Ok so I got an entire new entertainment system and everything was going pretty good but the sound out of my subwoofer is just totally weak. It is a Paradigm DSP 3100. Not the best sub in the world I know but still should be hearing more than this. I have a Yamaha RX-V3900 and ran the auto set up. I then changed all my speakers to small in the menu. The sub is correctly connected to the right output. I don't get it. There is almost no sound at all coming from it and when I adjust the level on my GUI through the Yamaha I hear like no difference. If I adjust the level volume on the back of my sub it increases the sound and bass coming from my front speakers. Why would it do that? With my speakers set to small shouldn't all of the LFE be sent to the sub? I'm lost here and need some guidance.

Ok so I got an entire new entertainment system and everything was going pretty good but the sound out of my subwoofer is just totally weak. It is a Paradigm DSP 3100. Not the best sub in the world I know but still should be hearing more than this. I have a Yamaha RX-V3900 and ran the auto set up. I then changed all my speakers to small in the menu. The sub is correctly connected to the right output. I don't get it. There is almost no sound at all coming from it and when I adjust the level on my GUI through the Yamaha I hear like no difference. If I adjust the level volume on the back of my sub it increases the sound and bass coming from my front speakers. Why would it do that? With my speakers set to small shouldn't all of the LFE be sent to the sub? I'm lost here and need some guidance.
if they were large in the setup and you changed them to small, maybe the reciever doesnt know there is a sub attached? can you verify the sub is set to "on" in the setup menu's?

Yes it knows I have it connected. After I set them to small I reran the auto setup but had it skip the part where it changes my speakers to large. On my receiver it shows a proper 5.1 setup lit up, the LED on my sub is on, it makes some sound but very very faint. The speakers are set to small and the bass is set to only be ouput by my subwoofer. I don't know what else there is.

The sub is correctly connected to the right output.

If I adjust the level volume on the back of my sub it increases the sound and bass coming from my front speakers. Why would it do that?It shouldn't do that. Are you certain you connected the sub to the receiver's subwoofer output and not to the receiver's subwoofer input that is part of its multichannel analog input cluster?

If the sub's volume knob is really altering the front speakers' audio, then something is not connected properly.


With my speakers set to small shouldn't all of the LFE be sent to the sub? I'm lost here and need some guidance.If the receiver is set up as having a subwoofer, then all the LFE channel will go there no matter what size you set the speakers to. The LFE channel will always go to the subwoofer and subwoofer only. It is the rerouted bass that also goes to the subwoofer from any channels that are set to SMALL.

What crossover setting are you using in the receiver? Did you also turn the sub's own crossover up as high as it will go?

It shouldn't do that. Are you certain you connected the sub to the receiver's subwoofer output and not to the receiver's subwoofer input that is part of its multichannel analog input cluster?

If the sub's volume knob is really altering the front speakers' audio, then something is not connected properly.


If the receiver is set up as having a subwoofer, then all the LFE channel will go there no matter what size you set the speakers to. The LFE channel will always go to the subwoofer and subwoofer only. It is the rerouted bass that also goes to the subwoofer from any channels that are set to SMALL.

What crossover setting are you using in the receiver? Did you also turn the sub's own crossover up as high as it will go?


It is most definitely hooked up to the sub woofer pre out jack. I verified this 3 times and it is not the multi channel input jack. All my crossover frequencies in my receiver for the center, front, and surrounds are set to 80hz. I have the subs high frquency cutout set to the max.

It is most definitely hooked up to the sub woofer pre out jack. I verified this 3 times and it is not the multi channel input jack. All my crossover frequencies in my receiver for the center, front, and surrounds are set to 80hz. I have the subs high frquency cutout set to the max.Are you certain that the sub's volume knob affects the front speakers' output? There is really no way it could do that if it is connected properly.

Are you certain that the sub's volume knob affects the front speakers' output? There is really no way it could do that if it is connected properly.

Ok I was wrong on that. My sub sits in the corner, relatively close to one of my fronts. What I thought was more bass coming out of my front was actually just the bass booming out from the corner. It still seems like it should have a bit more bass. Even though it is coming out 5.1 sound does it just sound so weak because I'm watching football on ABC HD? Like if I were to watch a DVD would it be more suited to the Sub? Sorry for these rookie questions, this is all new to me.

Play a CD or a DVD that you know has some real bass in it. If the bass from the sub is still too quiet, let us know.

