Proper setup for Movie/Music listening

cascius · September 2011

Hi guys,

Saturday I will be setting up my new home theater and need some inputs on which settings to use on my amp and how to wire the sub woofer.

First off, the gear:
Monitors: 2x70s, 2x40s, CS20
Sub: PSW 505
Receiver: Pioneer 1121k

Surround settings:
Obviously, I will want to have surround sound enabled for movies (Auto Surround mode I believe). My problem is more regarding music: I've read that it's better to use stereo (2x M70s) than surround mode. Is this true? If so will I have to change surround settings anytime I want to listen to music or is there a way to do it automatically?

Sub hook up:
I guess I have to use the LFE connection, which is fine by me, but I read somewhere that no signal will be sent when listening to CDs or MP3s. Therefore someone mentioned you should also hook up the the sub woofer to the front speakers connectors. Is this right? Do I need to have both connections? Should I use the actual speaker connectors or the preamp outputs?

Obviously I need to do my homework: read the manuals and test for myself, but I wanted to see if some of you could give me some pointers. At the end of the day, what matters to me the most is to make this system easy enough to use for my girlfriend and kick **** for myself...

Thanks in advance,

- Olivier

Almadacr · September 2011

OK , normally when listening a CD , a 2 stereo signal is send it to your Pioneer and it will recognize this ( it will show STEREO ) the subs can be bypassed ( I did this ) and work with the 2 fronts , but you have the 70's so i would leave the sub out since they will deliver enough bass for music listening , The same applies for listening MP3 files or with your IPOD/IPHONE .

jbooker82 · September 2011

Use the single RCA cable from the sub out on the pioneer to the LFE in on the sub. I would also use a sub when listening to music.

The lower -3db point of your Monitor 70's is 40hz. There is alot more tones and notes below that point that you will be missing by not running a sub. Your sub has a -3db point of 28hz. So by running a sub your now hearing sound from 40hz to 28hz.

There are several ways you can configure your system. You can run the front towers at full band and turn the double bass option on. This will allow the sub to play at the same time as the towers.

The other option is to set the towers at what ever xo point you think sounds best. Probably in the 60hz area. Then the sub will only play the notes and tones below the cross over point.

You want the sub set to 120hz. This is because when listening to a 5.1 sound track the .1 is LFE (low Frequency Effects). LFE is a seperate track from the rest of the sound. It is specifically mixed for subwoofers and contains sounds from 120hz on down. So if you set it at 80hz then you will not hear the LFE sound track from 80hz and up. It will not reroute the sound to the towers. The LFE setting is not a cross over. It is a low pass filter so it only blocks sound not rerouting it.

Proper setup for Movie/Music listening

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