchanged. I personally would not do this. I think two others said it shouldn't hurt, but the rest of us were not so convinced.

How old is the Sub? It is definitely not unheard of, Def Tech products having Amp issues. But beyond that, perhaps it is simply time to start saving for a better Sub.

The sub is about 5-6 years now. Thanks for summing it up. I suppose I will start saving for a new sub.

 

[Eppie]

The systems are ancient.. The AVR is Yamaha RX-A 1030 and the sub is DT Pro-Cinema 800.
The sub-outs on the AVR are marked as S1 and S2 and it is not clear whether it is the same as L & R. The S1 and S2 are part of the 7 channel pre-outs from the AVR. The AVR manual says that you can connect up to two subs to the unit and the subs can be placed on left/ right or front/back of the room.

The sub has only one Low level in connection. The intent was to join the two sub outs from the AVR with the wye-connector and to connect it with the single sub-in with a single cable. I can't blindly experiment because, if something blows up, for a new equipment whatever you pay there, I have to pay minimum 1.4 times, the 40% addition is for customs duty on the list price.

Other than this, the sub has L&R "high level in terminals and corresponding L&R out terminals. You can connect the front L&R speaker outputs of the AVR to the "High Level" L&R ins of the sub and connect the L&R outs from the sub to L&R front speakers. The sub is part of a 5.1 system of DT and the L&R speakers provided are small bookshelf speakers (Pro-monitor 800). You need to configure in the AVR: front L&R speakers -large and no sub. I don't use this configuration because I have a pair of full range floor standing speakers which I use as front L&R. The sub switches to standby even when this option is used with the DT Pro-monitors as front L&R. This is not part of the topic, mentioned it just for completeness.

So what's the risk assessment, safe or not safe? Just looking for an informed opinion.

I looked over the Yamaha manual and there is nothing to be gained from joining the sub 1 and sub 2 connections. Both are mono outputs and connecting them together will not increase the output. The second sub 2 out allows you to run separate cables to each sub instead of having to daisy chain from one sub to the next. I'm not that familiar with Yamaha's YPAO but if the AVR manages the two sub outs separately (as opposed to treating it as a single sub channel), then you definitely can not bridge them.

Either run just one mono RCA cable as you are now, or try the speaker outs as mentioned above, but there may be issues with that. To run the subwoofer off of the mains channel you need to disable the subwoofer output on the AVR and run the mains full range. Otherwise you will not get any LFE (low frequency effects) to the subwoofer as LFE information only gets sent to the sub out when a subwoofer is enabled on the AVR. That also means you loose the crossover feature (typically at 80Hz) for bass management and will get some of the same bass frequencies from the sub and mains. I don't recommend this unless it is unavoidable. If the subwoofer is not staying on or not returning from sleep mode then it may be time to consider a replacement. When my Klipsch sub started acting up I knew it was the electronics and had to replace it.

I did think of one more possibility. Is there a level control on the subwoofer and is it set relatively high? If the input sensitivity on the sub is high, then the Yamaha may be sending a lower level signal. You could try turning the subwoofer's level control down and run YPAO again to recalibrate the sub level. Most manuals say to set the sub level around the middle. Try setting it lower than that, rerun YPAO and see if the AVR sends a higher level signal to the sub. That may keep it from going into sleep mode.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

I looked over the Yamaha manual and there is nothing to be gained from joining the sub 1 and sub 2 connections. Both are mono outputs and connecting them together will not increase the output. The second sub 2 out allows you to run separate cables to each sub instead of having to daisy chain from one sub to the next. I'm not that familiar with Yamaha's YPAO but if the AVR manages the two sub outs separately (as opposed to treating it as a single sub channel), then you definitely can not bridge them.

Either run just one mono RCA cable as you are now, or try the speaker outs as mentioned above, but there may be issues with that. To run the subwoofer off of the mains channel you need to disable the subwoofer output on the AVR and run the mains full range. Otherwise you will not get any LFE (low frequency effects) to the subwoofer as LFE information only gets sent to the sub out when a subwoofer is enabled on the AVR. That also means you loose the crossover feature (typically at 80Hz) for bass management and will get some of the same bass frequencies from the sub and mains. I don't recommend this unless it is unavoidable. If the subwoofer is not staying on or not returning from sleep mode then it may be time to consider a replacement. When my Klipsch sub started acting up I knew it was the electronics and had to replace it.

