Settings for Pioneer Elite & Elemental Sub

[myke]

I have the Pioneer Elite 21 Amp and the Elemental Designs A2-300. Running EMP Impression towers and center.

I was hoping one of you here had this combo. Well at least the ELite and Sub. Ive had it for a few months now and find myself tinkering with the settings now and then (mainly the sub level) on various movies and music.

I guess what I am asking is how should I have this setup set? I typically have the sub input level at about half.(my AVR volume usually doesnt go past -15 or -20) The low pass filter around 70. (It goes from 35-180). The Phase knob I didnt notice any change when adjusting that so I leave it at the lowest point.

and for the AVR theres so many settings on that Im not sure if I even did that right or hit the right ones. I just set the crossover on a range recommendation I found here on the forum.

Thanks

 

[Tungsten06GT]

I have the Pioneer Elite 21 Amp and the Elemental Designs A2-300. Running EMP Impression towers and center.

I was hoping one of you here had this combo. Well at least the ELite and Sub. Ive had it for a few months now and find myself tinkering with the settings now and then (mainly the sub level) on various movies and music.

I guess what I am asking is how should I have this setup set? I typically have the sub input level at about half.(my AVR volume usually doesnt go past -15 or -20) The low pass filter around 70. (It goes from 35-180). The Phase knob I didnt notice any change when adjusting that so I leave it at the lowest point.

and for the AVR theres so many settings on that Im not sure if I even did that right or hit the right ones. I just set the crossover on a range recommendation I found here on the forum.

Thanks

I have (or should I say had) that exact setup, now minus the A3-300. What I mean is, I have the 21txh elite receiver with Impressions the whole way around, but I've since sold my A3-300 (needed more output).

Anyways, first things first, keep the phase on the sub at 0, and turn the crossover knob all the ways up (your receiver will handle the filter setting so you don't want the sub's crossover to interfere). Then, I would put the volume knob at around 9 o'clock, this way you can run the auto calibration on the receiver and it should put the receiver's sub out at around 0. This makes sure a strong enough signal comes from the sub out of the receiver in order to turn the sub amp on and off (since it's automatic).

Then, I pretty much ran the auto calibration feature of the receiver (not full auto), and it will most likely set all speakers to large, but you'll need to manually go in and set them to small. Trust me, setting them to small just means that all frequencies below the crossover point will be sent to the sub. Even though the EMP fronts "look" large, they can't handle low freqs like the sub can.

So, after the auto setup, just make sure the crossover freq. is set to 80 hz, and all speakers set to small (sub should be set to yes, not plus). Setting the sub to "Plus" will still output low freqs below the crossover point to any speakers set to large, but I found that some freqs. almost canceled each other out if you have the fronts and sub outputting the same stuff.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I think I've tinkered around with all the settings enough to know what sounds best...

 

[jostenmeat]

I have the Pioneer Elite 21 Amp and the Elemental Designs A2-300. Running EMP Impression towers and center.

I was hoping one of you here had this combo. Well at least the ELite and Sub. Ive had it for a few months now and find myself tinkering with the settings now and then (mainly the sub level) on various movies and music.

I guess what I am asking is how should I have this setup set? I typically have the sub input level at about half.(my AVR volume usually doesnt go past -15 or -20) The low pass filter around 70. (It goes from 35-180). The Phase knob I didnt notice any change when adjusting that so I leave it at the lowest point.

and for the AVR theres so many settings on that Im not sure if I even did that right or hit the right ones. I just set the crossover on a range recommendation I found here on the forum.

Thanks

As aforementioned, kill the low pass, or you have what is called "cascading crossovers". If you can't defeat it, raise it to max as aforementioned. OTOH, some subs will automatically defeat xover if using the LFE/rca cable, I believe.

For phase, the easiest way is to have a friend play with the knob, on bass heavy music, while you are seated. The best setting will sound more full, or less anemic in the bass. You can switch position with friend to see if the results are similar.

MidnightSensi recently explained a much more involved method, that you can find by search perhaps, but you can try this for now.

Ok, well nevermind, I found it for you, but it is more involved:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=719772&postcount=2

 

[myke]

I have the Pioneer Elite 21 Amp and the Elemental Designs A2-300. Running EMP Impression towers and center.

I was hoping one of you here had this combo. Well at least the ELite and Sub. Ive had it for a few months now and find myself tinkering with the settings now and then (mainly the sub level) on various movies and music.

I guess what I am asking is how should I have this setup set? I typically have the sub input level at about half.(my AVR volume usually doesnt go past -15 or -20) The low pass filter around 70. (It goes from 35-180). The Phase knob I didnt notice any change when adjusting that so I leave it at the lowest point.

and for the AVR theres so many settings on that Im not sure if I even did that right or hit the right ones. I just set the crossover on a range recommendation I found here on the forum.

Thanks

Excellent Thank you. Ill give it a try when I have some time. I noticed the same thing when running the MCACC setup, it sets everything to Large and then I had to go in and mess with the settings manually to figure it out.

questions: When you say "auto calibration feature of the receiver (not full auto)" Can you clarify? Are you saying not to run the MCACC auto setup with the test tones and microphone in place where you sit? or another feature?

Then the settings after the auto calibration such as crossover you mean on the amp correct? and leave the actual sub amp settings where they are? 9 o clock etc...I currently run my sub with the volume knob at about half way.

 

[Tungsten06GT]

Excellent Thank you. Ill give it a try when I have some time. I noticed the same thing when running the MCACC setup, it sets everything to Large and then I had to go in and mess with the settings manually to figure it out.

questions: When you say "auto calibration feature of the receiver (not full auto)" Can you clarify? Are you saying not to run the MCACC auto setup with the test tones and microphone in place where you sit? or another feature?

Then the settings after the auto calibration such as crossover you mean on the amp correct? and leave the actual sub amp settings where they are? 9 o clock etc...I currently run my sub with the volume knob at about half way.

On the receiver there is auto calibration, but if you look, there are options for "full auto" or just auto. Auto will let you manually step through each test with breaks in between. Plus, with just auto, when you get to the equilization section I believe, you'll have the option to move the microphone to 3 different listening positions for optimization. However, while I've noticed negligeable results in moving the mike around, I still do it.

I say only turn your sub volume a quarter of the way up to 9 oclock is because that way in order to match level with your speakers, the receiver will adjust accordingly and actually increase it's sub level (mine would calibrate to around 0 which is what eD recommends). See, eD's subs utilize an "auto on" feature, which means that when the sub's amp sees a signal coming from the sub-out of the receiver, it'll know to turn on. But, if you don't have the receiver's signal up high enough, the amp on the sub won't turn on except at higher volumes.