Optimizing Subwoofer with Sony STR-DG820

[bm5034]

Greetings all,

I'm new to this forum, and am looking for some assistance in optimizing the settings for my subwoofer. I'm in the process of building a home theater system, and these are my components thus far:

Samsung 50" plasma HDTV (PN50A550)
Sony STR-DG820 receiver
Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player
Bose VCS-10 center channel speaker
Bose 301 bookshelf speakers (front L,R)
Polk PSW125 subwoofer
(no rear speakers yet)

My only issue so far is that the subwoofer output seems low, in that I expected to hear a deeper, more full bass effect from movies and music. I realize that the subwoofer output depends on the content being viewed or listened to, but I want to be sure I'm using optimal settings.

The sub has a LFE connection from the receiver. I used the receiver's auto calibration feature to set up speaker levels and distances. This ran successfully. On the back of the sub, the volume is set about 3/4 way up, low pass dial is set to max (160), and phase switch is set to 180. It's running in standby mode. Depending on what I'm watching, the sub will kick on (green light), and I can hear the output. I just doesn't seem as "boomy" as I expected.

I've tried switching the sound field mode on the receiver to different values, but I generally get the same effect. I've also set the center and front speaker sizes to "SMALL" on the receiver, since I read that leaving them at large can prevent the bass signal from being sent to the sub.

My family room is 18' x 18', with an open ceiling to the second floor. It's rather spacious and open, so I'm wondering if that's part of the issue. I would welcome any other suggestions that you can provide. I'll gladly post any other receiver settings or information that may be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Bob

 

[Midcow2]

Greetings all,

I'm new to this forum, and am looking for some assistance in optimizing the settings for my subwoofer. I'm in the process of building a home theater system, and these are my components thus far:

Samsung 50" plasma HDTV (PN50A550)
Sony STR-DG820 receiver
Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player
Bose VCS-10 center channel speaker
Bose 301 bookshelf speakers (front L,R)
Polk PSW125 subwoofer
(no rear speakers yet)

My only issue so far is that the subwoofer output seems low, in that I expected to hear a deeper, more full bass effect from movies and music. I realize that the subwoofer output depends on the content being viewed or listened to, but I want to be sure I'm using optimal settings.

The sub has a LFE connection from the receiver. I used the receiver's auto calibration feature to set up speaker levels and distances. This ran successfully. On the back of the sub, the volume is set about 3/4 way up, low pass dial is set to max (160), and phase switch is set to 180. It's running in standby mode. Depending on what I'm watching, the sub will kick on (green light), and I can hear the output. I just doesn't seem as "boomy" as I expected.

I've tried switching the sound field mode on the receiver to different values, but I generally get the same effect. I've also set the center and front speaker sizes to "SMALL" on the receiver, since I read that leaving them at large can prevent the bass signal from being sent to the sub.

My family room is 18' x 18', with an open ceiling to the second floor. It's rather spacious and open, so I'm wondering if that's part of the issue. I would welcome any other suggestions that you can provide. I'll gladly post any other receiver settings or information that may be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Bob

After you run the auto callibration, increase the sub level. Some people like it flat, but if you want to hear and feel it in movies and TV set it 3 to 10 dB hot. Try increasing the sub level in your receiver.

The speakers seting at "small" is correct, Also check you sub crossover frequency it should be 80 or 100 Hz typically.

Good Luck,

MidCow2

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Bob!

You've already done a lot of the right things in terms of setting up your electronics. One thing that you didn't mention is what crossover setting you are using on the receiver - the owner's manual says that you can set that separately for the front, center, and surround speakers. So, take a look and let us know (and experiment with them, I'd say, as you seem to know what you're doing).

Two things come to mind.

1. The output of the sub may not be set as loud as the other speakers. Auto setups do a good job on a lot of things, but they aren't perfect. If you haven't, run the test tones on the receiver and check if the sub sounds as loud as the other speakers. Ideally, you'd use an SPL meter, but judging by ear will do. If the sub sounds low, I'd suggest increasing the subwoofer level on the receiver itself as you already have the volume knob on the sub turned up three-quarters of the way.
2. The room is certainly going to have an effect, as is the placement of the sub in the room. There are some good articles on getting better bass response in the Audioholics "Tips & Tricks" section under "Get Good Bass." I'd say check those out. Those will help with setting up the sub, as well as placing it.

Adam

 

[bm5034]

Thanks so much for the help. My current settings for output level and crossover are as follows:

Levels:
Center: +5.0 dB
Fronts (L,R): +8.0 dB
Sub: +8.5 dB

Crossover:
Fronts: 80 Hz
Center: 80 Hz

I will do some experimenting with the test tone levels. While the auto calibration was running, I didn't pay too much attention to the actual sounds. I can re-visit that and try adjusting them manually. What's the difference between "flat" and "hot"? I do recall that the receiver has a calibration type setting (FULL FLAT, ENGINEER, FRONT REF, or OFF), but I'm not quite sure what effect it has.

 

[Adam]

A crossover at 80 Hz is a great place to start, so I don't see anything wrong there.

