Just got my A2-300 today, and have some questions.

#1. It has 3 dials where I'm only used to one (volume), the other 2 are 'phase' and 'crossover' I believe. One is measured in degrees (0 to 180 i think), what are these for? Where should I set them at? What do they do?

Also, my reciever has a setting for reverse phase or normal, the yamaha rx-v661 manual says that if the normal setting doesn't sound right, change to reverse, but I don't know which setting I should use for my A2-300, both sounded the same to me.

Finally, I've tuned up the volume on my reciever for the sub, but even with the sub volume up a bit, the sub doesn't seem to be all that 'loud', not that I was ever wanting to knock the walls down, just wanted to see what it could do, all my connections are fine (to my knowledge). The sub is getting both sub and speaker LFEs fed to it. Was just expecting more thump with the volume up that loud, my klipsch promedia 5.1 sub seemed louder to me, and to my knowledge its a smaller sub, I constantly had to turn the sub volume down on it. Again, I'm not used to having an extremely powerful sub, so my measure of comparison is reasonable I think. Just wanting to make sure this is the way the sub is, and it's not a setup issue. I just figured the sub would get plenty loud on it's own without having to set the reciever sub volume higher (+6.5DB now). But maybe this is where the other two setting dials on the sub come in.


One final final question, pertaining to my klipsch promedia 5.1 subwoofer seen here: http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/promedia-ultra-5-1.aspx

I would like to use this sub WITH my A2-300, just to play around with.

All of the inputs on the subwoofer are mini-jacks (headphone type) and are meant to be used with a computer soundcard. The subwoofer input is shared with the center channel. Does anyone know if it is possible to use this subwoofer with my yamaha rx-v661 reciever? I had tried using a mini-->dual RCA adapter, and tried running both red and white (1 at a time) to the single coax/rca sub-out on the reciever, but I didn't get any sound (though maybe I set it up incorrectly). My theory was that if I turned the mini into RCA, one of the RCAs would be the center channel, and one would be the sub channel, and if I tried both of the RCAs, I would find the sub channel, and it'd work.

So basically, is it possible to connect the klipsch sub to my reciever?

Phase is basically a time adjustment. If it's a dial then you'll have an adjustment from 0-1880 degree phase change adjustment. You use this to compensate for placement in the room and the difference in arrival times between your mains and the sub. If your receiver has delays for all the speakers then you don't have to use the phase adjustment on the sub.

The crossover adjustment is where the low pass filter starts rolling off the bass on the top end. For example if you have it set to 80Hz then the crossover will start removing the sound above 80Hz. If you set it at 65Hz it'll roll off everything above 65Hz. If you have this set too low you'll get alost no output. Try setting it at 80Hz to start. Also, I'd set the sub level on the receiver at 0dB and turn the sub up as necessary for a general setting and then use the receiver to adjust the sub level for different types of music, personal preference, etc.

You should calibrate that sub using a spl meter to get the best results. (They sell them at Radio Shack.) A good staring point is at -5db on your receiver and then raise the gain on the sub till it matches the level of your mains when you run your set up tones. For starters, you should see this link:

http://www.robbroy.net/HT/SubwooferErrors.cfm

Ian

Set the sub Xover all the way up and set the receiver's Xover to 80hz.