Vsx-1021 & psw505

Danny_69

Whats up Polk Club!

My name Danny I am new here.


I just recently bought a new sub-woofer Polk Audio PSW505.
I have the Pioneer VSX-1021 receiver and i was wondering if anyone know whats would be the best wiring and settings for my setup?

Oh and also if this makes any difference my speakers currently are the Pioneer SP-PK51FS 5.1 speaker package


Thank you all very much
Ill be seeing you guys around

nguyendot

Wire speakers directly to the receiver. Use a shielded RCA cable from the subwoofer pre-out to the subwoofer.

Danny_69

Okay great. By that you mean to the LFE on the subwoofer correct?

How about Low Pass (Hz) ranges from 60-90-160
Around what number should I set it too?

Phase? 0 or 180?

Thank you very much nguyendot

Glowrdr

Yeah, the LFE is the one you want. Leave the filtering alone (keep it at 160 on the sub), as you will want to manage the crossover settings from the receiver itself. This allows more control and better integration. Also, unless you're having issues - leave the phase at 0. You can certainly try 180, but you probably wont even notice a difference (I'm not really sure what "problems" the phase fixes, but it's generally not needed by the masses)

Danny_69

Thanks for the great info Glowrdr

This is a great forum
I've just joined and you guys have been very helpful
Thanks a lot!

Syndil

Phase can be a huge problem if it is set incorrectly. A subwoofer out of phase will cause a gaping null at the point where your mains crossover with the subwoofer.

Given your speakers, you'll probably want to set your mains to small with a low crossover of 60-80Hz on your receiver. This means all info intended for the L/R channels below 60-80Hz will be re-routed to your sub. If your sub is out of phase, when you do a low frequency sweep, you will hear a very noticeable dip in volume right around 60-80Hz. If the sub is in phase and the volume is set correctly, the sweep should be a relatively similar volume throughout the frequency range.

If you have a DVD with the THX Optimizer on it, you will find a subwoofer test on there with a low-frequency sweep you can use to test to make sure your sub is properly in phase.

Danny_69

By mains what do you mean?
All my speakers or my front L/R?
Do I set the floor standing speakers to small also?

Syndil

Mains are your front left/front right speakers. All of your speakers should be set to small.

Danny_69

Okay so just my mains or all speakers?

You guys know very much about this type of stuff
I'm new

Syndil

All your speakers should be set to small.

Let me explain what this does. When your speakers are set to small, your receiver will take the bass that is normally supposed to go to those speakers and send it to the subwoofer instead. This is because most speakers simply do not go low enough, so in order to hear all of the sound that is meant for those speakers, the bass must be handled by the subwoofer instead.

There is a crossover setting somewhere in your setup options on your receiver that will determine exactly where the cut-off point will be for sending bass to the subwoofer. For example, since your mains (front left and front right speakers) probably only go down to somewhere between 60 and 80 Hz, that is where the crossover should be set for your mains. Since your surrounds are smaller, the crossover may need to be set at a higher frequency for those, say somewhere between 80 and 120 Hz.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly where the crossover should be set for your speakers since the specs only list an unqualified "frequency response" specification. That could mean overall frequency response, or it could mean +/- 3 dB, or it could mean +/- 6dB, or it could mean +/- some other number of dB. If that is confusing to you, here is an explanation that may help: http://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/products/articles/131062.html

Glowrdr

Just to add a little to that. The THX certified setup (might not be officially called that) says to set all of your speakers to small, and the crossover at 80 like Syndil said. I'd start there, and play around. There really is no wrong answer, if you like the way it sounds.

With the speaker settings, there are basically 2 camps. Those that say to set all of your speakers to small, and let your sub do the work. The thought behind this, is these settings work pretty well across the board for 95% of the systems that are out there. Plus, bass is what eats up power. Why use all your receivers power to play the lows, when you have a powered sub? Let it do it's job, and that saves more power for the mids and highs from the receiver. (FYI, this is how I've got mine setup)

There are some others that say leave your speakers set to large. Why buy large speakers when you are just going to set them to small anyways? Might as well have bought bookshelf speakers in the first place if you aren't playing the lower frequencies. This does make sense to me, but I think the other scenerio makes more sense.

Try them both, and see what you like or prefer. Again, there is no right or wrong. We can only get you started but everything makes a difference... Receiver, speakers, and even room size or furniture can make 2 identical systems sound different.

Syndil

I recommended he set his mains to small since the listed frequency response of his specific speakers starts at 45Hz. And I suspect that's probably at least +/- 6dB if not greater, so I would assume his +/-3 dB response is closer to 60 - 80 Hz. So yeah, I was fudging a bit, but should be a good starting point.

