I am Worried... Posiable to blow sub in RTI 100?

blkmax98c

Hey guys:

i need to tap into your vast knowledge of audio. i am just a newbie compared to you guys, and i need some help. i bought the polk rti-100's a few months back, and i really enjoy them. but my only gripe with them is that i am a bass man, and i was not getting all the bass i wanted. so my brother gave me sub in trade for my old speakers. so i hooked it up, and bought a very nice sub-cable ($70) and i now more happy with the setup. i have more of the bass i want, but now i have a problem.

now that i have all this bass comming from my seperate sub, i can not hear the bass comming from my polk speakers, and i am worried i may blow them if i put them too loud. when i didn't have my extra sub, i could hear when i was putting too much to the speakers, and i could adjust accordingly. so what should i do? so i just turn off the subs build into my speakers altogether? help!

Tour2ma

I am not sure whether I qualify under the vast knowledge criteria, but WTH...

A few questions first:
What's the power rating of your amp/ receiver?
What sub?
Did you wire your mains through the sub?
If yes, what is the sub's filter point setting?

RuSsMaN

He bought a 'very nice $70 sub cable'.

I think a speaker level connection through the stand alone sub can be ruled out.

Jumpers on the 100's in place? Set to large? Possible phasing issues with the 'new' sub?

Cheers,
Russ

Tour2ma

Good point Russ... missed the cable comment. That should rule out the speaker level question.

The "what sub" question is still valid.

blkmax98c

Wow, surprized i got this many reply's... but i will do my best to answer your questions.

The sub i have is is pretty crappy in general... i wish i had the money to buy a nice velodyne, but untill my job kicks in, i am stuck with what i have. it is a KLH 10' sub. it actully handles low volumes very well, and it sounds decent, but once an explosion hits, or a low bass note, i find myself either lowering the volume, or jumping to the gain. it has a freq. of 40-180hz. but i am not really to sure where to set it, but i usally leave it at 120hz.

By jumpers i assume you mean the gold connectors on the back of the speaker. but if that is the case, then yes they are hooked up.

set to large? by this if you mean through my receiver, they are set at "normal" instead of "large".

i have no idea about the word phasing in referance to speakers.

The power rating of my receiver is 100w x 5. it is approx. 4 years old. your going to laugh, but it is a kenwood Vr-307. i know, i know, it is crap. my plan was to upgrade to the onkyo 701 soon, but once again i have to wait untill my job kicks in. then i could get the true sound i want... as of right now it seems like i do not even have rear spearkers.

thanks for all the help. it is appreciated.

Chris

Tour2ma

bm98,

Don't belittle your stuff... that's our job... Seriously, we all started somewhere and many with a lot less than what you are running.

OK with the blanks filled here it goes.

Your "normal" setting is essentially the "large" as Russ mentioned, so your 100's are getting the full range signal and the subs are playing.

Since you hear bass, but just are not able to identify your 100's sub's as source, then cancellation due to phasing should not be in play. You sub is simply overpowering your 100's. It may be running a bit "hot" or may just be a better/ stronger source. The 100's amps are only 40 Watt.

You can get a calibration disc (Avia or S&V) and a RS analog SPL meter and calibrate your system. Both tools are a good investment at about $20 and $35 respectively.

Back to your original question, can the 100's subs be hurt? I'd say yes, if you're not careful. Since you've heard them distressed in the past, and now you can't hear them... only logical conclusion.

Suggestions to safeguard your 100's subs (in no particular order):
Unplug the 100's and see if the sound is acceptable.
Or
Set the receiver's speaker settings to "small" and the sub's setting to maximum. If your receiver's crossover point is adjustable, play with the setting in the 60 to 100 Hz range. The higher you set this point the less for your 100's subs to do since they work in the 40 to 90 range.

F1nut

I'll take a stab at this one.

If you turn it up loud enough you will hear distortion/clipping from the tweeters and that should tell you to turn it down. As a matter of fact, if you turn it up past 12 noon, it's going to distort.

blkmax98c

My reciever does not a dail like that, it wil just spin and spin, and you just look at the lcd to see what volume you are at.

danger boy

with the RTi100's i would turn up the sub volume on the rear of the speaker to about half way or more. does this help any? the 100's put out some pretty decent bass, i know.

Are they set to large or small on your receiver? if set to small.. that will direct the bass to your seperate subwoofer. if set to large the rt100's and the subwoofer will share the bass. The RT100's are good enough speakers to be set to large.

try this. turn off your sub. then run your rt1oo's on large, then small.. still with the KLH subwoofer turned off.. do you notice any difference in the subwoofer volume you get from your RT100's?

blkmax98c

Ok, Well i conducted many series of tests. i took me alittle over a half hour, but here are my results:

---

IN SETERO MODE:

FRT SIZE: normal
CENTER: noraml (does not matter in setero)
REAR: normal (does not matter in setero)

RESULT: Subwoofer (KLH) is working and sounds good, better deeper bass.

FRT SIZE: Large
CENTER: normal
REAR: normal

RESULT: Subwoofer (KLH) is not working, overall bass is lacking when more then 5 feet away from front speakers. when within 5 feet bass sounds good, but i do not sit that close.

---

PROLOGIC MODE (5.1)

FRT SIZE: Large
CENTER: large
REAR: large

RESULT: front speakers barely on, no bass, hardly hear voices. all sound is comming out of the center ch. sub (klh) is not working.


FRT SIZE: normal
CENTER: could not select
REAR: could not select

RESULT: fronts barely on again, sub (klh) is on, and sounds good, but way overpowering. all sound comming from center.


well i hope all this helps. i am just very dissapointed because i never had a problem like this before with my old speakers. now with the new ones, i do not even like watching movies in 5.1 because everything sounds so much clearer and just overall better in stereo. but i miss the surround sound. maybe it is my reciever???

Chris

VR3

On the sub setup, does it have Sub : On, OFF, Plus? In large, it must be on plus, not on.

RuSsMaN

All speakers set to 0db to start?

blkmax98c

I only have two options for my sun, and that is yes/no. (it asks me if i have a sub. and then i have a sub volume that goes from
-10 through +10. all my speakers are set to +10 except the center chanel. the reason for doing this is because it makes my receiver sound louder, and i do not have to crank it up all the way to get loud music.

faster100

forget the volume number, makes no difference when calibrated correctly.. set them to 0 as Russ stated to start off, the volume will have to be higher to get the same volume but that makes no difference when all speakers are at the same level.. when i started out, i to set everything full/+12 now i have center 0 / L1
R1 and so on, and it sounds great!!

Tour2ma

While I agree with the reset to zero (as said, you are really not cheating more power out of your receiver), with all at +10 the center channel is clearly way out of balance based on bm98's report.

bm98,
I'd say your Polk are simply less sensitive than your old mains and your BIC center. Your old mains' sensitivity was probably similar to the BIC center.

With all still at +10, start easing off the center channel's boost until it blends better with your mains. You may want to increase the master volume gradually as you back off the center's setting, just to bring all to a moderate volume level.

The above is best done with a calibration disc and SPL meter, but you can approximate "by ear".

I'd do all the above with your sub off, and then blend it back in by ear as well.