I need of the good sound....

[Novakaine]

Hi, thanks for having me. I am very happy to have found this site. This is my first post...all original stupid questions with a long winded explanation of how I got into my current predicament.

Here's the deal, I am VERY new to the home theater game and am not much of a tech guy to begin with (sorry don't hate me please). I am way more into music than movies and am an avid fan of vinyl records. I had what I thought was a great old system...big knobs, tubes, sliders etc...sounded so fat and warm when listening to music, really all I needed. Well in Sept of '08 Hurricane Ike took out my house and belongings, sparing my Cerwin Vega 3way towers...time to upgrade and so I did, jumped feet first into the world of 7:1 home theater.

My new set up is as follows: Pioneeer Elite SC-05 receiver, Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD Bluray, P. Elite PD-F27 cd player, my old Cerwin Vega RE series 3way tower speakers with 15" woofers, Cer-Vega CLS-12S subwoofer, and Cerwin VE series center and satellites...and an Audio-Technica AT-PL120 turntable.

Here's my problem, movies and tv sound great...I did the calibration and I have never enjoyed watching movies more that I do now, but when it comes time for listening to music it is lacking, BAD. I know this system will sound better than anything I have ever had if I can figure out how to make it do so. When playing music, either turntable or cd player, it sounds really dead and flat. Very little low end and nothing coming from the sub...just dead and flat. I have gone through the college text book of a manual (missing what I need to find I'm sure) and have gone through all settings that I can figure out and have had no luck. I would really like to know how to make this system sound great in stereo mode, big and fat with extra bass coming from the sub...but it eludes me. Like I say movies and tv sound so good, I just want my music to also. Thanks so much ahead of time for sharing your expertise.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

Do you have the front speakers set to "large"? If so, then the sub won't be used during stereo playback. If you have it that way, try setting them to "small" and see how it sounds.

 

[Audioholics]

Exactly. During movies, the dedicated LFE track will activate the sub, but during stereo music nothing will come out. Give that a shot first and report back.

 

[Novakaine]

You guys rule. Thank you so much. That did the trick. I'm blown away how quick you guys responded...I owe ya a coldie! I'm wondering if there is a way to also have some bass coming from my mains as well as the sub...my mains are far from small and it seems odd to have those two 15" woofers setting idle while the sub does all the low end, in the same breath I'm a beginner and may have that all wrong. The little tweak you suggested has it sounding soooo much better. I'm gonna keep reading my manual and keep reading through this site to try to educate myself on how to use this new toy I bought. Again, thank you!

 

[Adam]

Always happy to help when we can! I'm glad that it's sounding good to you.

I'm wondering if there is a way to also have some bass coming from my mains as well as the sub...

Yep, there sure is. Check out page 57 of the owner's manual for the SC-05. You can set the front speakers to LARGE and set the subwoofer to PLUS. With that setting, bass will go to both the front speakers and the sub. That may sound better or worse, but you do have the option to try it out (and you gotta love options ).

From the owner's manual on the bottom of page 57 (note number 2):

2 If you have a subwoofer and like lots of bass, it may seem logical to select LARGE for your front speakers and PLUS for the subwoofer. This
may not, however, yield the best bass results. Depending on the speaker placement of your room you may actually experience a decrease in
the amount of bass due low frequency cancellations. In this case, try changing the position or direction of speakers. If you can’t get good
results, listen to the bass response with it set to PLUS and YES or the front speakers set to LARGE and SMALL alternatively and let your ears
judge which sounds best. If you’re having problems, the easiest option is to route all the bass sounds to the subwoofer by selecting SMALL
for the front speakers.

 

[Novakaine]

YAY!!!! Thank you again. I'm going to give that a try just to see. I can tell that I'm gong to have fun figuring this all out. I really appreciate the help.

 

[lsiberian]

You do realize we charge for help. We demand you pay in pictures of your setup

 

[AVRat]

It would also help to know the frequency response capabilities of all speakers to make the best use of the bass management in the receiver.