bass management

movieguy

good day all
just put together a surround system on a budget.

r30 as the mains
csi3 center
psw202 sub
r15 surrounds
yamaha home theater amp. entry level i know , but to me it rocks.
my question is this , the amp has a pretty sophisticated set up which i believe i have dialed in pretty good now. i hooked up the sub via the sub out on the amp and plugged it into only one of the sub inputs on the sub(wich is supposed to bypass the subs onboard low pass pilter) instead of hooking it up through the mains, the amp is set to sub on , the lfe on the amp is set to sub. when playing movies through the system everything works minty , when playing music however i get no sub output , if i change the lfe setting to sub and main it works fine , i am wondering if this is the best set up or if i should hook the sub up through the mains and set the amp to no sub? any advice or comments would be appreiciated. i will say for the money these are excellent speakers, teamed up with my hitatchi widescreen i never want to leave my living room!

Willow

what type of yammie do you have

movieguy

yamaha htr 5550

Willow

it's an older model ?? not old but older, with mine rxv 540 it's set to only sub not both. You can set to both but if you truly want only sub you may have to wire your speakers to your sub then to the receiver with no sub cable. But the dealer told me when ever he sets up yammies he puts them to both. I beleive the xover on yammies is set at 90 so set to both and use your sub xover ...with your sub out cable

movieguy

so just add the y adapter to the subout cable to activate the subs crossover , wouldn't that filter the bass signal twice? once through the amp and again throught the subs crossover? i got the model wrong on the amp as well it's an htr 5630 , if that makes any difference, in reading the amps manual a little closer it states that setting the lfe to both main and sub will send a dedicated lfe signal to the sub only and 2ch stereo will send the low frequency to the sub and the mains , you are correct with the amps low pass filter it is 90 but can be adjusted , should it be?it shakes the house pretty good as it is and i only have it on about a third of it's capable volume, anything more is just thumping. just trying to tweak it to it's best possible set up.

Willow

if you use the Y cable it will by pass the sub. so turn your sub xover all the way up and the receiver's xover will take over. if no y cable ( the Y cable will increase the sub vol by about 3-6 dbls) set the xover on the sub where the speakers start lose the sub will pick up. There is lots of talk about the Y cable yes and no's. I use a monster Y cable. I had a cheapo one and it didnt work as well as the monster IMHO. lemme check your receiver and Ill get back to you !!

movieguy

thanks willow , appreciate the direction and help. my last set up was a nikko nr500 with a pair of epi a90's purchased when i was 16, so this is a new dimention in sound for me! as a side note , i did not skimp on cables , monster cables all the way around, even the extremeley pricey fiber optic for the dvd.

Willow

are your speakers set to small ??? forgot to ask you that it should be !! NP glad I can help in anyway

movieguy

my mains are set to large , center to small and rear to small, set the mains to small?? really?

Willow

yes set the mains to small . try it and listen to something in stereo mode with or with out the Y cable (then use the xover ) as I mentioned earlier.

movieguy

i'll try it tonight and let you know. thanks willow.

Willow

no prob hope one of the ways works

Grimster74

Hey Movieguy, I'd like to welcome you to the Polk forum, stick around long enough and you may just learn some things.:D The reason you want to set your mains to small is when your mains can play no lower in hz. the bass will be redirected to the PSW202 and then the PSW202 will be responsible for the lower end.

movieguy

thanks for the welcome grimster ,and the explanation

Willow

sorry I told you what and how but not why.........

movieguy

no prob willow , i really do appreciate all of your help, since we set this up the kids are rewatching all there favorites , monsters inc, ice age. lion king special edition with the disney home theater mix (awesome) and i've been wathcing them with them just because they sound so damn good !!!!

Grimster74

Glad to hear things worked out. Just remember, its all about reference level.:D Hey, thats going to be my new quote.:D