Replaced my vintage late 70's Scott S186s and Marantz HD77s with new towers and 10" 300w subwoofer, connected to a slightly more modern (this century anyway!) Onkyo TX-8511. Followed instructions to connect subwoofer to "older stereo receivers" by running wires from receiver to Hi Level terminals on sub, then a second pair of speaker wires from sub to tower speakers.
The subwoofer works fine, there just seems to be a low frequency range missing. Ok, Absolute Towers, and I understand their design philosophy, but thought the pairing with the B-10d sub was going to be better. But with a lot of fiddling with subwoofer volume, crossover, and its EQ and Phase switches, there just seems to be a low frequency range missing. I hear very low bass, I can make the sub rumble, but there is something missing, don't know how to explain it, something in between the lowest it can do and the lowest the towers can do. The setup is missing the low frequencies that are more audible, more discernible, than the very low notes of the subwoofer. Maybe just the consequence of the Absolute Tower design? Room acoustics? Mid size 2300 cu ft, open one side, hardwood floor? Your thoughts?
And I end up fiddling with the sub a lot among sources, radio almost nothing until sub volume is maxed, CDs variable depending on the music but often I feel like I have the sub dialed and then a louder section of music causes it to rumble and I have to turn the sub volume down,streaming videos/movies through a media server same deal, too little low frequency until a loud section and then I'm running for the sub volume to turn it down.
Is it the connection? I'm shopping for a new A/V receiver that would have an LFE(?) connection or preouts, how would those connections alter the present behavior of the sub? Would they alter it? I can't think of anything else to tweak in the current setup, open to comments, suggestions. Thanks.
