How to get the best of PSW140 ?

Victor Wu

I am upgrading from a old Sony STR-911 (Dobly Surround) to the new Onkyo 507 receiver. The Onkyo 507 has a LFE subwoofer out but the PSW140 has speaker input and L/R RCA input.

The PSW140 has freq response from 35 Hz to 1XX something.
I have a pair of Boston Acoustic A30 (tweeter, mid-range and 8"woofer) that also have a freq range from ~35 Hz to 20K range..

What is the best way (wiring-wise and/or cross over setting) to achieve:
- the best natural sound for "music or stereo" ?
- And if the setup should be different from a dolby 5.1 movie.

Or it is simply turn the receiver to the tranditional stereo mode for best music (not interest in heavy rock or rap). How can I get a little more (better bass) with the PSW140. Should I also use the PSW140 speaker input/out too? Is that a conflict with LFE to RCA input (wiht a Y-adapter)

I bought the BA A30 speaker almost 24 year ago. It is still great even I have to admit the ADS (at that time) has better bass but at 2x the price.

Vince..

AudioGenics

just saying Welcome to Club Polk

kawizx9r

Welcome to Club Polk!

Regarding on how to connect your sub, many choose to use the LFE output on their AVR and run it to your subwoofer and utilize a Y-cable to connect it to their sub's RCA line in (if their subwoofer doesn't have a dedicated LFE input). Case youre wondering the difference between RCA/Speaker level inputs on a subwoofer and an LFE input, is if you use the LFE input this bypasses your subwoofers internal crossover and leaves you to use the crossover on your AVR. There's alot of ways you can hook it up and some of it comes down to personal preference. Other users have their subwoofer connected via LFE/RCA for home theater use, but use speaker level inputs for 2 channel listening (in case you listen to music on DIRECT). If you don't want to mess around with swapping wires, just utilize one connection method and work your cut off/crossover from there.
As far as frequency response goes and where to set your cut-off point, that too is personal preference. I recommend starting your subwoofer at about half volume/gain and mess with it from there to see what blends in nicely. You don't want your subwoofer to overpower your speakers, you just want it to play and emphasize the lows your speakers cannot reproduce. One important rule of thumb is PLACEMENT!
Last but not least so I don't forget is your phase switch. Don't really want to explain how it works but flip your switch from 0 to 180 and use whatever option gives you more bass, it's because if you have it on the "wrong side" your speakers and subwoofer will "compete" with each other and cancel out each others bass frequencies. Hope that helps!