Sub doesn't sound loud...

J

jbost002

Audioholic Intern
OK So I've got my new Onkyo TX-SR605 hooked up, and my subwoofer hooked up through the LFE cable (only). I have a BA XB2, an 8" with 50 watts of power. I have to turn the thing ALL the way up to get any noticable bass out of it. At 5, it's doing nothing. At 10 (maximum), it's on the lower end of acceptable volume.

Is this because of the wattage? I wouldn't think so, as I had it plugged earlier into a previous receiver (through speaker wire) and it was considerable louder. At 5, it was on the higher end of acceptable volume. At 10 (max) it would blow me away.

What's happened in between the transition? Settings on the receiver? The sub is definitely on. Crossover is OK on both sub and receiver. Sub is +6dB on the receiver too...help!! This is driving me nuts! :)
 
mike c

mike c

Audioholic Warlord
what player are you using?

HD player? if yes, is it connected to the receiver via analog outs or HDMI?
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
So the sub was ok with you previous receiver. Does the receiver have a cross over setting for the sub? In the surround mode setup are the speakers set for large or small? Is the sub running like it should with a PCM audio source source like CD or when just doing Dolby Digital or DTS from DVD?
 
R

rnatalli

Audioholic Ninja
As the sub was fine with your old receiver, there must be a setting off somewhere. Turn the crossover on your sub to the max setting and confirm your receiver's cross is correct. Try switching out the sub cable as well and see if maybe that's the problem. Is this problem present when you listen to music as well?
 
J

jbost002

Audioholic Intern
The problem seems to occur regardless of what the source material is. I keep thinking maybe this is all in my head, but that doesn't make any sense...brand new, never previously used subwoofer cable. Maybe tonight I will try to hook it up with regular speaker cable and see what that does.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
No offense, but I don't really see a 50w sub blowing anything away... However since it was louder before, I would say you need to check your settings in the receiver. Did you check to see if you had it set to LFE or LFE + mains ("both")? Are your speakers set to large or small? What is the crossover set to? Did you run the receiver's auto calibration?
 
B

bass addict

Junior Audioholic
No offense, but I don't really see a 50w sub blowing anything away
ROTFLMAO

OK, I'm going to ask a dumb but pertinent question. When you last had the sub hooked up was it in another room? If in the same room did you move it since the last time you listened to it? Did you calibrate the sub when it was last hooked up?

If you have moved into a new room it could have a huge effect on the perceived "loudness" of a sub. Even if the room is about the same cubic feet, or if moved within the same room, it could be in an area that is causing a null in the frequency range, therefore being perceived as having less impact. Also it is hard to gauge "loudness" if you don't have a baseline to compare it to. If the sub has been calibrated each time then you have a reference point to compare to.
 
zhimbo

zhimbo

Audioholic General
OK, I'm going to ask a dumb but pertinent question. When you last had the sub hooked up was it in another room?
I'm thinking the same thing - he says it could "blow him away" at max volume before, but that could only be possible in a teeny dorm room or something like that, I imagine.

If he's still in a teeny room, then there's some other issue, but if he's moved it into a larger room, mystery solved.
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
I have 10 bucks saying the speakers are set to large and the crossover is way off. My sub is 40 watts and it blows me away in a very large room.

opps...I think I left 2 zeros out of my watt rating....ummmm...make that 4,000...


I'm thinking the same thing - he says it could "blow him away" at max volume before, but that could only be possible in a teeny dorm room or something like that, I imagine.

If he's still in a teeny room, then there's some other issue, but if he's moved it into a larger room, mystery solved.
 
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