Subwoofer seems too soft...

[cycleman77]

Hi all,

Long story short, I reassembled my home theater setup after being idle for 8 months. I found that my receiver, an Onkyo SR605, was no longer in working order. The warranty has long since expired and I wasn't able to figure out what was wrong with it, so I purchased an Onkyo SR608 to replace it.
After reconnecting all the devices to the new receiver and running through the setup program, I've noticed that the subwoofer doesn't have the same "punch" that it used to.

Simply put, my towers (Polk Rti10's) are producing stronger bass than my subwoofer (ED A2-250).

I've increased the bass on the receiver and it has a minimal effect. Likewise the bass level and low pass frequency settings on the subwoofer do not seem to have a large effect.

I've played a number of movies to test this as well as trying some random audio bass tests I found online (I have an htpc as part of my setup). I wasn't sure if the online tests were legit, but I tried them anyways.

I'm at a loss. I'm not sure what else to do. I even went as far as disconnecting everything from the receiver and connecting it back up.

Thoughts?

-Thanks

 

[vi edit]

Do you have the fronts set to "large" instead of small on the new receiver? Also, can you tell if there's any cone movement on the sub? Is there any output at all on it?

 

[vi edit]

Another troubleshooting tip is to go around the LFE input on the sub and high pass it by running your mains through the sub. If your mains are putting out decent low end then the sub should be too if you have the frequency knob turned all the way up.

If it's not, then the amp is either toasted, wire has come loose, or the motor has siezed.

If it is, then you have some sort of crossover setting messed up on receiver. Make sure the sub is enabled and it's actually getting LFE.

 

[cycleman77]

Under speaker configuration, it is set to 'full band' instead of 'large'.

Yes there is cone movement.

I can hear bass coming from the subwoofer, but I can't feel it. I know the A2-250 is a relatively small subwoofer, but it used to rattle the glass inserts in my coffee table in some scenes.

 

[cycleman77]

I'll try running the mains through the sub; see what happens.

 

[vi edit]

I think the full band is redirecting too much to your fronts, can you manually adjust the crossover to 80hz for your mains, center and surrounds?

 

[cycleman77]

Lol, I'll try that first. My cables are a rat's nest; I wasn't looking forward to reconnecting the fronts to the sub.

 

[cycleman77]

I set the fronts to 80Hz. The sub is turned up to 120Hz. I played the tower assault scene from the Matrix and it felt/sounded like that was a gap. The subwoofer was working, but it wasn't very pronounced. Even the explosion was weak.

Maybe the sub isn't picking up the full range? Even though its' set to 120Hz, it's not going that high? I didn't see a setting on the receiver to configure except a 'yes - there is a subwooer attached' and the db setting.

 

[cycleman77]

Well, I feel like an idiot. There were little "scroll down" arrows on some of the setup pages that I didn't notice.

Under the Equalizer settings, the subwoofer was set to minimum (-15db). I bumped it up to -6db and scenes sound much better.

So, lesson of the day:
Pay attention to what's on the screen!!!

Ugh. Time for bed...

Thanks for the help VI.

 

[PurdueRy]

Well, I feel like an idiot. There were little "scroll down" arrows on some of the setup pages that I didn't notice.

Under the Equalizer settings, the subwoofer was set to minimum (-15db). I bumped it up to -6db and scenes sound much better.

So, lesson of the day:
Pay attention to what's on the screen!!!

Ugh. Time for bed...

Thanks for the help VI.

Time to get yourself an SPL meter?

 

[sdifox]

what do you mean your sub is set at -6? Should be at +20db

 

[vi edit]

what do you mean your sub is set at -6? Should be at +20db

Heh. I've always hated the bass management on AVR's with the auto-eq setups. They are either over boosted or underboosted. I always had to tweak them so they sound proper in the room.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I agree with the time to get a SPL meter... No self respecting home-theater enthusiast should be without one. The Radio Shack ones are fairly well know and well tested with very consistent offsets for SPL measurements across different frequencies. And it will only set you back about $30. Get a camera tripod while you are at it (if you don't already own one). Download/create a frequency sweep CD (has different sound waveforms like white or pink noise, as well as sin waves at specific frequencies) so you can run a proper calibration sweep putting the measurements onto a spreadsheet for the specific frequency range and then you can use the corrections that are out there to adjust the value from the meter to compensate for the error bias that the meter to get the true value.

I don't even trust the auto-calibrate from many of the high-end top of the line receivers/pre-processors. I always check it against a SPL meter and usually need to make minor adjustments.