Is my Subwoofer dead/dying?

[rhaick]

I have a very modest 5.1 system comprised of the following components.

Yamaha RX-V471 Reciever
2 Polk Monitor 75T fronts
Polk Monitor center
2 older sony bookshelf (surround)
12 year old KLH powered 10" sub 120w RMS NO LFE

I can't seem to get my sub to do more than barely whisper any sound even turned all the way up running a DVD or bd. And no base line when listening to digital music. Also barely a sound when I run the test tone from the receiver. I have tried everything I can think of from reading online sites, and the manual's for my equipment.

I've tried, setting all speakers to small and turning the frequency all the way up to simulate LFE

I've kept all speakers on large and turned on bass boost

Replaced the RCA cable running from the receiver to the R Mono input (recommended) with a monster coax.

What am i missing? Is there a way to test the woofer with out lugging it somewhere and plugging into another system?

Thanks!

 

[markw]

You could plug any device with a line level analog output (like a CD or DVD player) directly into the subwoofer and then play some material with significant bass content. Assuming it's working, you won't hear anything except what the subwoofer can play but that part should play fine.

If the problem still persists, it's time for a new subwoofer.

 

[rhaick]

markw, Thanks for the advice, I hooked the coax out from my DVD to the sub and put in dark knight returns and a couple of others. All I get is a solid rumble tone that doesn't fluctuate no matter the freq I adjust to or content. Does this qualify as shopping time?

Thanks

 

[j_garcia]

markw, Thanks for the advice, I hooked the coax out from my DVD to the sub and put in dark knight returns and a couple of others. All I get is a solid rumble tone that doesn't fluctuate no matter the freq I adjust to or content. Does this qualify as shopping time?

Thanks

Hooked up to which coax? Digital coax? If so, that's not going to work... Or do you mean you used one of the R/L outputs?

 

[rhaick]

Yes I used the digital out. I will try the R/L out and see how that goes.

 

[rhaick]

Solved my issue. Borrowed a neighbors sub and the same problem existed. He asked if i had checked the line level for the sub. I showed him that the config screen from the reciever showed +10db, but when we went deeper into the menu it showed -10db! Manually set it to +10db and like magic all is well.

Thanks again for the help.