I have this same sub and i also had a problem in the beginning when i ran the auto setup on my Pioneer 1018. It set my speakers to large which i changed manually to small. I ended up going into speaker set up and manually adjusting the subwoofer db rating. It had it at -8.5db. I moved it to 0. Seems to fix my problem. Hope that helps some.

If you have the movie Saving Private Ryan, this is a pretty good movie to test if your mains and subwoofer are working well together. It gives the mains a really good workout around the crossover area and lots of LFE around frequencies very close to it.

The auto setup had me at -4.5 Mostly I just think I jumped the gun here and I apologize. I put in Finding Nemo DVD 1:18 into the movie where Darla is pounding on the fish tank glass and I could really feel the thump and shake. When I put my hand in front of the sub I could feel the air wooshing against my hand. It appears I worried for nothing and in my newness to subs I didn't realize that source material could be that big of a difference. Thank you for those that helped and with your patience.

The auto setup had me at -4.5 Mostly I just think I jumped the gun here and I apologize. I put in Finding Nemo DVD 1:18 into the movie where Darla is pounding on the fish tank glass and I could really feel the thump and shake. When I put my hand in front of the sub I could feel the air wooshing against my hand. It appears I worried for nothing and in my newness to subs I didn't realize that source material could be that big of a difference. Thank you for those that helped and with your patience.Yeah, many TV broadcasts do not have much bass. Especially sports programming.

Yeah, many TV broadcasts do not have much bass. Especially sports programming.
And, I highly doubt football has any LFE...

And, I highly doubt football has any LFE...

Actually todays football has plenty of bass and does have LFE. I found my main culprit last night. Through my receiver my GUI had the audio outputting from the AMP+TV mode. Essestially by having the tv enabled it locked everything into 2.0 channel audio. Even though my receiver was playing in 5.1 it was taken from a 2 channel input. Once I figured this out late in the night and disabled the tv so it was just AMP, that made things GREAT. Todays football is in 5.1 and my receiver shows me it is coming in true 5.1 inputs and also that it is sending LFE. I have good rumble today.

Actually todays football has plenty of bass and does have LFE.There may be bass, but it is highly unlikely that it has LFE. Unless you are watching a football movie or TV show. The LFE channel is a specifically encoded channel. Where would they get this in a live football game? There may be an outside chance that during a DD5.1 broadcast they are somehow authoring a LFE channel on the fly, but I seriously doubt it. If you have subwoofer output during a sports broadcast it is because your speakers are set to SMALL. And if a broadcast is only DD2.0, sports or otherwise, then there is definitely not an LFE channel.


I found my main culprit last night. Through my receiver my GUI had the audio outputting from the AMP+TV mode.Ah. So, it was your GUI's fault? :p ;)

(What the heck is "AMP+TV mode", anyway? Is this a setting in the receiver or the TV?)


Todays football is in 5.1 and my receiver shows me it is coming in true 5.1 inputs and also that it is sending LFE. I have good rumble today.Again, unless they are somehow diverting some of the main channel bass to the LFE channel (which IS possible, I suppose) prior to it being broadcast, there shouldn't be any LFE channel content. Just for sh!ts and giggles try setting ALL your speakers to LARGE and see if there is any subwoofer output. If there is, then there is LFE content. I would be very curious to know the results. I'd try it myself if any of my football was in DD5.1, but it is all in DD2.0.

There may be bass, but it is highly unlikely that it has LFE. Unless you are watching a football movie or TV show. The LFE channel is a specifically encoded channel. Where would they get this in a live football game? There may be an outside chance that during a DD5.1 broadcast they are somehow authoring a LFE channel on the fly, but I seriously doubt it. If you have subwoofer output during a sports broadcast it is because your speakers are set to SMALL. And if a broadcast is only DD2.0, sports or otherwise, then there is definitely not an LFE channel.


Ah. So, it was your GUI's fault? :p ;)

(What the heck is "AMP+TV mode", anyway? Is this a setting in the receiver or the TV?)


Again, unless they are somehow diverting some of the main channel bass to the LFE channel (which IS possible, I suppose) prior to it being broadcast, there shouldn't be any LFE channel content. Just for sh!ts and giggles try setting ALL your speakers to LARGE and see if there is any subwoofer output. If there is, then there is LFE content. I would be very curious to know the results. I'd try it myself if any of my football was in DD5.1, but it is all in DD2.0.

Well my receiver is a Yamaha RX-V3900. The AMP+TV is a setting through my receiver. You can output the audio from just the tv, the tv and the amp, or just the amp. With the AMP+TV it locks everything into 2.0 Even DVD's with 5.1 That was my biggest problem.

