where to begin :)

candyman

Let me first tell you my setup. I have a kenwood vr 507. I have two sets of 15 inch mtx speakers (home speakers not ones for a car). My front pair is capable of 40 hz. Unsure of what the older pair is capable of. I only use the rear pair for music anyways. I have it setup as 5.1 . I have a kenwood sub @ 100 watts. It came in the HTb-504 system. it is only an 8 inch with a capability of 40-200 hz. I recently upgraded the sub to a sony sa-w500 sub (12 inch 150 watt). This one is capable of or so they say down to 20 hz. My first question is should I use both subs one stacked on the other for better sounding bass? What does running a sub hot or cold compared to the other speakers mean?

From reading in many other threads I understand that I should set the front speakers to small and the crossover on the sub to max. However, in the manual for the kenwood sub it states I should turn the sub crossover to the on position if used with the kenwood vr-504 receiver. This leads me to believe that the sub pre-out is not crossover filtered in the receiver. It then states to adjust the crossover to 120 if front small speakers are used and to set it at 80 if medium speakers are used and at 60 if large front speakers are being used. Is this only if I am playing music or does it apply to the LFE in a 5.1 dolby digital movie? Do crossover frequencies even come into play in a 5.1 movie? My setup from the dvd to the stereo is with 5 different rca's (one for each channel). I see no difference in the "on" or "off" position on the sub crossover switch while the LFE channel is enabled. Should I use the crossover on the sub or not?



Another annoying thing about this receiver is the bass output. If I play this receiver 1/4 the way up I can have the bass set at any setting 0 thru +10. However, If I play this receiver at 1/2 volume It will no longer give out good bass at @ +10. If I turn the bass down to +6 I get full bass but at +7 I lose alot of my bass. It seems that the higher the volume the lower the bass can be set to get full bass. Is this some sort of protection feature? Can this protection feature be turned off? The reason why I ask is that it can be annoying to always have to be turning the bass up or down depending on the volume of the receiver.

Ive heard alot of talk about how to tune a sub but it makes little sense to me. Can someone point me to a site that gives directions on how to tune a sub properly? Is there any free programs availible that gives test tones to setup a sub? I have a EQ if I need to adjust the different frequency levels but the EQ only goes down to 40hz.

Any help would be appreciated. I've search around but my kenwood vr 507 is old enough that not alot is said about it. I read a few articles but they are a few years old and probably outdated.

PolkThug

For now, experiment a little and see what sounds best for you. For later, save your cash for a gear upgrade.

Regards

candyman

Thanks for the help...

doggie750

I second the motion...
You could also research the forum for further evaluation and test analysis that the forum had compiled. I know sometimes I like to be spoonfed too.

GoodLUCK

candyman

Thanks for the advice, I've spent a while looking at the threads on this board and many hours on others. I guess I should just go somewhere else and ask for things like...

What does running a sub hot or cold compared to the other speakers mean?

Can someone point me to a site that gives directions on how to tune a sub properly?

Do crossover frequencies come into play in a 5.1 movie?

I've looked around and these are a few things I did not find answers to. I did find one thread on here that had some valuble information relating to my receiver. If I overlooked something in these threads forgive me for bothering you guys. It's nice to see people in the HT community help out others who are new and simply have some questions they did not find answers to. It has little to do with spoon feeding anyone.

cmy330go

At the top of this page you will see an "education" link. There you will find many good articles. From basic speaker hookup and positioning to fine tuning a system.

Also....the most likely reason you are losing bass when you turn up the volume is that the receiver is running out of power. Lower frequencies draw more current than higher frequencies. If you are running those big MTX speakers set to "Large" the receiver is given the very difficult job of trying to push those big 15" woofers. However if you set them to "small" you take the load off of the receiver's internal amp, and then just sends a low powered signal to your self powered sub.

Hope that makes sense.

+1 on PolkThug's comment. Try to get that sounding as best you can and then start saving for some gear better oriented toward home theater, and better matched to one another.

Welcome to the forum!
Dave

doggie750

With respect........I hope I didn't offend you what I have replied before.

Unique conditions are a big factor on how you tweak your HTsystem.. which includes proper placement of your speakers and SUB cal.

NOTE: Start to BASIC set up:
All speakers are set to small......
Sub behind your Main
Turn off EQualizer
LFE to max setting
DRange to OFF
SUB....controls are all in MID........(tune it up while listening
with KNOWN bass
tunes...applies to stereo
mode or 5.1 mode)
CEnter Spk.....slight degree up, <10deg or less, position
closer than fronts
Test tone it by ear, or meter

WARM up everything before you do anything......HOT mode
Advised not to turn off your AMPs

I think that's all there is to it..............any suggestion
POLKsbro

Hope that helps..........oh yeah you can care less what the manual says.....COZ your EARs does it for YOU. TRUST it

candyman

One thing I did not see was the education link. I looked thru most of the threads but did not look up top. Thank you for pointing it out. I have alot of articles to read now

I'll let you guys know how it comes out. Again, thanks guys!!