PSW505 hookup

supere_fresh

I just got PSW505, I am going to connect it to Onkyo 603 receiver. I have few questions:

1. Subwoofer has two connections, filtered (two rca) and unfiltered (one rca). Onkyo 603 has single RCA subwoofer pre-out. Do I connect subwoofer to filtered ports using RCA Y splitter or just connect to unfiltered port?

2. There are bunch of controls on the sub (cross over, low pass, etc.), I have to idea how they should be set and even what they do... any insight would be appreciated.

TheMARPATNinja7

I have this sub too and I love it, you will too, I guarantee it. Basically with your Onkyo reciever you have an LFE output, so all you have to do is run a single coax cable from the sub preout on the Onkyo to the LFE (unfiltered) connection of your sub. That solves that.

When using a LFE connection, you defeat the low pass filter and crossover on your Polk so don't worry about that. Although, in doing that you make all your tweaks from your Onkyo. Make sure you adjust any setting pertaining to the sub through your AVR (ie, crossovers, setting the subwoofer setting to on or plus, whatever you prefer.) Also that sub has a switch that says "Phase" set it to 0 degrees unless the bass from your sub is not matching the mid-bass from your speakers. In that case set it to 180 degrees.

Also, I manually turn mine on and off and usually do not use the Auto mode. I suggest doing the same because during a non bassy portion of a movie or song your sub could turn off automatically because it does not sense a signal.

Any other questions hit me up, I have this same sub and know the ins and outs.

supere_fresh

TheMARPATNinja7 -- thanks for the info. I greatly appreciate it. Let me ask you some more questions if you don't mind. I also bought CSi5 center, and FXi3 surrounds.

1. Do you think it makes sense to buy another set of FXi3 for 7.1 setup? As far as I know, there aren't any movies that output 7.1... I mostly watch DishNetwork.

2. My surrounds are installed on the back wall, should they be on bipole or dipole? (my room is about 27ft x 17ft)

3. I also bought RTi12, reading some threads, people say that Onkyo 603 isn't capable of running RTi12 effectively... I currently have them hooked up and they sound awesome !! People here scared me... they recommend getting an external amp. 603 doesn't have pre-outs that means I'd have to upgrade receiver as well. So I ended up ordering RTi8.. Does it make sense to keep Rti8 or Rti12?

any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated !

TheMARPATNinja7

1. Well if you mainly watch TV on your system, I wouldn't reccomend a 7.1 setup, some TrueHD/Blu-ray movies have 7.1 but it's a very small percent. Also, I just don't think it's worth your while to drop more cash on anonther set of speakers you may or may not need. Always remember though, it's your money and you can do whatever you please with it.

2. For a 5.1 setup that works fine. If you went 7.1, you'd have to re-position.

3.KEEP THE Rti12's, those are high quality speakers. You are going to notice a difference in sound quality from the 12's to the 8's. Instead of buying a new AVR and an amp I reccomend this. I'm a Denon AVR enthusiast, I love their products and could not be happier with the quality that they are capable of....so I suggest this

Like most AVR's nowadays Denon gives you the ability to "Bi-Amp" your speakers. This means that with a 7.1 AVR you can have the ability to send the wattage that would usually go to your surround back channels in a 7.1, instead to your front two (R,L) speakers. Attached is the AVR I think you should take a look at. It gives 100w per channel so that means after biamping, your Rti12's would each be getting 200w which as far as I know is enough power to drive them. Denon is known for having clean power and high quality sound, not to mention many extra features and HDMI decoding. This is your best solution in my opinion because it sounds like you do not want to stray away from the simplicity of just having an AVR instead of having an AVR and an amp. I tried to make this explanation simple, If I made anything too simple I am terribly sorry for insulting your knowledge. Good Luck and let me know what you think.

Also, I don't know everything so if someone else has any other ideas, please chime on in.

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR2309CI-AVR-2309CI/dp/B001BKR920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1234502009&sr=1-1

wutadumsn23

TheMARPATNinja7 wrote: »

Like most AVR's nowadays Denon gives you the ability to "Bi-Amp" your speakers. This means that with a 7.1 AVR you can have the ability to send the wattage that would usually go to your surround back channels in a 7.1, instead to your front two (R,L) speakers. Attached is the AVR I think you should take a look at. It gives 100w per channel so that means after biamping, your Rti12's would each be getting 200w which as far as I know is enough power to drive them.]

