Ssub woofer help

[mrpink134]

Ok friends I need help please! I just received my PSW505 and Im not sure I have it hooked up right. I have a Yamaha 663 I have the rca jack going into unfiltered in and and my phase switch set to 0, sub woofer volume set to half way. Im not sure if its right

Thanks

[JJ]

Are you...getting sound out of it? Did you run the auto setup on the Yamaha?

[mrpink134]

ya I ran the auto setup and Im getting sound but it dosnt seem like Im getting a lot of bass.

[Slec]

Placement of the subwoofer largely affects what you hear. One trick you can try: Place the subwoofer at your seated position, then walk around the room until the bass sounds best. That's where you should put your sub so it sounds best where you sit.

Don't be afraid to go off the auto setup for your sub, change the volume to taste.

[Big Daddy]

• Take the RCA cable out of the unfiltered input and insert it into the Left (L) channel of filtered. This is according to the Polk manual.
• If you use a Y adapter (1 female, 2 male) and connect the subwoofer cable to both left and right channel of the subwoofer, you may get an additional 3+db of output without turning the volume up.
• Turn the volume up on the subwoofer to the 3/4 point.
• Turn the crossover on the subwoofer all the way up to 160. You are controlling the crossover through the receiver.
• In the receiver's menu, set all your speakers to small.
• In the receiver's menu, set the crossover to 80 to 90Hz.

Hopefully, everything will work after this. Once your system starts working, you can tweak the settings a little to get better results.

[mrpink134]

it worked great. thank you but why did I have to set my speakers to small when I have floor speakers?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

it worked great. thank you but why did I have to set my speakers to small when I have floor speakers?

Even when you have floor speakers, it helps to reduce the burden on them. Not too many floor speakers are capable of playing low frequency sound effectively. Remember it is not an attack on you or your speakers. It is all about making your system sound better. I am glad your system finally worked. Enjoy your movies and have a great time.

[mrpink134]

Thanks again. I didnt take as a attack I heard it before but just wanted to know way When I get my new polk speakers should I still set them to small? there going to be the rti speakers

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

Thanks again. I didnt take as a attack I heard it before but just wanted to know way When I get my new polk speakers should I still set them to small? there going to be the rti speakers

TRY IT BOTH WAYS AND SEE WHICH WAY SOUNDS BETTER.

[mlim77]

Can I ask where most of you place your subwoofer? I would like to have an idea the best place to put it. Most of the info I've read says it is best in the front corner of a room, where it won't sound boomy.

[tilapiah6]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Even when you have floor speakers, it helps to reduce the burden on them. Not too many floor speakers are capable of playing low frequency sound effectively. Remember it is not an attack on you or your speakers. It is all about making your system sound better. I am glad your system finally worked. Enjoy your movies and have a great time.

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

TRY IT BOTH WAYS AND SEE WHICH WAY SOUNDS BETTER.

I think what he meant to ask was are the RTI speakers some of the few that DO handle low frequency bass well. OP, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mlim77

Can I ask where most of you place your subwoofer? I would like to have an idea the best place to put it. Most of the info I've read says it is best in the front corner of a room, where it won't sound boomy.

There is no best place. It all depends on interaction between the long frequencies of bass sound and your room boundaries. The shape of the room, the type of furniture, curtains, carpet, etc. affect the subwoofer's performance.

Usually people put the subwoofer in a corner to excite all room modes. However, in some situations, the subwoofer sounds boomy. Another location is next to your seating area or the middle of the front or side walls. The best way is to use the crawl technique to find the best location in your room.

Go to A Guide to Subwoofers thread. Scroll about half way down. You will find guidelines on subwoofer placement. The second part of the guide has a section on subwoofer crawl technique and a link to a video by Axiom audio.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by tilapiah6

I think what he meant to ask was are the RTI speakers some of the few that DO handle low frequency bass well. OP, correct me if I'm wrong.

Even with RTi speakers, it may help to set them to small with a crossover frequency of 50 to 60Hz.

