Subwoofer worth it with fixed crossover receiver?

austinbirdman

austinbirdman

Audioholic Intern
<font color='#000000'>I've really enjoyed Gene DellaSalla's two articles on bass management (&quot;Bass Management: The Right Stuff&quot; and &quot;LFE Output with Large Main Speakers&quot;), but despite (or in light of) all the great information, I still have a question before purchasing a sub.

Here's the deal: I am one of those poor people Gene describes who own an AV receiver with a high, fixed crossover setting -- a 4-year-old Yamaha RV-1105 with a fixed crossover at 90 Hz. Here's the whole system:

* Yamaha RV-1105 (5x85 WPC, fixed crossover at 90 Hz)
* Mains: Axiom M60s, Freq Resp +/-3dB (Hz): 37- 22K, at -9dB can get down to 27Hz
* Center: Energy eXLc from old system
* Surrounds: Old Infinity bookshelves
* Sub: None yet.

This is used 70/30 for HT/music. I really love movies but if I'm going to own a sub, I'd prefer one that can be musical as well. This has led me to contemplate a HSU STF-2, which is in my budget, and which draws good reviews as a music-HT hybrid. I can only test one via mail order -- but here's my question: Will it even be worth it due to the fixed crossover of the receiver? (I don't want to go through the hassle of ordering a sub unless my receiver has a high likelihood of managing its bass capabilities.) Since I don't have a variable cross over, my options for LFE Output are straightforward: Mains, Sub, or Both. It seems that if I set my LFE to sub only, then I'm going to be missing out on the fullness of range of my Axiom M60s--basically all of their range below 90 Hz--due to the fixed crossover. My impression from Gene's articles is that this will be the case whether or not I have my main speaker settings on large or small. (Have I misunderstood this part? If I set the mains at large, will the receiver give them a bit more low frequency signal below the 90Hz fc? The Yamaha brochure doesn't get this specific.) Will the &quot;Both&quot; setting work better, allowing me to retain the full range of the M60s mains while enjoying LFE at full levels via the sub? Somehow, if I choose &quot;Both,&quot; it makes me question the whole point of purchasing a sub ....

So in sum, given my 90 Hz fixed crossover, do you think I can fashion a satisfactory bass management solution, or do you think I'll be better off holding out on trying/buying a quality sub until that distant time (1-2 years) when I buy a new AV Receiver? Let me add that I'd really like to avoid buying a new HT receiver.

By the way, while the above applies to HT, I'm curious about using a sub to complement the M60s for music as well. It's unclear to me how or if this works with the Yamaha in 2-channel stereo mode. Any light you could shed on that would also be appreciated.</font>
 
G

Guest

Guest
<font color='#000000'>I also have a Yamaha receiver with the same fix. I just got a rx-v3300 to replace my rx-v620(both have 90hz fix). Im in the process of rebuilding a system ( the ex got the other system) so right now Ive got Boston 950's for mains, Klipsch 1.1 srrnds &amp; a Boston v500 sub. First off, to get to 2-ch stereo you have to turn off the effects which means no sub unless you go in &amp; turn off the center &amp; rears while in 5-ch mode. Thats a little much for me so what I do is leave my mains set to large, sub off, &amp; listen in 5 or 2-ch mode for music.
&nbsp;With the more powerful 3300 I get decent enough bass to listen to music w/o the sub. For HT, however, I need the sub. When using for HT I set the LFE to &quot;sub&quot; only &amp; rely on the sub for the LFE's.I have my sub's xover set at about 100hz &amp; so far it works good. Am thinking of moving input to sub to the bypass option &amp; see what happens.I have heard great things about the 60's you have but don't know what level of bass they have with the older Yamaha you are using. I would think a sub would be almost mandatory for HT if using an 85wpc Yamaha.
&nbsp;If you can demo one at home I would definitely go for it. If not, buy a decent $500 sub &amp; add it, if for not everything, at least for HT. I personally couldn't imagine HT w/o one.


zipper</font>
 
M

mustang_steve

Senior Audioholic
<font color='#000000'>If you can't disable the high pass, you could try running the subwoofer at 90hz, but it might get rather boomy.




Edit: &nbsp;I need to quit posting at 12:38 in the morning &nbsp;
</font>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yamahaluver

Yamahaluver

Audioholic General
<font color='#0000FF'>BOTH on Yamaha sends signals below 90Hz to your sub in 2 channel mode, otherwise only your main speakers get ,90Hz signals. When you set your mains to LARGE, if there are low frequency signals below 90Hz, they will be send to the mains, all the LFE would still go to the sub, if you have towers as main, you can also use BOTH setting and get good amount of bass because the LFE then is sent to the mains and subs, however unless you have a high power external amp, this puts tremedous strain on the receiver's amp section.

The Yamaha YST-SW800/1500 are fantastic, tight subs and are quite musical but they dont go down deep or rumble like a Def Tech, Velodyne, Hsu etc. their sound is more like REL, so if you are into HT dont go for the Yamaha subs but if music is your prefference, make sure to thoroughly audition the Yamaha subs.</font>
 
austinbirdman

austinbirdman

Audioholic Intern
<font color='#000000'>Since that initial post I went ahead and purchased a Hsu STF-2 (nice piece of equipment). Want to report on all I've heard and learned.

