need more bass

[bustamove]

I just got my new system. yamaha rx-v1600 reciver, polk rm20 speakers and a polk psw404 sub. i have the cable running from the sub out on my reciever to the LFE input on the sub. I know there is more bass then what is being put out right now. I went through the settings on my reciever. all speakers set to small, sub crossover is at 80hz. I have the volume on the sub all the way up, and the crossover on the sub is on the highest setting. the reciever manual is really no help.

 

[Tomorrow]

I just got my new system. yamaha rx-v1600 reciver, polk rm20 speakers and a polk psw404 sub. i have the cable running from the sub out on my reciever to the LFE input on the sub. I know there is more bass then what is being put out right now. I went through the settings on my reciever. all speakers set to small, sub crossover is at 80hz. I have the volume on the sub all the way up, and the crossover on the sub is on the highest setting. the reciever manual is really no help.

It's likely you don't have the receiver LFE out set to 'SUB'. Go into your receiver setup mode (GUI) and select-->manual -->speaker level-->bass-->sub. Then try it...BUT FIRST, turn down the volume dial on your sub. You could destroy it with one big bang, lol. Start out with it set to ~1/4 max volume and leave it there. Then vary the low (redirected) bass and LFE to match your speakers using the receiver crossover and the gain to the sub (again, these settings are within your setup menu.

See if that works for you. Report back.

 

[j_garcia]

Most likely it is a setting in the receiver. One thing to look for would be the setting for how the LFE is handled - your mains should be set to small, and you may have an option for "both" or "mix" for sub/LFE, this should be set to sub not both.

80Hz is probably too low for those speakers. You'll likely want to cross them at 100Hz at the very least and probably higher, as their -3dB is 130Hz. Running them with an 80Hz x-over will give you a big dip between the 20s and the sub.

What receiver?

 

[Sheep]

What receiver?

RXV-1600

SheepStar

 

[bustamove]

in my manual setup i have the lfe/bass out is set to the sub. all the speakers are set to small. i changed the crossover to 100hz. when i turn it up it does produce bass but i know it can pound better then that. I hear it more then i feel it i guess is the best way to desscribe it. maybe i'm just being too picky.

 

[j_garcia]

I have yet to hear a Polk sub that I thought was worth the price. They aren't crap, but there are better subs out there for the price. Their subs from the 505 down simply don't go that low. The 404's -3dB is 32Hz, and according to their specs, 25Hz is where it drops off completely - this means you are going to be missing a fair amount of the lowest stuff with movies. That's where the "rumble" is.

I found with the free 202 I had (when I bought some LSi7s), it was actually a PITA to calibrate and get it sounding just right.

 

[gmichael]

If you go into "manual setup",
then "basic",
then "levels",
then "sub",
you can check to make sure it's not at -10db. If so, bump it up.

 

[brendy]

Your receiver's crossover with the RM20's should be at 120hz.Their biggest driver is only 3.5".I have the Infinity TSS-750 which are the same size and that's where mine is at.

 

[furrycute]

Have you played with subwoofer placement?

Oftentimes the placement of the sub is what what determines what kind of perceived bass you get from your sub. Try to place the rear of your sub against a wall, or place the sub in a corner. The boundary effect reinforces the bass. But the downside is that the bass gets muddier as the sub gets closer to the wall.

I once had a 12inch JBL sub. At the time I was really disappointed that I wasn't hearing the kind of rumbling bass I was expecting to hear from a sub. But after a while I realized that most materials simply don't have all that much low bass extension, especially with CD music. Remember, true bass is perceived or felt rather than heard. But you are going to notice your sub working when you play DVDs that include some real bass heavy passages.

Most of what we call "bass" in everyday life is really mid-bass, not true bass, and that's the job of your woofer, not the subwoofer. A true subwoofer produces bass that is mostly felt rather than heard.

And oh, I don't like to set the sub crossover too high.

 

[corey]

Do your speakers sound different than they did when you demo'd them? I haven't heard these specific speakers, but I wouldn't expect much mid-bass out of them.

Setting your x-over to 120 should help, and then work on sub placement.

 

[j_garcia]

The downside of setting your x-over to 120Hz is it will now be playing higher than the average sub should, and it also means you may be more easily able to localize it because it will be playing well into the range where one can typically identify the location of the source of sounds.

 

[bustamove]

after all this reading i think i'm going to return the sub and get something else. thinking about the svs pb10-nsd. any other subs out there in this price range that would be good and also match up with my speakers.

 

[corey]

The downside of setting your x-over to 120Hz is it will now be playing higher than the average sub should, and it also means you may be more easily able to localize it because it will be playing well into the range where one can typically identify the location of the source of sounds.

I agree with you in general, but we're talking 3 1/2" woofers here. My thought is to sacrifice some localization for flatter response.

Buster - If you're looking for more "oomph" in movie effects, a sub that goes lower should help, but if you're talking music your problem might be mid-bass from your mains, not low bass from your sub.