rti100s and an LFE

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Airplay355
Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
edited May 2003 in Subwoofer Hookup & Bass Management
i own a pair of the rti100s. as you all know they have subwoofers built in. i noticed however that when i hook up a sub to my receiver(an Aiwa AV-D57) that all of the bass is routed to the subwoofer and the mains are left with nothing, i dont want this at all. i want to be able to spread the signal across all three subwoofers and only have the signal routed to the sub if it is below what the rti100s can produce. do i need a more sophisticated receiver to do this or just some wiring advice?
Post edited by Airplay355 on
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2003
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    ummmm set your fronts to large instead of small. it will direct SOME of the bass to your left and right fronts. also play around with the bass knob on the 100's to find a suitable level that you're happy with.

    most people set theirs to about 1 o'clock. but that's just a suggestion.. your particular room acoustics may need to be upped more than that.

    play with the levels on all your subs.

    good luck
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,576
    edited April 2003
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    I concur with the large suggestion also. I am not familiar with your receiver but you may be able to use your normal Bass knob to increase the level at your mains, it shouldn't affect you pre-out level. I know that it doesn't on my receiver, but yours may be different.

    As suggested by DB, play with the levels on all of them, find your sweet spot. Good luck.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,057
    edited April 2003
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    Airplay355,
    do i need a more sophisticated receiver to do this or just some wiring advice?
    Setting your main channels to large is a big start,but I do however feel you need a better higher quality reciever.
    The rti100's are a nice sounding receiver and can benefit from a better sounding receiver.It's an entire mating game we could get into.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • Shizelbs
    Shizelbs Posts: 7,433
    edited April 2003
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    I agree with everyone so far, set your setting your speakers to large should be your first step. You should notice the difference very quickly.
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited April 2003
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    If you have a separate dedicated third sub, if you set your mains to Large and your sub to Yes/On, then the mains will get a full range L/R signal, but they will not get the LFE channel. The separate subwoofer will get only the LFE channel.

    If your AVR has the capability of sending the dedicated sub "LFE + Mains", the dedicated sub will then get the LFE channel and duplicate bass from the L/R mains channel below 80 Hz (or whatever your filter point is).

    This can sometimes result in too much bass, but the RTi100's really don't generate much true bass power or extension to begin with, so I don't see the problem in at least trying it if your AVR has that capability.

    Doc
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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  • burdette
    burdette Posts: 1,194
    edited April 2003
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    Just for my own understanding here.... setting the mains to large will get them the entire *front* L/R signal, and the sub will get the LFE channel. The sub would also get any bass below the crossover from any other channel if that speaker is set to small, is that correct? AND... if the mains were set to small, the sub would be getting the LFE channel as well as the bass from all the other channels including the L/R mains. Right?

    If "sub" is on, the sub ALWAYS gets all of the LFE channel, and additionally, the sub gets all bass below the crossover frequency for all other speakers set to 'small.' Correct statement?
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited April 2003
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    Yes, all correct - you have an excellent understanding of digital bass management.

    Now you see why a dedicated sub has so much work to do in a HT application where all the speaks are set to small. If you balk at buying a sub that costs almost as much as all your surround speakers combined, maybe that will portray it in a more convincing light.

    One thing we didn't discuss - if you set the sub to no/off, then the mains get the rull range L/R, the LFE channel, and all low passed bass from any other speakers set to small. Phew - you'd better have GREAT mains in this scenario.

    Doc
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    edited April 2003
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    whata bout hooking the rti100s to the LFE output?
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2003
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    i tried hooking my rt1000i's to the LFE.. nada. no sound at all. unless I did it wrong. but i had the sub to "on" and plugged in the 1000s to the LFE out on the receiver. it did nothing. no sounds.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • scottvamp
    scottvamp Posts: 3,277
    edited April 2003
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    Originally posted by Airplay355
    whata bout hooking the rti100s to the LFE output?
    I HAD mine hooked to the lfe for about a year and it worked great.
    To me if your watching DD movies and have NO sub then it may be your best option.
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  • tcocklin
    tcocklin Posts: 6
    edited May 2003
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    OK, I want to weight in on this. I have RT1000ps (the 'mains') and the PSW 450 connected to a Denon AVR-2800. I had the mains set to Large and had a single connection (cable) from the L/R main on the AVR to each main. Oh, and the gold connector between sub and speakers on the back was attached. Last night, I disconnected the gold connector separating the sub from the speakers on the mains and ran an RCA cable from each main' subwoofer section to Pre-Out L and R on the Denon and left the speaker cable attached to the speaker section. I was thinking that the Pre-Out L and R fed LFE only to the subs and that the L/R main connection served the upper range only. The sub (psw450) is connected also to this Pre-Out area using an RCA type cable. I played a DTS DVD and I can't tell if the subs on the mains are even active? What have I done? And should I go back to the other method of connecting up the mains?
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited May 2003
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    You didn't accomplish anything different than what you had before. The L/R pre-outs send a full range signal when the mains are set to large. If the sub is set to no, then the mains also get the LFE channel.

    The L/R speaker level and the L/R pre-outs send an identical signal, frequency wise.

    Here's what I would do - set the mains to large, and the sub to yes, and send it "LFE plus mains", if the Denon can do it. Send the 1000's a full range signal via the L/R speaker level or pre-outs (whatever Polk recommends), and then use the sub out connection and power the PSW450 with that.

    Doc

    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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  • tcocklin
    tcocklin Posts: 6
    edited May 2003
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    Dr. Spec.

    First of all, thanks...and some quick questions....The sub is set to Yes so I'm using Subs&Front Speaker. So I should disconnect the L/R pre-outs and go back to speaker level? I think that's what you are recommending. I think LFE + Main is set to on as default.

    Tom

    Mains: RT1000p
    Center: CS 400i
    Side Surround: F/X 500i
    Sub: PSW 450
    Receiver: Denon AVR 2800
    DVD: Toshiba 2100 (well...I like it..)
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited May 2003
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    Doesn't the 1000 require a speaker level connection to work properly?

    Go speaker level to the 1000's and run them on large with the jumper to the powered woofer in place and just let it do its thing.

    Go sub pre-out to the 450, and run the sub on yes.

    Try LFE only or LFE/Mains to the sub, and see which one you like the most.

    Doc
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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