Main conclusions -- based on personal preference, which I can't emphasize enough, since we all have different tastes -- is that with my floorstanders, I prefer using the sub only for HT, not for music. This may be because I have a fixed crossover, not a variable, but I suspect not. Once I got the placement and calibration of the sub to my liking, I found that it was awesome for HT but for music (my tastes run from Emmylou Harris to John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett to Stan Getz, occasional classical and classic Jazz) -- for music, the floorstanders gave a more coherent sound, regardless of the settings.

The three reasonable settings FOR MUSIC I could come up with in experimenting have been:

Option 1: Mains: &quot;Large,&quot; Sub-out: &quot;Both,&quot; Cross-over: around 50 Hz (with lots of experimentation) set at the sub.

Option 2: Mains: &quot;Small,&quot; Sub-out: &quot;SWFR,&quot; Cross-over: set so the sub uses the receiver's fixed cross-over, which in my case is 90 Hz.

Option 3: Mains: &quot;Large,&quot; Sub-out: &quot;Main&quot; -- this is a no-sub setting, where I'm doing standard 2-channel stereo all through the mains.

I wish I could have used an option of Mains: &quot;Large,&quot; sub-out: &quot;SWFR,&quot; with a variable crossover within the receiver at 50 or 60 Hz, but that's not an option with my fixed crossover receiver (hence the source of this thread).

Option 1 yields more or less acceptable integration between the floorstanders and the sub, however, even at 60 Hz I hear problems of bass overlap between the floorstanders (which go down to 37 Hz +/- 3 Db) and the sub ... a pronounced sense of bass that is unpredictable and can overshadow the music. As a result I sometimes end up setting the sub-level xover so low (even as low as 43 Hz at times) that it begs the question -- why use this?

Option 2 works for some recordings, so long as the sub volume is set low ... but if the sub volume is the slightest bit too high, then the mains take on a tinny sound, coupled with a sluggish bass sound (even though the Hsu does well on music). I don't find that I notice the sub's location (or rather, the bass location), but I do find an awareness of a lack of overall coherence, and on certain recordings (ones with more pronounced bass beats) the bass can get very pronounced. This has been, therefore, the worst option. It works fine on some acoustics, but on any piece with well-orchestrated, well integrated bass lines, I find that I have to turn the bass down low to get a decent sound, but that it still not as good as the final option --

Option 3, using no sub for music, works great, all the time. My Axiom M60s have really nice, clean, fast and tight bass. If anything, all this experimenting made me realize how great they perform on the low end. If there's a drop-off below 37 Hz, and perhaps a tad of warm distortion in the 37 Hz range and sliightly above, it doesn't bother me -- rather, I get a coherent, in-phase sound that's great. No anxiety, no &quot;should I tweak the xover&quot; thoughts, no complaints from my wife. The overall improvement is such that at times, while experimenting, I felt physical relief when I switched from one of the sub-settings to this no-sub setting ... a sense of &quot;Ahhh, that's how it sounds&quot; as opposed to the puzzled, scrutinizing sense that sometimes came with using the sub. I don't think this was a matter of calibration, though I know sub-lovers everywhere will jump to this thought. I have the Hsu well-positioned, well-calibrated ... I just prefer the coherent sound from no-sub music -- perhaps, I freely admit, because I don't have a variable xover at the receiver level.

My experiments jibe with an interesting article I found which calls attention to some of the challenges of integrating a sub-woofer with 2-channel stereo. The link is below - basically it explains that our ears are great illusionists, and can fill in the missing bass information even from radio speakers, let alone floorstanders that get down to sub-40 ranges. Now, the real thing is better than an illusion, but problems can ensue with subs, because inevitably they will have timbre and PHASE differences that can jar the human ear. Many will disagree - I respect your opinion. But this held for me, and I've now sworn off using a sub for music. Maybe if I get really into the 1812 Overture I'll recant, but for now I'm sold on the no-sub / great mains route for stereo.

On HT, whole different deal of course, because there's discrete info designed for the LFE channel and the sub, AND you generally want a sub to pick up the bass info for your center and/or rears, which are usually not bass-capable speakers. (And of course many people don't have bass capable mains in their HT either, making a sub a necessity.) Probably because of the discrete sounds designed for HT, I don't find any problems with timbre jarring or phase. My own preference for HT is:

HT Setting: Mains: &quot;small,&quot; even though they are floorstanders (also centers and rears set to small, but in my case they ARE small), Sub-out: &quot;SWFR&quot; (not &quot;Both&quot;). By setting the sub-out to SWFR only I avoid an overlap with the mains, and avoid making my receiver drive the 5 channels PLUS bass info, letting the subs dedicated amp do that work. It's also easier to calibrate the bass volume if only the sub is doing this work.

In an ideal world, I would set my xover lower than the 90 Hz fixed level for the mains, but frankly, this setup works great, and with HT I have no complaints. If I get into Hi-Rez audio, well, then I'll just have to get better equipment.

Two articles that were helpful in all this experimentation:

Pitch Timbre and Quality vs. The Subwoofer by Jan Plummer, for Home Toys.

Miscellaneous Ramblings on Subwoofer Crossover Frequencies by Colin Miller and Brian Florian, for Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity.

Birdman</font>
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top