If your mains can truly get down to 20Hz +/- 3dB, then I say by all means set them to large. But that just does not apply to most people.

tonyb

Syndil wrote: »

I
If your mains can truly get down to 20Hz +/- 3dB, then I say by all means set them to large. But that just does not apply to most people.

Most people with smallish speakers that is. The rest of us with big floorstanders only see large as an option.
Post #11 pretty much explains what you need to know. The rest is simple adjusting in the receivers menu to your tastes.

Syndil

Smallish/biggish doesn't matter. I have a pair of Infinity Overture 1s (bookshelf sized) that will reach far lower than my floorstanding Polk RT12s. It's all about usable frequency response. Very few speakers--big, small, floorstanding or not--will reach all the way down to 20 Hz +/- 3dB.

So if you want to actually hear all of the bass that is included in your L/R channels, the only way to get it is to let the subwoofer handle it. And the way to do that is to set the speakers to small so that the AVR will route the bass for those channels to the subwoofer.

If you set the speakers to large, the AVR will not reroute any of the L/R channel bass and send it all to the mains. And unless your mains truly can reach down to 20Hz, then you will be missing out on a lot of sound. Well maybe not a lot, depends on your source material. But you will be missing out on some. You will simply be discarding all L/R channel bass below the lower limit of your mains.

tonyb

Just saying is all, there are alot of big floorstanders that go 20 hz and below, of coarse specs don't take into consideration in room response, thats a given. In my world, RT12's are baby floorstanders when compared to SRT's or SDA 1.2's, even my Legacy focus 20/20's bang out so much low end, no sub needed. Preferences of coarse also applies. I sure don't feel like I'm missing anything with them set to large, then again I don't have a sub so small is kinda mute.

I would imagine if you added a seperate amp to any floorstander, you'll get the low end out of them verse trying to power all those woofers with a mid line receiver. Same principle as a subwoofer and small setting I guess. A seperate sub is probably more desireable for the .1 in surround formats which can go pretty low, then again, most don't even buy a sub that goes down to 14-18 hz.

tonyb

Also, most modern receivers will let you send low bass to both speakers and sub at the same time. It's not a one or the other option as it was years ago. Just another option is all if your receiver has it.

jbooker82

tonyb wrote: »

Also, most modern receivers will let you send low bass to both speakers and sub at the same time. It's not a one or the other option as it was years ago. Just another option is all if your receiver has it.

Yep that is the other option.

Danny_69

Thanks for all the great info!

Nerd

Hi,

I just bought a pair of Rti12's and now I have the PSW 505 too (after reading here it seems not so good a decision), I am running the mains through a GFA -555 Amp.

Should I leave the SR-806 settings for main to small or large.

Syndil

Polk lists the lower -3dB limit of the RTi12 at 30 Hz, so they reach pretty deep, but not all the way to 20 Hz. You could set them to large without sacrificing too much bass, but if you want all of it, I would recommend setting them to small and set the crossover on the SR-806 at 40 Hz (lowest setting on that unit).

Edit: Forgot to check the specs on your sub. The lower -3 dB limit of the PSW 505 is 28 Hz, a difference of only 2 Hz from your mains. So you may not gain much if anything noticeable by utilizing the sub for L/R channel bass.

Nerd

Thanks Syndil,

So that means that PSW 505 is no use to me from the quality point of view, It will just take the power from the front ones so that the 200 wpc I have in the front will drive the mid ranges if I set the crossover from the receiver to 80 Hz

Is this a good thing still, or should I just sell the PSW 505 and wait till I can afford other good subs, or keep it to fill the room (after all there will be some filling with this heavy monster)

Syndil

You could keep it strictly for the LFE channel, and it could still be useful for providing bass for your center and surrounds if you use those.

But for 2-channel music, I probably would not use it. Your GFA-555 is more than capable of driving your mains without breaking a sweat, and I'm sure the bass from them sounds just as good or better than from the sub. That would be my assumption anyway, but it's really up to you which sounds better of course.

I'd start saving up for a sub that can reach down to at least 20Hz -3dB. Doing the same here, and have my eye set on a HSU VTF-2 MK4.

Nerd

Thanks again for your suggestions.

I got the cable and tried the PSw 505, it does fill the room with more bass than the RTi12's but the bass is boomy.

Like you said, I think I will like it for a movie but not for music, the RTi12's bass is more punchy and clean with less sustain.

OK so now I have to save for an HTS or SVS