PSW250 Volume

blansd

I recently purchased RT600i's and a PSW250. The 600's are putting out a great deal of bass, but the sub doesn't seem to be doing it's share. I have the volume on the sub set at about 1 o'clock. Do I need to be worried about turning the sub up to high levels of volume if I'm not running at high volume on the 600's?

RuSsMaN

Set the sub xover, gain, and phase to where it suits your ears best. Make sure to test whatever your reference levels are, or your highest output to assure it is not 'bottoming out'. Don't be afraid to adjust it, thats why them' knobs are back there.

Thats really all there is to it. Don't expect too much from an 8 inch sub, but with proper placement (try corner loading if possible) and taking your time to get it dialed in, it should give a real solid kick-drum, and might even shake a few things during a depth charge in U571....

Also, if your rec/dvd player has any sort of bass management, you may want to look into it.

Cheers,
Russ

blansd

I guess it's not so much a matter of getting more out of the sub as it is getting the bass to balance between the sub and the mains. Right now, it always sounds like all the bass is coming directly from the mains. If I adjust the amp to cut bass from the mains, it also cuts it from the sub. If I leave the bass setting where it is, it sounds too overpowering and unidirectional.

I've got the xover set to the max so that the sub gets all that it can. And placement is dictated by the room layout, and so it can't get to a corner, but it is next to a wall.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Welcome to the Forum. Getting the bass to seem blended with the two main speakers is not an easy job, so don't feel too bad. Many speaker designers believe it may be one of the more difficult aspects of good audio. A few things I can point out:
1). finding that the bass seems to be coming from the main speakers is not a bad thing, in fact its probably desirable. A well integrated sub-woofer should be "seen and not heard" with the rest of your system. If you think about real sound, whether it's music or movie sound effects, there isn't really a sub-woofer making all the low sounds. It's just the total sound, piano, drum set or explosion; the complete sound originates from the single source. If your sub-woofer is sounding like an isolated source there's something incorrect, it should sound as though the bass is all coming from the main speakers.
2). there's one "school of thought" that recommends adjusting the bass level of a sub-woofer so you can just barely hear it as a separate source. Then, at that point, reduce the bass level a small amount. In other words, if you can just hear the sound coming from the sub-woofer it's probably one or two dB elevated over the sounds produced by the front speakers. By finding this point and reducing it slightly you will, quite effectively, match the bass levels.
3). trust your system, by that realize there isn't going to be bass sounds all of the time. Sometimes owners believe they should always "know" they have a sub-woofer. They become concerned if there isn't something telling them they have one. When good well recorded bass happens, during music listening or movie watching, let yourself be pleasantly surprised. Realize good bass response is part of a complete spectrum, it's there when the recording has it, not a constant background sound.
I hope this is helpful information.
Regards, Ken Swauger

lbrenner

Another thought... you mentioned that you turned your sub's crossover all the way up so that you could get the most from it. This could be part of your problem. You want the sub to kick in where your mains start to fade, NOT to join in an have both the mains and the sub playing a range of frequencies in common. This will over-emphasize that range of frequencies, and, given the nice mains you have, probably lead to an overly "boomy" sound. See if you like it better with the sub's crossover turned down some.