While this is true that you can indeed Bi-Amp or Bi-Wire (which is a very common option among 7.1 receivers) IMHO it isn't worth the cost of the extra speaker wire. Some people have said they have noticed a difference, I can't imagine it would be that noticable. Also the theory behind doubling the amount of power going to your speakers by simply adding another set of wires and using another set of posts from the back of your receiver is also not true. Your receiver only puts out so much power and it all comes from the same place, while it would make sense that you would be doubling the amount of power by doing this, it just simply isn't the case. Your speakers will not be receiving 200W per channel by simply Bi-Wiring/Bi-Amping. The best way to add more power to your speakers is with an external amp hooked up to pre-outs on your AVR.

There are some Blu-Rays currently formatted in 7.1 (Saw V, and My best friends girl are two I know are for sure) with more on the way in the near future I'm sure. I agree with Ninja that if a 5.1 works in your room, and you don't have sufficent room for a proper 7.1 setup, cramming 2 extra speakers in the room isn't going to do you any good. Use that money to upgrade your receiver to something that puts out a little more per channel and has pre-outs. I have a 7.1 receiver, but only run a 5.1 due to room size restraints and it sounds great.

While I agree it would be beneficial to give the 12's more power, their operating range is 50-500W, and the 603 puts out 90W per channel (even if exaggerated it still puts out atleast 50W per channel) and while it is in the low range of the speakers abilities if it ain't broke don't fix it right? I would suggest maybe an upgrade of AVR's to something that puts out a little more power and has pre-outs, but if it isn't in your budget then roll with what you have. I always suggest buying the receiver first in any setup that you are upgrading and thinking about using your old receiver, and building the speakers around it, so you can get the speakers you want and not have to worry about the receivers limitations. The RTi 8's would be a better match for your current receiver since their operating range is closer to what your receiver is putting out (20-250W for the 8's) But a simple receiver upgrade would solve all your problems, lol. Just my $.02

TheMARPATNinja7

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

While this is true that you can indeed Bi-Amp or Bi-Wire (which is a very common option among 7.1 receivers) IMHO it isn't worth the cost of the extra speaker wire. Some people have said they have noticed a difference, I can't imagine it would be that noticable. Also the theory behind doubling the amount of power going to your speakers by simply adding another set of wires and using another set of posts from the back of your receiver is also not true. Your receiver only puts out so much power and it all comes from the same place, while it would make sense that you would be doubling the amount of power by doing this, it just simply isn't the case. Your speakers will not be receiving 200W per channel by simply Bi-Wiring/Bi-Amping. The best way to add more power to your speakers is with an external amp hooked up to pre-outs on your AVR.

Cheers, wutadumsn23 and thanks for the contibution to this one, like most things in audio it all depends on your set-up and product selection. Bi-amping is no different. I've heard it make no difference on some set-ups and on others make it sound like a brand new system. In this case, I'm trying to keep this set-up as simple as posible for him. Also, I'm trying to give some more power to those Rti 12's because to really take advantage of those you gotta feed them more than 90w. On the contrary, I believe it's worth the speaker wire to give it a shot.

Rike255

Sorry to highjack this topic TC, but I have the exact same question about filtered and unfiltered inputs.

The rep(:rolleyes:) I talked to said that if I plug into the Filtered inputs (the 2 RCA jacks) using a Y-adapter and coming from the LFE of the receiver, I will get better "use of my sub"...whatever that means.
Is there any truth to that at all or will plugging directly into the unfiltered jack make no difference?

If it doesn't make a difference, what is the purpose of the filtered inputs?

