I recently purchased a BIC V1220 sub, and I am waiting for my RX-V2500 to be delivered. However, I wanted to try it out, so I hooked it up to my old Sony HTIB, just to make sure it is OK, and doesn't need to be returned.
Well, I tried it out, and at first, I thought for sure there was something wrong with it. After fiddling with the settings, I am not sure. Here is what happened:
I hooked up the sub. I set the crossover at 80Hz, and the volume about halfway. I played some music (in this case, Pink Floyd Dark Side), and I actually had to get down on my hands and knees to tell if there was any sound coming out at all - it was that soft. My Sony POS sub (which has no crossover setting, just volume) definitely puts out more sound with its volume set to halfway. I actually went so far as to disconnect all of the other speakers, just so I could more easily compare what the subs were doing. By setting the crossover on the BIC sub to 120Hz, I got more sound, but still not as much as the Sony sub, which I believe has half the power and is much smaller than the BIC. I believe both the Sony AVR and DVD player have fixed crossovers set at 120Hz (and both are set to play with the micro satellites that came with the HTIB setup).
The interesting thing, and why I am not sure if anything is wrong with the BIC or not, is that when you turn the volumes all the way up, then the BIC sub sounds fine. It is much tighter, punchier and louder than the Sony when its volume is turned all the way up.
I guess I just know very little about what a subwoofer is supposed to sound like. My only experience is this Sony HTIB setup. The Sony definitely sounds louder than the BIC when the volume settings are low to mid. The Sony sub also has a more "musical" sound to it. It seems to produce sound across a broader frequency than the BIC sub, which has a lower, more punchy sound.
That "punchy" sound is probably exactly what you want from a sub. My concern is that you seem to need to have the volume on the sub turned all the way up (or almost all the way up) to get it. I am also concerned about how little sound there is at lower crossover settings on the BIC sub. But maybe that is something that the RX-V2500 will fix, as this Sony system has very little bass-management.
Anyway, if anyone can let me know if it sounds like there is something wrong with my BIC sub, or if that is the way they are designed, so that if you want really punchy sound, you have to turn the volume way up. Or, maybe I have a setting somewhere on the receiver or DVD player that is effecting the sub (although in looking through both manuals, it seems that all you can do is set the sub to "yes" or "none"). Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