I did think of one more possibility. Is there a level control on the subwoofer and is it set relatively high? If the input sensitivity on the sub is high, then the Yamaha may be sending a lower level signal. You could try turning the subwoofer's level control down and run YPAO again to recalibrate the sub level. Most manuals say to set the sub level around the middle. Try setting it lower than that, rerun YPAO and see if the AVR sends a higher level signal to the sub. That may keep it from going into sleep mode.

Thanks for the detailed response. It has triggered some additional thinking over the issue.

Para 1: Noted. So the wye-connection option is no-no. Even other members are not in favor. So the subject of the thread has been addressed. Thank you one and all. Now for the sub going into standby mode issue.

Para 2 & 3: For the speaker out option I am not so sure of your concerns. You see, the sub has a variable cross over frequency setting. Depending upon the setting, only frequencies below the setting is output from the sub, the frequencies above the setting is passed on to the L&R front speakers. There is no mixing as you apprehend.

The AVR also has a cross over frequency setting. The two cross over settings (AVR and sub) should be coordinated, otherwise there can be issues.

The procedure for YPAO, as per the manual, is that the the sub volume should be set to half and the sub cross over frequency should be set to max, which was followed while making the measurements. The cross over frequency of the AVR will be set by the AVR itself after making the measurements. The subs maximum possible setting is 200 Hz and the YPAO set the crossover for the AVR at 160 Hz (the AVR settable values are discrete and not continuous, you are probably aware, mentioned it just to avoid any discrepancy).

The AVR setting also has an extra bass feature. If set to on, both the sub and the front speakers produce the front channel low frequency components. If set to off, the manual says, "Depending upon the size of the front speakers, either the sub or the front speaker produces the front channel low frequency components. I don't think that this has any effect, because when playing a 5.1 music DVD, if the sub volume is set to minimum, the base guitar sounds flat, in both the options. Of course, this maybe because the bass of the guitar is directed to the sub only by the recording engineer.

My apologies for not having thought of the following earlier, but then the sub going to standby was not the subject of the thread. The problem arises when the AVR's own decoders are being used, for example, when a laptop is connected to the AVR via HDMI cable and the Amazon Prime Video app on the laptop is used for watching a movie, with the AVR decoding set to 'Dolby PL II Movie'. If the DVD player connected to the AVR via HDMI is used to watch a 5.1 DVD, and the DVD player setting for HDMI is Bitstream audio ( as against PCM), then there is no problem.

The sub has an 8" woofer. Each of the towers have two 8" woofers. The manual advises that speakers having drivers of 6.5" or more should be set as large. Despite this, if the front speaker settings is set to "small", then all bass will be directed to the sub, and hopefully it will not go to standby, since the problem happens only when the decoders in the AVR is being used. A short test run of about 20 minutes confirms this, will have to check whether it will work for a full length feature film. Also, tweaking the decoder settings may also work,not sure how to go about it.

Any comments please?

 

[Eppie]

My concerns only apply when using speaker connections on the sub. When using line level singnal (RCA connections), then the crossover for the bass is handled by the AVR. That's why the crossover on the sub is set to max, to let YPAO handle setting the crossover frequency. When using speaker connections to the sub, YPAO is no longer involved and you need to send a full range signal to the sub and set the crossover frequency on the subwoofer. The speaker connection acts as a pass through and does not filter out bass going to the mains. Thus you get double bass coming from the sub and mains.

