New receiver and subwoofer sometimes not receiving signal

[PCFan]

Yesterday I returned a receiver because of an intermittent audio drop-out problem when I had my center speaker installed. I exchanged it for an Onkyo TX-SR507 receiver. I'm having a problem with my subwoofer not getting a signal during a DVD I was watching, Night Court: Season 2. I noticed the problem when there was a lack of bass in the opening and closing credits of Night Court with this receiver and turning subwoofer off through the receiver it still sound the same. The receiver I returned did send a signal to my subwoofer during watching this DVD but with this one I get no bass from the subwoofer with this DVD. I also don't get bass from the subwoofer in the top menu of Pumping Iron DVD while the music is playing until the movie starts. I read the manual and it said that the source material needs to have an LFE signal to get sound from the subwoofer. I don't have this problem when playing my Xbox 360 or playing Slacker Radio through my Blu-Ray player. I'm using a Yamaha 100watt subwoofer that came with my Yamaha 5.1 speaker package. Is there a way to make my subwoofer handle the bass from every source besides just ones with LFE material?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by PCFan

Yesterday I returned a receiver because of an intermittent audio drop-out problem when I had my center speaker installed. I exchanged it for an Onkyo TX-SR507 receiver. I'm having a problem with my subwoofer not getting a signal during a DVD I was watching, Night Court: Season 2. I noticed the problem when there was a lack of bass in the opening and closing credits of Night Court with this receiver and turning subwoofer off through the receiver it still sound the same. The receiver I returned did send a signal to my subwoofer during watching this DVD but with this one I get no bass from the subwoofer with this DVD. I also don't get bass from the subwoofer in the top menu of Pumping Iron DVD while the music is playing until the movie starts. I read the manual and it said that the source material needs to have an LFE signal to get sound from the subwoofer. I don't have this problem when playing my Xbox 360 or playing Slacker Radio through my Blu-Ray player. I'm using a Yamaha 100watt subwoofer that came with my Yamaha 5.1 speaker package. Is there a way to make my subwoofer handle the bass from every source besides just ones with LFE material?

Two types of information come out of the subwoofer:

1. The LFE channel (.1). This is added to the soundtrack by the audio engineers and you have no control over it. The frequency of the LFE channel can go up to 120Hz.
2. Redirected bass from the other speakers that are set to small.

In order for the subwoofer to be active for all source material, you must set all your speakers to small with a crossover of 80Hz-100Hz. All the bass information below the crossover will go to the subwoofer. Make sure the crossover is at least 10Hz above the minimum frequency extension of your speakers.

[PCFan]

My speakers go down to 90 Hz as documented by the speaker's manual. I set the crossover in the receiver to 100 Hz. Speakers I set to "small".

[HiDefRev]

Not all DVDs have much LFE information. Particularly the old TV shows ( such as Night Court ) and some older movies ( like Pumping Iron ). Your sub cannot produce sound that's not on the disc to begin with. It's not your receiver nor your sub. It's your source material. Try some newer action and adventure flicks, or some sci-fi movies. You'll hear the sub, just as you do when playing your Xbox and Slacker Radio.

[PCFan]

I figured out how to get the subwoofer to kick in in Dolby 2.0 material. I did a factory reset and it ran Dolby 2.0 material in PII mode and the subwoofer kicked in. I also got it to work by using Stereo mode for Dolby 2.0 material. However in Direct mode the subwoofer doesn't kick in for Dolby 2.0 material or while playing a music CD. I'd rather have the receiver not add processing to the audio and that's why I would rather be in Direct mode for everything so everything can run in the correct format but the subwoofer doesn't kick in for Dolby 2.0 and music CD's in Direct mode. Is stereo mode downmixing Dolby 2.0 material? Also isn't the purpose of a subwoofer to handle the bass, regardless of material has an LFE channel or not and subwoofer compensate for speakers with weak bass?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by PCFan

I figured out how to get the subwoofer to kick in in Dolby 2.0 material. I did a factory reset and it ran Dolby 2.0 material in PII mode and the subwoofer kicked in. I also got it to work by using Stereo mode for Dolby 2.0 material. However in Direct mode the subwoofer doesn't kick in for Dolby 2.0 material or while playing a music CD. I'd rather have the receiver not add processing to the audio and that's why I would rather be in Direct mode for everything so everything can run in the correct format but the subwoofer doesn't kick in for Dolby 2.0 and music CD's in Direct mode. Is stereo mode downmixing Dolby 2.0 material? Also isn't the purpose of a subwoofer to handle the bass, regardless of material has an LFE channel or not and subwoofer compensate for speakers with weak bass?

There is nothing sacred about Direct mode in a home theater room. After all, you do not live in an anechoic chamber. In a small home theater room, speakers interact with the boundaries and furniture and do not necessarily sound the way the manufacturer intended. That is why we rely on programs such as Audyssey to perform room correction.

If you want your subwoofer to work, listen to your CD's in stereo mode and movies in Standard mode. Dolby PLIIx does not reduce the quality of the sound and convert lossless audio to lossy audio. It only splits the sound among the speakers.