sub q?

rcrook317

i hav psw125 12inch cherry sub.
not overly enthused w/ its performance,been trying to tweak it thru my hk354.
i hav it set at lfe+l/r
@lfe only it barely produces bass at all which i find odd.
hk settings are set at present w/ 12inch
anyone hav similiar set up or any info on this?

treitz3

I would suggest losing the LFE and hooking the speaker level inputs/outputs up for optimum sound. This was a recommendation offered to me by Polk that ended up working in my case years back, which sounds similar to yours now.

rcrook317

its gotta be a setting issue as i had same sub hooked up exact same way w/ my denon and it thumped the whole house now i hav to crank up the volume knob on the back to even come close.
ive only owned the hk for about a month so im still rereading the manual and tweaking different things.
il look into ur suggestion tho.thanks


edit:so are saying running rcas thru the line in input to back of hk?

rcrook317

nebody see what im missing?
sub barely thumping,somethings amiss.
anyone got links/info on finetuning sub thru hk recievers?

Knucklehead

treitz3 wrote: »

I would suggest losing the LFE and hooking the speaker level inputs/outputs up for optimum sound. This was a recommendation offered to me by Polk that ended up working in my case years back, which sounds similar to yours now.

I too think that this would be the fix.

treitz3

rcrook317 wrote: »

edit:so are saying running rcas thru the line in input to back of hk?

No sir. I'm saying that you should hook the speaker level outputs up from the AVR to the speaker level inputs on the sub. Then speaker level outputs from the sub to the mains.

rcrook317

i read the manual,see what ur saying,but i dont like the idea of running my mains to anything but the amp/reciever.
seems like weird(backwards)way of setting up system.
i know this sub is capable of doing better,gonna continue to mess w reciever settings

treitz3

The sub will do nothing at all to the mains but filter out and take over what it removes this way. That allows the sub to do its job properly [if crossed over correctly] and also allows the mains to have less work to produce what it should. I know you may not like the idea but it will work.

wutadumsn23

Check the settings on your front channels as well, you may have them setup incorrectly (IE crossover settings, speaker size) you may be stealing all the glory from your sub by having them set up wrong. Check the settings on your sub as well, may have it too high. Just my $.02.

-Jeff

domflane

Do you have a y splitter hooked up to your lfe to go into both inputs in the sub? If so, remove it and use one wire from the sub preout to the lfe in, theres no reason to split the signal. Then check the speaker levels on the audio adjustment menu on your AVR 354. It sounds like your sub is turned down for whatever reason. You may have used the auto calibration and it turned your sub level down. With my 354, I found that it's much better to set the speaker levels and crossover settings myself. I have my PSW650 hooked up this way and it shakes the house.

wutadumsn23

domflane wrote: »

With my 354, I found that it's much better to set the speaker levels and crossover settings myself.

+1, the auto setups are nice, but in no way are an end all to speaker setup. I ran mine and then fine tuned from there.

-Jeff

rcrook317

thanks for the advice,i did do manual setup....but i wanna try again while playing different music to try and tweak it.
to be honest when i had my denon,it was second hand w/ no mic or manual,i just plugged it in and it shook the whole house so its gotta be the new reciever.i know psw125 is not polks top end but its no slouch either.il figure it out.

tommyboy

rcrook317 wrote: »

i hav psw125 12inch cherry sub.
not overly enthused w/ its performance,been trying to tweak it thru my hk354.
i hav it set at lfe+l/r
@lfe only it barely produces bass at all which i find odd.
hk settings are set at present w/ 12inch
anyone hav similiar set up or any info on this?

I have H/K set up using lfe and have no problems when it comes to bass from the sub. You can run it as others said, but it was just too many wires for me to deal with. It just sounds like a few notches need to be turned and you'll be set

Good luck

Erik Tracy

treitz3 wrote: »

The sub will do nothing at all to the mains but filter out and take over what it removes this way. That allows the sub to do its job properly [if crossed over correctly] and also allows the mains to have less work to produce what it should. I know you may not like the idea but it will work.

I don't quite understand this, so please excuse any misunderstanding on my part.

But if you hook mains up via the speaker levels from the sub, won't the mains still get the full low to high spread of frequencies?

I guess I don't follow where you say that the sub will do nothing to the mains, but later you said the mains will have less work to do.