There are two components to the sub out signal. One is LFE or low frequency effects which is the .1 in 5.1. Only 5.1 content like your DVD will contain this information. This is a separate effects channel created by the mixing engineer. LFE content can go up to 120Hz so the LFE setting on the AVR should be set to 120Hz. The other component is the rest of the bass in the 5 channels. This is controlled by the subwoofer crossover setting on the AVR which is typically set in the 80Hz area. (The crossover on the sub is set high to let the AVR control the crossover frequency.) If the mains are set to full the AVR will send a full signal to the mains and bass content to the sub. If all speakers are set to small then all bass content below 80Hz is directed to the sub only. For 5.1 content, the AVR will mix the bass content and LFE content and send both to the sub.

If sending stereo content from a laptop, Dolby PL II will synthesis a surround signal. It takes information from the stereo signal and creates rear channel info to simulate surround. The Dolby spec says that PL II will create simulated 5.1, but I don't know how much of that makes it into the .1 channel for the sub. It may be that PL II is not finding enough low bass to send anything to the .1 channel to trigger the sub. I would expect there to be enough content below 80Hz though in the stereo signal to trigger the subwoofer even with no .1 content.

Amazon Prime should have full 5.1 streaming content, so you should be using an appropriate Dolby decoder instead PL II which is designed to simulate surround from 2-channel sources. First make sure that you are getting a 5.1 stream from Amazon. On my AVR the front display shows what it detects at the source, whether it is 2-channel or 5-channel. If the AVR is not autodetecting the content, try changing the surround mode to one of the DTS modes.

I think it's worth experimenting with the laptop. There is a thread in the forums titled Subwoofer Candy. There are Youtube videos with very deep bass content. Try some of those to see if the laptap is passing the low frequency content to the sub. If it is, but the sub goes to sleep on Amazon Prime, I think it's worth a try to turn the volume control down on the subwoofer and rerun YPAO to boost the sub out 1 signal.

 

[lovinthehd]

@TLS Guy probably has a more accurate idea, but connecting two line level outs together with a Y-adapter will not double the voltage. Audio circuits don't work that way. You might think that it's the same as bridging a stereo amplifier into mono which increases output, but that uses a totaling different wiring method and is not the same as using a Y-cable. And to be clear, never bridge amplifier connections like this! And each output will not see the other output as short as mentioned above. Line level outputs are high impedance. That's why connecting them with a Y-cable will not short out the output.

When would you want to use a Y-adapter? If the OP's AVR has stereo subwoofer outputs, but a mono input connection on the sub, then you need to bridge the output to get both L+R channels to the sub. If the output of the AVR is mono, then you only need to connect the LFE input on the sub with a single cable. If the input on the sub is stereo, then use a stereo cable if the AVR has stereo sub-outs, or a Y-adapter on the sub if the AVR has a single sub-out but the sub has no LFE input.

Curious, what avrs have stereo sub outputs?

 

[Eppie]

Curious, what avrs have stereo sub outputs?

He never said it was an avr in the first post. It's pretty much been covered.

 

[lovinthehd]

He never said it was an avr in the first post. It's pretty much been covered.

You mentioned it so was curious if you knew of one.. .

ps and would be highly unusual even among processors....

 

[Shashi Kumar]

He never said it was an avr in the first post. It's pretty much been covered.

Sorry. I thought receiver is same as AVR.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

My concerns only apply when using speaker connections on the sub. When using line level singnal (RCA connections), then the crossover for the bass is handled by the AVR. That's why the crossover on the sub is set to max, to let YPAO handle setting the crossover frequency. When using speaker connections to the sub, YPAO is no longer involved and you need to send a full range signal to the sub and set the crossover frequency on the subwoofer. The speaker connection acts as a pass through and does not filter out bass going to the mains. Thus you get double bass coming from the sub and mains.

There are two components to the sub out signal. One is LFE or low frequency effects which is the .1 in 5.1. Only 5.1 content like your DVD will contain this information. This is a separate effects channel created by the mixing engineer. LFE content can go up to 120Hz so the LFE setting on the AVR should be set to 120Hz. The other component is the rest of the bass in the 5 channels. This is controlled by the subwoofer crossover setting on the AVR which is typically set in the 80Hz area. (The crossover on the sub is set high to let the AVR control the crossover frequency.) If the mains are set to full the AVR will send a full signal to the mains and bass content to the sub. If all speakers are set to small then all bass content below 80Hz is directed to the sub only. For 5.1 content, the AVR will mix the bass content and LFE content and send both to the sub.