Regarding calibration type, here's my take on it. The auto setup applies some level of equalization to the speakers. I haven't found the details in the manual, yet, but I am assuming that it does some select number of frequency bands. It runs through it's auto routine to try to get a flat response in your room. So, "FULL FLAT" will leave it at the levels that it calculated when trying to get a flat response. "ENGINEER" may be adjusting those levels to fit a custom curve that Sony has established for it's listening room standard. "FRONT REF" is probably taking the same equalizer settings that were established for the front speakers and applying them to all of the speakers. "OFF" just turns off the equalizer settings.

Your receiver also has a "Bass" setting in the equalizer. I'd suggest checking to see where that is set. It can be between -10 dB and +10 dB.

Just as a side note, your levels seem odd to me, but it could just be how your receiver works to get a "reference" volume at some certain setting of the volume knob - weighed in with my limited experience with all of the models out there. I say that they look odd because I would expect for them to be normalized (perhaps not the right word) to 0 dB. For example, instead of your current settings, I would expect something like:

Center: 0.0 dB
Fronts (L,R): +3.0 dB
Sub: +3.5 dB​

or even something like

Center: -1.0 dB
Fronts (L,R): +2.0 dB
Sub: +2.5 dB​

That's just a comment, though. The end result is the same.

 

[Midcow2]

Thanks so much for the help. My current settings for output level and crossover are as follows:

Levels:
Center: +5.0 dB
Fronts (L,R): +8.0 dB
Sub: +8.5 dB

Crossover:
Fronts: 80 Hz
Center: 80 Hz

I will do some experimenting with the test tone levels. While the auto calibration was running, I didn't pay too much attention to the actual sounds. I can re-visit that and try adjusting them manually. What's the difference between "flat" and "hot"? I do recall that the receiver has a calibration type setting (FULL FLAT, ENGINEER, FRONT REF, or OFF), but I'm not quite sure what effect it has.

I agree with Adam those seem a little high. Try this and see how it sounds:

Levels:
Center: +2.0 dB (lower by 3 dB)
Fronts (L,R): +5.0 dB (lower by 3 dB)
Sub: +8.5 dB

Good luck!

MidCow2

 

[lsiberian]

To optimize turn it up as far as you can without getting localized effects. IE you hear where the bass is coming from.

 

[no. 5]

The room is certainly going to have an effect, as is the placement of the sub in the room. There are some good articles on getting better bass response in the Audioholics "Tips & Tricks" section under "Get Good Bass." I'd say check those out. Those will help with setting up the sub, as well as placing it.

Absolutely, the placement of the subwoofer and the listening position have an enormous effect on what you hear.

Play pink noise and have a walk about your room, if there are locations in the room that have enough, or excess bass, your problem may be fixable by moving your sub or your chair.

 

[bm5034]

Thanks to everyone for your help!

First, I reduced the level on the center channel and fronts to +2.0 dB and +5.0 dB, respectively. I left the crossover at 80 Hz. That seems to have made a big difference. The bass seems much stronger and deeper now, as I originally hoped for. I also checked the bass and treble settings for the receiver's equalizer. Bass is set to +2 dB, and treble is 0.

Currently, the sub is on the left side of my entertainment center, close to the corner of the room. I can try moving it around, but the PSW125 is rather large, so it's tough to hide. Don't think I'll have many options there.

Another point of note... on the receiver's HDMI menu, there is a setting called "SW LEVEL". It has three settings: AUTO, 0 dB, or +10 dB. It was set to 0 dB, and I changed it to Auto. I don't know if that was part of the problem, but I guess I'll leave it at Auto, since the sound is much deeper now.

One other (somewhat related) question... both my HD set top box and blu-ray player are using an optical audio cable, in addition to the HDMI for video. When our cable tech came out to install the HD box, he recommended using optical audio, if possible, because it doesn't suffer from EMI. Overall, can I expect noticeably better sound over the optical or coaxial audio cable vs. HDMI? Is it worth the extra cable connections, or am I just as well off having the audio come through the HDMI cables?

Oh, and I'm new to this stuff... what's "pink noise"?

Again, thanks for all the help and advice!

 

[Adam]

For the set-top box, the use of HDMI or one of the other digital audio connections (optical or coax) shouldn't make any difference at all. Where you will get a difference is with the blu-ray player, and you should use HDMI and not optical. I say that because HDMI can transmit, and your receiver can utilize, the new lossless audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD. Optical and coax can't carry those, so I'd say disconnect the optical cable between the blu-ray and the receiver so that you don't have any user confusion on setting up that connection. You may need to assign the HDMI input on the receiver.

 

[tomw87]

I also have a sony str dg820 and i recently purchased a krix seismix 3 sub. Would it be better to wire this into the sub as a speaker with the high level inputs or to use the straight sub inputs?
Cheers
Tom

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Tom!

If it were me, I'd use the line-level inputs (you can use just the left input as a single connection to your receiver). That won't require the sub to convert the high-level inputs into a line-level signal that it uses to feed the amplifier, and with your Sony receiver doing all of the bass management, there wouldn't be a reason to use the high-level connections for most systems.

I also recommend that you turn the "low pass" control knob all the way to the highest number (it shows it as "200" in the owner's manual) to avoid having the crossover in the sub affect the bass signals. Because the Sony is doing the bass management, you'll want the sub to play the entire signal that gets sent to it.