TheMARPATNinja7

"Technically" you'll get better use of the sub because your adjusting the low pass filter on the sub and not the AVR. Are you going to get better bass or sound quality?....Nope. It's all about personal preference, If you don't feel like having to use a Y in between your AVR and sub (like me) just use a single coax cable and run it from the preout to the unfiltered (and make any tweaks on the AVR's speaker settings). If you like making all adjustments on the sub itself, go ahead and buy the Y and use the RCA. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make any difference in sound quality which is most important.

cnh

I'd hold on to the RTi12s as well, in all probability you're not getting all the bass you could from those with the Onkyo. But you could set the 12's and all the speakers to Small thus relieving the Onkyo of having to deal with the 12s lows and give the mids and highs more power and let that PSW505 handle more of the lows...which it can.

I know these are tough times and the 603 has got decent power. Could you use more....sure. But that can wait till you have the funds.

A quick comment on Denons. I own Onkyos and Denons. They do sound a bit different. The Onkyo is slightly 'warmer' the Denon has a bit more detail on the high end. Outside of that they're not incredibly different. Both are high quality, high current receivers. Denons do run 'cooler' than the Onkyos. I like both!

cnh

Rike255

TheMARPATNinja7 wrote: »

"Technically" you'll get better use of the sub because your adjusting the low pass filter on the sub and not the AVR. Are you going to get better bass or sound quality?....Nope. It's all about personal preference, If you don't feel like having to use a Y in between your AVR and sub (like me) just use a single coax cable and run it from the preout to the unfiltered (and make any tweaks on the AVR's speaker settings). If you like making all adjustments on the sub itself, go ahead and buy the Y and use the RCA. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make any difference in sound quality which is most important.

Oh so if I use the filtered inputs I need to adjust the LPF on the sub and not on the receiver?
I did the opposite, I have my RCA cable going into a Y adapter then into the filtered inputs, but I set the LPF on the receiver. Is that going to have the same result?
I guess I might as well remove the Y-adapter. Stupid rep, I knew he was BSing!

TheMARPATNinja7

Rike255 wrote: »

Oh so if I use the filtered inputs I need to adjust the LPF on the sub and not on the receiver?
I did the opposite, I have my RCA cable going into a Y adapter then into the filtered inputs, but I set the LPF on the receiver. Is that going to have the same result?
I guess I might as well remove the Y-adapter. Stupid rep, I knew he was BSing!

To the first question yes. And hold up, if your are using an LFE (unfiltered) connect, you should only have one coax cable coming from your sub preout on the AVR to the unfiltered input on the sub. There shouldn't be a need for a Y in that case. The only reason you would need a Y is if youre using the filtered connects. What kind of sub do you have?

Rike255

I have the PSW505. I'm using the sub pre-out on my receiver and connecting to a Y-adapter which connects to the filtered inputs of my sub.
This is what I was told by a rep at the store I bought my sub from (although I know not to believe what they say, which is why I asked here )

So should I disconnect my Y-adapter and just plug straight into the unfiltered input of my sub then? (Or does it even make a difference which connections I use in this case?)

TheMARPATNinja7

Rike255 wrote: »

So should I disconnect my Y-adapter and just plug straight into the unfiltered input of my sub then?

Yes you should

robertgarven

I posted here as this thread has the most responses. I had a JBL E250P malfunction so bought the Polk PSW 505 based on reviews for this range. I am an old rocker so I have a Yamaha RX-797 (I bought mainly for the bass , treble and loudness controls.) The manual does not say if the sub out is full range but assume it is as it is not a digital receiver. I was always taught to hook these up to the left RCA input but the manual with the 505 says you need left and right connections. I can't see how using a "Y" adapter would do any good as it would send the same signal twice. I assume that I should just hook up the sub out to the left non LFE input??

Thanks of any input

Rob

Thanks

tpb68polk

hi robertgarven, does your receiver have any sub control. If it does use the LFE input and control the sub through the receiver. If the receiver does not have sub control then try what your doing. You may try adding the Y-adapter just for fun to see if you can hear any difference. I think the sub cross-over works with the LFE input as well as the RCA inputs

tpb68polk

hi robertgarven, does your receiver have any sub control. If it does use the LFE input and control the sub through the receiver. If the receiver does not have sub control then try what your doing. You may try adding the Y-adapter just for fun to see if you can hear any difference. I think the sub cross-over works with the LFE input as well as the RCA inputs