I use the Definitive Techonology Super Towers with built-in 15" powered subwoofers. They can go as low as it is possible. When I listen to stereo music, I set them to small and set the crossover frequency to 40Hz and let the three subwoofers (I have three of them) in the room take care of low bass. To my ears, it sounds much better than when I set the front speakers to large.

[Slec]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Even with RTi speakers, it may help to set them to small with a crossover frequency of 50 to 60Hz.

I use the Definitive Techonology Super Towers with built-in 15" powered subwoofers. They can go as low as it is possible. When I listen to stereo music, I set them to small and set the crossover frequency to 40Hz and let the three subwoofers (I have three of them) in the room take care of low bass. To my ears, it sounds much better than when I set the front speakers to large.

To my 'untrained' ears, speakers with built-in subs are tough to tune. To me, it always seemed that to the get the best sound from the drivers you had to bring the speaker off the wall, but this messed with the sonics from the sub. A compromise was needed. Maybe that's just my experience. It did create a bias with how I buy speakers which I'll admit isn't that best thing. But I prefer the sound of separate subs to subs in speakers.

[mlim77]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

There is no best place. It all depends on interaction between the long frequencies of bass sound and your room boundaries. The shape of the room, the type of furniture, curtains, carpet, etc. affect the subwoofer's performance.

Usually people put the subwoofer in a corner to excite all room modes. However, in some situations, the subwoofer sounds boomy. Another location is next to you seating area or the middle of the front or side walls. The best way is to use the crawl technique to find the best location in your room.

Go to A Guide to Subwoofers thread. Scroll about half way down. You will find guidelines on subwoofer placement. The second part of the guide has a section on subwoofer crawl technique and a link to a video by Axiom audio.

Ah. Thank you for that, Big Daddy. I must say your Subwoofer guide is very informative and very easy to read and follow. Much appreciated, as there are terms I did not know before or how to connect the sub properly to your Receiver and what settings you should use. Now, I can do it properly next year when I upgrade both my Receiver and Projector as I move onto Blu Ray Home Theater.

[jomari]

on a lighter sidenote, your subwoofer amplifier does most of the work in reproducing the lower frequencies, thus freeing up the receivers amplifiers to perform 'better' so to speak.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mlim77

Ah. Thank you for that, Big Daddy. I must say your Subwoofer guide is very informative and very easy to read and follow. Much appreciated, as there are terms I did not know before or how to connect the sub properly to your Receiver and what settings you should use. Now, I can do it properly next year when I upgrade both my Receiver and Projector as I move onto Blu Ray Home Theater.

I am glad I could Help. Where do I send the bill?

[plowmanjoe]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

[LIST][*]Take the RCA cable out of the unfiltered input and insert it into the Left (L) channel of filtered. This is according to the Polk manual.

i have a psw 12 and i use the unfiltered input. would it be better if i use the filtered input?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

i have a psw 12 and i use the unfiltered input. would it be better if i use the filtered input?

Follow the guideline in the manual. The manufacturer knows best. They built the sub.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

i have a psw 12 and i use the unfiltered input. would it be better if i use the filtered input?

I have the Polk PSW125 sub, and I love it. I would imagine that most of the reviewers who complain about this sub being too boomy may not realize that the sub's low-level LFE input is, in fact, unfiltered, and feeding the LFE signal to it will bypass the sub's resident crossover adjustment.

If your amplifier has a low-pass crossover adjustment, then you can use the unfiltered, single LFE input, using the amp's crossover settings. If your receiver doesn't have a crossover adjustment for LFE, you can most certainly use the L/R low-level RCA inputs on the subwoofer with a Y-adapter at the end of the standard, single LFE signal cable. Then, you can use the sub's resident crossover control. It works mighty well this way.

Incidentally, the Polk PSW125 instruction manual does not show the latter as an option. The instructions are fairly basic, offering more reading as language options than detailed information. Plus, Polk (like most companies) is being careful not to put in writing anything which can be misconstrued, leading to greater user error.

- Rob J