Speaker level connections from the avr to the sub and then to the mains will only result in the subs xover acting as a low pass to what the sub is asked to reproduce. Speaker level connections to the sub will not result in the sub or its xover acting as any type of high pass to what is presented to the mains.

At least that is what Polk CS told me when I first set up my PSW303 way back when I had it hooked up via Speaker level connections.

Or...are we saying the same thing???

tommyboy

Erik Tracy wrote: »

I
But if you hook mains up via the speaker levels from the sub, won't the mains still get the full low to high spread of frequencies?

I guess I don't follow where you say that the sub will do nothing to the mains, but later you said the mains will have less work to do.

I think he just meant that using the sub would put less strain on the speakers (and AVR). When setting up using LFE you use (at least what I have learned) the reciever crossover and set the sub crossover at full range. But when you just run speaker wire to the sub, you have to use the subs crossover. Either way the lower frequency will be sent to the sub.

wutadumsn23

rcrook317 wrote: »

i know psw125 is not polks top end but its no slouch either.il figure it out.

You are right there, I have had my PSW125 for a little over a year now, and that sub can't hit pretty darn hard. I have had to turn it down on many occasions.

-Jeff

Erik Tracy

tommyboy wrote: »

I think he just meant that using the sub would put less strain on the speakers (and AVR). When setting up using LFE you use (at least what I have learned) the reciever crossover and set the sub crossover at full range. But when you just run speaker wire to the sub, you have to use the subs crossover. Either way the lower frequency will be sent to the sub.

If you use your AVR for bass management and have your sub connected up via LFE, then the AVR performs a low pass of the bass frequencies to be sent to the sub with the upper cut off frequency as automatically or manually set at the AVR.

If you also set your mains to "small" then the AVR is also performing a high pass of the remaining frequencies being sent to your mains but cutting out the lower bass being sent via LFE to the sub.

In this scenario I would agree that the sub is now 'doing the work' for the scary dangerous loud LFE and bass and the mains (and the avr amp) is not 'stressed' because of the high pass limiting with speakers set to 'small'.

But if you are using Speaker level connections from the AVR at the front main outputs then you must have the AVR set for mains/fronts=Large so that all of the frequencies are sent to the sub, including the bass you want the sub to reproduce.

The front mains will also still see all of the same frequencies from low to high so there is no reduction in 'stress' on the avr. If you crank the volume on the avr, the speaker level outs for your mains will go to both the sub and your mains because they are set (must be) to Large.

===============================

Side note: personally - I think the whole notion of scary dangerous LFE and stress is an overblown topic. It is only scary, dangerous, and stressful on the avr and speakers if you turn up the volume to 'stupid loud' - at normal listening levels your bookshelves or towers will not implode or explode from bass/LFE effects, your avr will not burst into flames from the stress, and the HT gods will not descend upon you in wrath.

Do what sounds best to you for your rig and your preferences.

The world spun quite normally and peacefully in the ancient days of old 2-channel prior to subs and avr bass management and people rejoiced in the wonderful bass they heard.

[tongue in cheek - in case you can't tell]

tommyboy

Erik Tracy wrote: »

If you use your AVR for bass management and have your sub connected up via LFE, then the AVR performs a low pass of the bass frequencies to be sent to the sub with the upper cut off frequency as automatically or manually set at the AVR.

If you also set your mains to "small" then the AVR is also performing a high pass of the remaining frequencies being sent to your mains but cutting out the lower bass being sent via LFE to the sub.

In this scenario I would agree that the sub is now 'doing the work' for the scary dangerous loud LFE and bass and the mains (and the avr amp) is not 'stressed' because of the high pass limiting with speakers set to 'small'.

But if you are using Speaker level connections from the AVR at the front main outputs then you must have the AVR set for mains/fronts=Large so that all of the frequencies are sent to the sub, including the bass you want the sub to reproduce.

The front mains will also still see all of the same frequencies from low to high so there is no reduction in 'stress' on the avr. If you crank the volume on the avr, the speaker level outs for your mains will go to both the sub and your mains because they are set (must be) to Large.

Sorry, when I made that first statement I just meant by simply hooking up the sub (and proper setup) will allow the subs amp to take the brunt of the lower frequencies.

Now from what I thought though, if you mainly watch 5.1 (or above), you only want the lfe setup since its supposed to be a dedicated channel to the sub. But since crossover is being used I guess it wouldn't matter.