If sending stereo content from a laptop, Dolby PL II will synthesis a surround signal. It takes information from the stereo signal and creates rear channel info to simulate surround. The Dolby spec says that PL II will create simulated 5.1, but I don't know how much of that makes it into the .1 channel for the sub. It may be that PL II is not finding enough low bass to send anything to the .1 channel to trigger the sub. I would expect there to be enough content below 80Hz though in the stereo signal to trigger the subwoofer even with no .1 content.

Amazon Prime should have full 5.1 streaming content, so you should be using an appropriate Dolby decoder instead PL II which is designed to simulate surround from 2-channel sources. First make sure that you are getting a 5.1 stream from Amazon. On my AVR the front display shows what it detects at the source, whether it is 2-channel or 5-channel. If the AVR is not autodetecting the content, try changing the surround mode to one of the DTS modes.

I think it's worth experimenting with the laptop. There is a thread in the forums titled Subwoofer Candy. There are Youtube videos with very deep bass content. Try some of those to see if the laptap is passing the low frequency content to the sub. If it is, but the sub goes to sleep on Amazon Prime, I think it's worth a try to turn the volume control down on the subwoofer and rerun YPAO to boost the sub out 1 signal.

Para 1: What I understand from your post is that the sub outputs the low frequency, depending on the setting of the sub crossover setting, without filtering it out and therefore the mains would also output the frequencies played out by the sub. Didn't know that. Thanks. DT manual does not say anything about it. However, since their suggestion for speaker level wiring is meant for promonitors (4.5" midrange + 1" tweeter), suppose that's okay.

Para 2: The AVR does not have any LFE setting, all it has is the Bass crossover setting.

Para 3: Since the bass cross over is set at about 160 Hz(by the YPAO), suppose that more content is being sent to sub, yet it switches to standby over the course of a movie. Possibly if the mains are also set to "small" the chances would improve. Just for information, with the mains set to small, a trial run was made for about 20 minutes, and the sub behaved though there were many instances of no LFE content in the clipping (Last 20 minutes of TENET).

Para 4: Just for information Amazon does not stream 5.1 content to India, Netflix does. Initially, the laptop or maybe the decoder did send LFE to the sub, it went in to standby when there was a long run in the movie without LFE content. After that when the actions began the sub did not become active, had to coax it out of slumber.

Para 5: With mains set to large, bass crossover 160 Hz, only LFE connection to sub with single RCA cable, played Host-Stuck in the Dark as suggested in the subwoofer candy thread. It was a short clip of about 3 minutes. The sub stayed on and was outputting the LFE content - no issues. In case the problem occurs for another movie, will try out resetting the YPAO with settings as suggested. Thanks.

 

[Eppie]

Para 1: What I understand from your post is that the sub outputs the low frequency, depending on the setting of the sub crossover setting, without filtering it out and therefore the mains would also output the frequencies played out by the sub. Didn't know that. Thanks. DT manual does not say anything about it. However, since their suggestion for speaker level wiring is meant for promonitors (4.5" midrange + 1" tweeter), suppose that's okay.

Para 2: The AVR does not have any LFE setting, all it has is the Bass crossover setting.

Para 3: Since the bass cross over is set at about 160 Hz(by the YPAO), suppose that more content is being sent to sub, yet it switches to standby over the course of a movie. Possibly if the mains are also set to "small" the chances would improve. Just for information, with the mains set to small, a trial run was made for about 20 minutes, and the sub behaved though there were many instances of no LFE content in the clipping (Last 20 minutes of TENET).

Para 4: Just for information Amazon does not stream 5.1 content to India, Netflix does. Initially, the laptop or maybe the decoder did send LFE to the sub, it went in to standby when there was a long run in the movie without LFE content. After that when the actions began the sub did not become active, had to coax it out of slumber.

