psw505 setup help

athen

i recently setup up a new HT. I got a psw505 and have it connected to my yamaha receiver through an LFE cable that goes to the subwoofer out. My problem is the sub just doesnt hit like i think it should, it isnt producing much bass. I changed the config on the receiver to make the speakers small instead of large but it didnt seem to help much. What am i missing in the setup?

cheif pontiac

It seems to me I had the best sound when I set my Yamaha receiver to "both" I believe it sends both the LFE signal and bass signal from the mains to the sub. There is also a setting to turn subwoofer on. I run my mains on large. I know I was messing around with my receiver after I had picked up a PSW303 and had a similiar problem. I think it was the screen that says < subwoofer both off>

The phase switch on the sub will make a little difference, it sould be set to the phase where you hear more bass. I assume you know there is a volume control on the back of the sub. I'm not trying to be a smart alec but even the brightest of us miss the simplest things sometimes.

troy_b.

I also have my 505 hooked up to a yamaha. I set my fronts to small and sent the low freqs just to the SUB. It sounds good.

[Deleted User]

Hello Athen,
Welcome to Club Polk. It might be the receiver's sub-out crossover frequency isn't high enough. Try going into the receiver's programming instructions and raising the crossover frequency. In other words the sub is only able to play the range of bass frequencies that is given to it by the receiver. Hopefully the receiver will allow the crossover point to go from 80Hz to 100Hz or 120Hz. This will allow the sub to play more mid-bass which might be what you're looking for.
Regards, Ken

SpartanStang14

Hi,

I also just got a new PSW505 and when I first hooked it up wasn't very impressed. But then I tried a few different positions and boy did that make a huge difference. My system is setup with a wall on the right side, and at first I had the subwoofer on the right side of the TV with the speaker facing left. The bass port, which is actually on the back on the bottom, was facing the wall, and was very close to it. Now, I have it in the same place but just flipped it, so the bass port is facing left and the speaker is facing the wall. I was tight on space, but this ended up working excellently. I'm very happy now, and I have the volume on the subwoofer turned just past halfway. Sometimes I think my ears are gonna bleed haha. So basically what I'm saying is, try a few different placements and it may change everything. I hope this helps!

athen

ok i messed with all of these and i think i got it working much better. i was using the auto calibration and i had to go in and change a few things manually. i set the bass out to both instead of just swfr. i set the fronts to small instead of large. also the calibration had set the speaker level of the sub very low so i turned that up a bit. also tried moving it around and everything sounds much better.

Troy how did you send just the low freqs to the SUB? is that at the sub out menu just selecting the swfr setting?

athen

also how do you set the crossover for the speaker and sub individually? is that possible because i only see one setting to set the crossover when doing the speaker setup.

Outfitter03

Athen, welcome to club Polk and glad that it is working better. What model # is your Yamaha?

athen

rx-v765

SpartanStang14

there is no crossover setting for the sub. you may have separate crossover settings for the fronts, center, and surrounds, but the sub doesn't need a crossover setting. the crossover is the frequency where everything below that will be sent to the sub. so, if your crossover is set at 80 Hz, any sound with a frequency below 80 Hz will be sent to the sub rather than the speaker (front, center, or surround). you can only set the crossover when your speakers are set to small. when the speakers are set to large, low frequencies that are sent to the speakers ( front, center, surround) will be played by them, and the sub will only play what the audio source (dvd, etc.) specifically has coded for the sub. when the speakers are set to small, the receiver reroutes frequencies lower than the crossover setting to the sub rather than the front, center, and surround speakers. I hope this helps!

Outfitter03

Good explanation Spartanstang14. Crossover setting is on page 56 of the manual. How is your unit sounding now? I started out with recommended setting of 80hz, but with my setup I have found that I like 60hz better.

SpartanStang14

I'm really loving the new setup. I've been playing Red Dead Redemption on PS3 and the gunshots sound awesome. But I have been even more impressed with the sounds of my horse running and footsteps. There is a very low, subtle thump that you can almost feel more than hear. It's pretty amazing. Also, I haven't really decided on my crossover settings yet. I just set my fronts at 80, my center at 100, and my surrounds at 120 for now, but I still need to mess with it a bit.

Lietuvis91

I can barely hear the emotiva sub when set to 120hz or 100hz, but as soon as I set it to 80 it "woke up" and started shaking the couch... I guess subs really arent meant to play frequencies above 80hz efficiently. At least that has been my experience.

PrazVT

Good info - I've been switching between 60hz and 80hz the last week trying to figure out which I like best - in an effort to let the mains do as much of the work as possible and have the sub pick up the slack on the bottom end. Once I unpack the 505, curious to see how it does as well.

So what's the word on placement? Should it be placed away from a wall? next to the front speakers? behind the couch?

spock 2054

PrazVT wrote: »

Good info - I've been switching between 60hz and 80hz the last week trying to figure out which I like best - in an effort to let the mains do as much of the work as possible and have the sub pick up the slack on the bottom end. Once I unpack the 505, curious to see how it does as well.

So what's the word on placement? Should it be placed away from a wall? next to the front speakers? behind the couch?

Placement of a sub depends on your room, and the stuff in it. Logically, when the sub is active, you should not be able to localize it. Takes some experimenting. My subs are on either side of the loveseat towards the back of my living room. I tried the behind the couch placment, and found that it was not an ideal location - it sounded great, but did not look optimal. Good luck with the new 505.

Lietuvis91

PrazVT wrote: »

So what's the word on placement? Should it be placed away from a wall? next to the front speakers? behind the couch?

I just now realized how critical sub placement is....:cool:

At first,
I had my emotiva sub sitting right between the tv stand and the left front speaker against the back wall of the room. I thought to myself... this 12 inch sub with 300w rms is not all that great. You could barely hear it turned up half way. I don't know if it's because it was close to the wall (the back wall) or what. You could only hear the sub in the parts of the room where no one would typically be, like the corners. I thought that was strange...

I played with the crossover, 80hz sounded the best, but it still didn't hit like it should...


Then,

I moved the sub to the front of the love seat, a good 6 inches away from the wall



--[LF]------[RF]--

sub
_
|
love
seat
|
-



...and holly SMOKES :eek:
Everything in the room started shaking!!! The base was overwhelming, and the funny thing is I made NO adjustments to volume, just moved the sub... I was floored!

The best part is, you really can't see the sub, NOR can you tell where the base is coming from. It spreads so well through the room that it makes you think the speakers are the ones producing this base.... yeah right!

The sub now is at 25% volume and it still sounds a little rich. I LOVE IT!

Anyway, the moral of the story is that sub placement alone can make a HUGE difference!!! It absolutely did in my case. Not sure if this is due to the shape of the room, or the kind of furniture I have in it, but this experiment resulted in a completely different sound, like it was a whole different sub. Needless to say, I'm so glad I took the time to mess around and try a few things.

PerfectCreature

I second the above.
When I first got my sub, I thought placing it by the speakers was a must. It sounded like crap and I was un impresssed.
I contemplated sending it back. I moved it oh a whim to a cornor in my room and good Lord did my pictures fall off the walls and my head felt all wish washy.
Again. Placement is 100% key. A crummy subwoofer can sound amazing if placed right and the oposite is true.
Anyway. I have the 505 as well, I love it to peices.

troy_b.

Athen sorry I let you down. I have not visited this thread in a while. Spartanstang14 you are all over it. Thanks for squaring him away. My 505 is in a back corner angled and about three feet away. It sounds like it is coming from everywhere else except that corner. Love it.

Knucklehead

I agree, placement is huge, I think Ive seen every square inch of my floor before I found "the spot".