Interesting issue concerning 2.0 music and my onkyo 606

[b00tleg]

The issue I'm having is whenever I play stereo music through my system, most of the bass only seems to come out of the L and R speakers. Even with bass heavy music like hip-hop, the sub is hardly producing any sound. If I go over and put my finger on the woofer of the sub I can feel it moving but somtimes only barely.

Movies with lots of bass such as Tron or Master and Commander, come out sounding very loud, making use of the sub.

Here's my setup.
Source for movies/music: PS3 via HDMI
Reciever: Onkyo 606
Speakers: L and R: Paradigm 7's rev 4 Center: Paradigm cc-370

The front speakers are cross over at 60hz, sub crossed at 120hz. I've verified all speakers are connected to the proper outputs on the reciever.

Hope thats enough info. The only way I can get more bass from music to the sub is to cross the L and R speakers at 100hz, but even then it still dosen't sound right. The only way I can get a satisfactory amount of bass out of the sub with music is to set the front speakers to full range and turn on double bass on the receiver. However that isn't an optimal setup as movies push to much bass through the front speakers. I'm at a loss, any help or advice I could get would be money.

 

[TLS Guy]

The issue I'm having is whenever I play stereo music through my system, most of the bass only seems to come out of the L and R speakers. Even with bass heavy music like hip-hop, the sub is hardly producing any sound. If I go over and put my finger on the woofer of the sub I can feel it moving but somtimes only barely.

Movies with lots of bass such as Tron or Master and Commander, come out sounding very loud, making use of the sub.

Here's my setup.
Source for movies/music: PS3 via HDMI
Reciever: Onkyo 606
Speakers: L and R: Paradigm 7's rev 4 Center: Paradigm cc-370

The front speakers are cross over at 60hz, sub crossed at 120hz. I've verified all speakers are connected to the proper outputs on the reciever.

Hope thats enough info. The only way I can get more bass from music to the sub is to cross the L and R speakers at 100hz, but even then it still dosen't sound right. The only way I can get a satisfactory amount of bass out of the sub with music is to set the front speakers to full range and turn on double bass on the receiver. However that isn't an optimal setup as movies push to much bass through the front speakers. I'm at a loss, any help or advice I could get would be money.

It is working correctly.

Except for Hollywood effects there is little content in the last two octaves, especially the last. Most of program material that is perceived as bass is actually on the 80 Hz to 180 Hz range.

That is why the sub is the least important part of a system, especially for music.

If the sub were to appear to be producing most of the bass, then your system would be highly unbalanced, lake an awful lot of systems.

 

[b00tleg]

It is working correctly.

Except for Hollywood effects there is little content in the last two octaves, especially the last. Most of program material that is perceived as bass is actually on the 80 Hz to 180 Hz range.

That is why the sub is the least important part of a system, especially for music.

If the sub were to appear to be producing most of the bass, then your system would be highly unbalanced, lake an awful lot of systems.

Thanks for the response. Alot of what I've learned about audio comes from car audio. I've got two 12" subs in the trunk of my car in a sealed enclosure. Alot of the same music that doesen't thump very hard in the house has plenty of bottom end when played in my car.

Is there anyway to get my music in my house to sound more like it does in my car? Do I need different/better front speakers for my house?

 

[sholling]

It is working correctly.

Except for Hollywood effects there is little content in the last two octaves, especially the last. Most of program material that is perceived as bass is actually on the 80 Hz to 180 Hz range.

That is why the sub is the least important part of a system, especially for music.

That depends on what you're listing to. If strictly symphonic music and chic-flicks then possibly. But there's lots of fun content in jazz between 40 and 80hz and tons in action movies.

Thanks for the response. Alot of what I've learned about audio comes from car audio. I've got two 12" subs in the trunk of my car in a sealed enclosure.

There's the problem. You're expecting it to sound like your car. If setup correctly good home subwoofers don't "thump" like a car sub. Instead they sound like the original source material.

 

[anamorphic96]

Sholling hit the nail on the head with his last statement. Sub's are not supposed to thump like they do in cars. They should be there just to fill in the bottom and not draw any attention to itself unless called upon to do so by the source material. Movies being the prime example.

The other thing to keep in mind is that most music does not have huge amounts of deep bass. Most is above 50hz. TLS Guy mentioned this above as well. The other thing is your mains are crossed at 60hz which is lower than most so your sub will see less action because most music is above 60hz.

 

[b00tleg]

Thanks for the info everyone, I guess I have my home system setup more or less correctly.

 

[Cruise Missile]

When coming from car audio, the move to high fidelity nearly always starts with a search for the "missing bass".

You've become acclimated to unnatural levels of deep bass.

There's a cure though, and it's fun.

Grab the tunes you've listened to most in your car and play them in the house. Instead of focusing on the bass, try and hear things in the mid-range that you couldn't in the car due to the bloated bass.

You are more than likely going to hear things you haven't before.

Rinse and repeat with more music.

I bet you adjust your car system by the end of the month!

Enjoy!

 

[b00tleg]

So I've resolved my issue. Funny how one y-splitter cable can make all the difference. My Velodyne CT-120 now pushes more bass with stereo music when its getting signal through both the L & R of the input at the sub.