Para 5: With mains set to large, bass crossover 160 Hz, only LFE connection to sub with single RCA cable, played Host-Stuck in the Dark as suggested in the subwoofer candy thread. It was a short clip of about 3 minutes. The sub stayed on and was outputting the LFE content - no issues. In case the problem occurs for another movie, will try out resetting the YPAO with settings as suggested. Thanks.

I checked the manual and you are correct, there is no LFE crossover setting. I would assume that the Yamaha is passing all of the LFE content in the 0.1 channel to the sub without any filtering.

With the bass crossover set that high (160 Hz) I am very surprised that the sub goes into standby. Even using a 2-channel stream from Amazon with no LFE content the Yamaha should still be filtering bass below 160Hz to the sub. Your test music on Youtube shows that the laptop is passing bass and that the Yamaha is filtering low bass to the sub. Something odd might be happening with the Amazon stream.

What if you play some music on Youtube from the Subwoofer Candy thread again and then pause Youtube and wait for the sub to go into standby. Does the sub wake up if you play another video? You need to try this without changing anything on laptop, as though you were watching TV or a movie. A second test is to watch Amazon on the laptop and when you see the sub go into standby, play Youtube music and see if the sub wakes up. I'm trying to see if you can wake the sub up again using an audio signal or whether you have to go to the subwoofer itself and reset it to wake up.

Note that you can use the information screen on the Yamaha to see what's happening there. Press On Screen and select Information and look at the audio input and output. Input will show whether the Yamaha is receiving 2-channel or 5-channel info and output will show which speakers are being feed. Are the SBL and SBR outputs active indicating that the subwoofer channel is active?

 

[lovinthehd]

Para 1: What I understand from your post is that the sub outputs the low frequency, depending on the setting of the sub crossover setting, without filtering it out and therefore the mains would also output the frequencies played out by the sub. Didn't know that. Thanks. DT manual does not say anything about it. However, since their suggestion for speaker level wiring is meant for promonitors (4.5" midrange + 1" tweeter), suppose that's okay.

Para 2: The AVR does not have any LFE setting, all it has is the Bass crossover setting.

Para 3: Since the bass cross over is set at about 160 Hz(by the YPAO), suppose that more content is being sent to sub, yet it switches to standby over the course of a movie. Possibly if the mains are also set to "small" the chances would improve. Just for information, with the mains set to small, a trial run was made for about 20 minutes, and the sub behaved though there were many instances of no LFE content in the clipping (Last 20 minutes of TENET).

Para 4: Just for information Amazon does not stream 5.1 content to India, Netflix does. Initially, the laptop or maybe the decoder did send LFE to the sub, it went in to standby when there was a long run in the movie without LFE content. After that when the actions began the sub did not become active, had to coax it out of slumber.

Para 5: With mains set to large, bass crossover 160 Hz, only LFE connection to sub with single RCA cable, played Host-Stuck in the Dark as suggested in the subwoofer candy thread. It was a short clip of about 3 minutes. The sub stayed on and was outputting the LFE content - no issues. In case the problem occurs for another movie, will try out resetting the YPAO with settings as suggested. Thanks.

FWIW a crossover is generally that between sub and speaker. Some avrs have a LPF (low pass filter) for the LFE channel (normal setting is 120hz as that's the general limit of LFE content). What do you mean when setting the speakers to small (i.e. use bass management) that there were "many instances of no LFE content in the clipping" ?

Sorry. I thought receiver is same as AVR.

Well, an avr is a type of receiver (avr being audio video receiver). Older two channel receivers rarely provided for a sub at all, tho.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

I checked the manual and you are correct, there is no LFE crossover setting. I would assume that the Yamaha is passing all of the LFE content in the 0.1 channel to the sub without any filtering.

With the bass crossover set that high (160 Hz) I am very surprised that the sub goes into standby. Even using a 2-channel stream from Amazon with no LFE content the Yamaha should still be filtering bass below 160Hz to the sub. Your test music on Youtube shows that the laptop is passing bass and that the Yamaha is filtering low bass to the sub. Something odd might be happening with the Amazon stream.