I did what you said and set my speakers to large and the receiver then just showed a 2 channel input. When I set them to small then it lights up a 5.1 setup and shows LFE illuminated. Hmm. What does that mean? My receiver only lights up what the actual input of sound is not what speakers are playing. So if it is broadcast in D5.1 why would changing them to large make it a 2 channel input? Not a big deal because I won't have them set to large but interesting to know why it does that.

I did what you said and set my speakers to large and the receiver then just showed a 2 channel input. When I set them to small then it lights up a 5.1 setup and shows LFE illuminated. Hmm. What does that mean? My receiver only lights up what the actual input of sound is not what speakers are playing. So if it is broadcast in D5.1 why would changing them to large make it a 2 channel input? Not a big deal because I won't have them set to large but interesting to know why it does that.Yeah. That makes no sense. :confused:

Oh well no big deal. I don't have them set to large anyway. All i know is that by having just my receivero set to AMP the sound is much better and things work how they are suppose to. There is a big difference in 2 channel input material that plays in 5.1 on my system and an actual 5.1 broadcast. With them set to small I have all 5 speakers lit up along with LFE, so even if there is no true LFE channel I do think they are diverting sound to the LFE channel. With the small setting though all my bass is being diverted to the sub anyhow and it sounds great. It isn't the football game itself that seems to have the bass, it is when the broadcast shows some type of replay or stat on the screen and when it goes away it makes this same sound as the screen snaps back to live action. That is the good bass I am hearing and I am sure it is more of a studio produced sound than an "on the field" type of bass. That is what I am clearly hearing from my sub, not from the live game.

With them set to small I have all 5 speakers lit up along with LFE, so even if there is no true LFE channel I do think they are diverting sound to the LFE channel. With the small setting though all my bass is being diverted to the sub anyhow and it sounds great.The LFE channel is the LFE channel. Bass is bass. Yes, with the speakers set to SMALL, bass below your receiver's crossover setting is rerouted and mixed with the LFE channel and that mix is fed to the subwoofer. So the subwoofer reproduces the LFE channel and the rerouted bass. Distinguishing one from the other (LFE vs. rerouted bass) is not really possible. If you set your speakers to LARGE, though, there will be no rerouted bass and ONLY the LFE channel will be reproduced by the sub.


It isn't the football game itself that seems to have the bass, it is when the broadcast shows some type of replay or stat on the screen and when it goes away it makes this same sound as the screen snaps back to live action. That is the good bass I am hearing and I am sure it is more of a studio produced sound than an "on the field" type of bass. That is what I am clearly hearing from my sub, not from the live game.I understand. But distinguishing something that is actually encoded in the LFE channel from rerouted bass is not really possible. So, it could just be bass that is below the receiver's crossover setting. This bass can be plenty low and there can be plenty of it. And, yes, that sort of "special effect" bass is added at production. Obviously, particular effects are pre-recorded. Some of it may actually very well be encoded into the LFE channel. I have no idea. I would love to see how they do all that.


That you can't listen to DD5.1 with the speakers set to LARGE indicates that you are not setting something up correctly. Maybe after changing the speaker sizes, you have to re-train the receiver to automatically detect DD5.1 and apply DD5.1 decoding appropriately. Or maybe you didn't set ALL the speaker sizes to LARGE, but only the fronts and the other channels are set up as having no speakers. If you can't even force the receiver to apply DD5.1 when it is configured with all LARGE speakers, something is wrong.

Understood and that all makes sense. I had all my speakers set to large for sure but I'm sure there is some other setting that has to be changed or reconfigured. It has to be possible on this receiver. This receiver really does anything, almost too much which is why I run into confusion sometimes. What you wrote made a lot of sense and yeah no telling what is is rerouted bass or LFE the way I have it now. I know I will always have my speakers set to small so it isn't a huge deal. I know it sounds good now and I solved my main problem of being stuck in 2 channel audio input because of the tv speakers. I know there is definitely a difference between that and 5.1 inputs even if it just is rerouted bass. Sounds great today. Thank you for your knowledge and help.

.................I solved my main problem of being stuck in 2 channel audio input because of the tv speakers.I do not understand this. Is your TV's audio connected to your receiver? If so, how?

I have all HDMI input to my receiver with a single HDMI output going to my tv. Basically when the receiver is set to output both AMP+TV it looks at what each supports and the receiver will support 5.1, 7.1, 2 channel audio, and then it looks at the tv and and only recognizes 2 channel audio so it selects the common one. That was my problem.