subwoofer settings

[wiredntired]

I intend to dismantle my home theatre system and re-set it after installing new flooring. I recall when the audio tech set up the system originally, he spent a lot of time and effort with the sub woofer in particular. I understood it to be necessary in order to configure the proper cross-over point relative to when the bass output transends from the towers to the sub. My receiver is a Marantz sr 7000 (about 8 or 9 years old) which I'm told has a default setting of sorts for this cross-over point, so I assumed all the other setting options available on the rear of the sub woofer that he adjusted were to compliment the overall performance. He said he does these "tweaks" by ear and to his credit he did a fabulous job.( good extended bass when it had to be and complimented with tight control). When shopping around for an audio tech for my re-set, I ran this senario by him and he seemed to draw a blank. I got the impresssion he might know the basic hookups but not some of the finery required here. Question is the above senario basically correct for the most part and what should I be asking these audio techs to insure I'm getting some one who knows what they are talking about? Secondly, due to the age of the receiver, it doesnt have the feature to measure speaker placement. Can this be done by some sort of instrumentation they should carry? Realisticly, I have limited options with my towers and rear speakers while the sub has to remain where it is. Any pointers here would really help. Thanks in advance.

Larry

 

[krzywica]

Uhh.....so you are pretty much asking how to calibrate a system?

You really just need an SPL meter that can be had at Radio Shack and an A/V setup disc or calibration disc such as Avia or Digital Video Essentials.

 

[wiredntired]

sub woofer settings

I read up on avia etc. and its obviously a good path to go.l I'll throw it at the audio tech I have in mind and check out his response.(just wanting to make sure Im dealing with someone who can assure me they know what they are doing) . thx

 

[just-some-guy]

i have my sub X-over turned all the way up. the X-over in the receiver takes care of the X-over chores. its working very well for me.

 

[tcarcio]

Are you changing the placement of the system? If not just leave the settings alone. You should be fine unless the floor you are putting in is acoustically different than the one you have now.

 

[krzywica]

Are you changing the placement of the system? If not just leave the settings alone. You should be fine unless the floor you are putting in is acoustically different than the one you have now.

Thats good advice if you are having trouble verifying the competency of the individual that will be "tuning" your system. Especially if you like the way it sounds currently.

 

[mtbound10]

Krzywica...

I am trying to pick yammi owners audiophile minds when it comes to set up...

I am still a newbie and am searching for optimum set up for my:
RX-V863
with Emp ECA-4 (8 ohms) fronts and surrounds
ECA 44 center (6 ohms)
E-10 sub with built in adjustable crossover and volume controls.

I have been reading through the manual and it is still like trying to decipher a science journal. The whole concept of ohms still escapes me as well as setting up my reciever to work properly with my sub and vice versa.

My room is fairly small, about 13 x 20.

Any advice would provide a great deal of help

 

[krzywica]

Krzywica...

I am trying to pick yammi owners audiophile minds when it comes to set up...

I am still a newbie and am searching for optimum set up for my:
RX-V863
with Emp ECA-4 (8 ohms) fronts and surrounds
ECA 44 center (6 ohms)
E-10 sub with built in adjustable crossover and volume controls.

I have been reading through the manual and it is still like trying to decipher a science journal. The whole concept of ohms still escapes me as well as setting up my reciever to work properly with my sub and vice versa.

My room is fairly small, about 13 x 20.

Any advice would provide a great deal of help

Ok.

First of all don't worry about the ohms at all, your fine in that regard.

Secondly, set the crossover on your sub as high as it will go. I'm talking about the crossover setting on the actual sub and not the receiver. This will ensure the auto calibration will complete properly.

I assume you have the auto calibration mic....plug it in and run the setup. If it sounds good then leave it. If the sub sounds boomy pull it away from the wall a little.

Also I'm not sure if you need help or not on actual speaker placement. So let us know if that's the case.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[mtbound10]

Thanks krzywica,

I did not set the subs crossover to max when I used the auto set up. I will try that again tonight when I get home.

As far as the ohms go I set that last night to "8". I was looking at all the speaker settings, or trying to anyway... most of those are all set at 0 dbs... for better or for worse I do not know...

One more... the LFE settings... do I want the reciever to control the output to the sub or do I want the sub controlling... In the manual it suggest setting on "both"... again this stuff gets kind of confusing these manuals are pretty vague in reference to most of there settings. If I remember correctly my choices for LFE are either sbwfr, both, or speakers...

When I am listening/watching tv alot of times I will hear just the speakers and then all of a sudden the sub cuts in and dynamically changes the audio. I have the Reciever set at 80 for crossover and the sub set to around 100 I think with the volume just over halfway...

Cheers

 

[krzywica]

Thanks krzywica,

I did not set the subs crossover to max when I used the auto set up. I will try that again tonight when I get home.

As far as the ohms go I set that last night to "8". I was looking at all the speaker settings, or trying to anyway... most of those are all set at 0 dbs... for better or for worse I do not know...

One more... the LFE settings... do I want the reciever to control the output to the sub or do I want the sub controlling... In the manual it suggest setting on "both"... again this stuff gets kind of confusing these manuals are pretty vague in reference to most of there settings. If I remember correctly my choices for LFE are either sbwfr, both, or speakers...

When I am listening/watching tv alot of times I will hear just the speakers and then all of a sudden the sub cuts in and dynamically changes the audio. I have the Reciever set at 80 for crossover and the sub set to around 100 I think with the volume just over halfway...

Cheers

The Ohm settings have nothing to do with each individual speaker volume decibel setting or "dbs". Think of it as balancing the tires on a car. Even if they are all the same tires there might be a slight variation so the wheel weights will be different for each. The auto calibration should take care of that completely though. Make sure you are placing the mic correctly as head height and slightly forward angled.

For the sub volume you want to set it at half way when you do the auto calibration. If you notice a setting greater than -4 dbs after the auto setup is completed I would dial down the subwoofer volume and run the setup again as some subwoofers have a less sensative auto on feature and if the LFE signal coming from the receiver is not strong enough it will not trigger the sub to turn on at all, or turn on intermittently as it sounds like that may be what is happening with the TV shows. If you continue to have this problem I would try and use a +5 dbs or greater setting on the receiver and dial the sub volume down so it gets a stronger signal.

If you are doing mostly HT I would suggest a setting of LFE and not Left/Right+LFE or any other setting. If you send bass to both LFE and your mains it will be much harder to get a smooth frequency response and will prevent your system from blending properly as there will be different pitch, timbre, and volume ranges coming from your main speakers and your sub.

I would leave the crossover at 80Hz.

Hope that helps.

 

[mtbound10]

I went back through the auto set up again last night. I moved the crossover on the sub up to 150(max) and left the volume around 100 (middle) ... After the setup I made a few adjustments to settings through the manual setup

Adaptive DRC is OFF
The other setting below it is OFF

LFE is set to SBWFR

HDMI is set to THROUGH

8 ohms for speakers

I left the crossover up all the way on the sub (150)... should this be dialed back down after the auto setup or is that the optimum setting to let the reciever control the sub input?

After running everything again the rear speakers definitely seem to get more action. I did not watch or listen to anything with much base but it sounds like the sub is getting more action too...

I also moved the setting for automatic decoder to go on auto pilot so that the reciever automatically detects and changes to the proper decoder without me trying to pick one out of a list...

I am getting closer, I can hear it!!!