What if you play some music on Youtube from the Subwoofer Candy thread again and then pause Youtube and wait for the sub to go into standby. Does the sub wake up if you play another video? You need to try this without changing anything on laptop, as though you were watching TV or a movie. A second test is to watch Amazon on the laptop and when you see the sub go into standby, play Youtube music and see if the sub wakes up. I'm trying to see if you can wake the sub up again using an audio signal or whether you have to go to the subwoofer itself and reset it to wake up.

Note that you can use the information screen on the Yamaha to see what's happening there. Press On Screen and select Information and look at the audio input and output. Input will show whether the Yamaha is receiving 2-channel or 5-channel info and output will show which speakers are being feed. Are the SBL and SBR outputs active indicating that the subwoofer channel is active?

Based on your suggestions, conducted tests, more or less as you said, though not verbatim. Ran a movie long enough for the sub to go into standby. When it did, paused the movie, and switched to you tube and played the same number Host. The sub did not turn on, whatever I did - changed the decoding, raised the cross over to 200 Hz, changed the main settings to "small". Had to replay the video on you tube to try out the options. Finally, the sub turned on only when I pulled out the LFE-in cable at the sub and put it back with settings as mentioned in bold and Host playing. So the sub does not wake up on audio signals as tested.

The information option displayed only the speakers connected, and gives no indication as to what outputs are being sent. In other words, all the speakers connected (including the sub) are bullet listed with big yellow colored rectangular bullets, but nothing changed when the sub was off i.e. no change in the listing , no change in the color of the bullet, no-nothing.

This is a replacement sub I got at a discounted price because my original sub could not be repaired. They told me something was wrong with the first subs electronics and the board cannot be repaired because the whole electronics on the board was buried in some kind of waxy substance that was melted and poured all over it. Probably this must be true for all subs as the LFE could cause vibrations in the electronics and the soldering/components may break.

The options seems to be to either use the hack or buy a new sub.

FWIW a crossover is generally that between sub and speaker. Some avrs have a LPF (low pass filter) for the LFE channel (normal setting is 120hz as that's the general limit of LFE content). What do you mean when setting the speakers to small (i.e. use bass management) that there were "many instances of no LFE content in the clipping" ?



Well, an avr is a type of receiver (avr being audio video receiver). Older two channel receivers rarely provided for a sub at all, tho.

No such filters available.

I was referring to the movie. The movie had sequences in which there was just conversation between the characters without any background music etc so you wont expect any LFE content. As opposed to this, when there are gun fights and explosions, all hell breaks up on the speakers and you can expect lot of LFE content.

 

[lovinthehd]

No such filters available.

I was referring to the movie. The movie had sequences in which there was just conversation between the characters without any background music etc so you wont expect any LFE content. As opposed to this, when there are gun fights and explosions, all hell breaks up on the speakers and you can expect lot of LFE content.

Well there's no particular terminology as "bass crossover" that I've seen used in avrs on the other hand, but what make/model of avr are you using? Keep in mind a crossover is simply two overlapping filters, a low pass filter for the sub and a high pass for the speakers.

Yes, a movie doesn't always have LFE content but usually there is sufficient bass content when using bass management to keep the sub on, or at least get it to trigger again without particular LFE content.

OTOH a sub upgrade would be a great idea....

 

[Eppie]

From your tests it looks like the sub is the issue. When you switched from the movie to Youtube the sub should have come back on from standby. I had similar issues with my Klipsch sub, where I had to unplug it from the wall to reset it, and it started to thump when turning on. That was one of the cheaper KW-100 10" subs. I learned my lesson and replaced it with an SVS sub this year. The difference in quality was immediate. Hopefully you can find a suitable replacement.

 

[Shashi Kumar]

Thanks guys. Sorry for the late coming. For the time being bought a new sub-woofer cable. There maybe a slight improvement in performance, the old one was a thin one relatively. The main advantage however is that now, instead of switching the power on and off, pulling out the LFE in at the sub and what not, all you have to do is pull out the LFE and put it back and the sub switches on from standby, of course with the usual pop. That's an improvement.