AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Subwoofers, Bass, and Transducers › What exactly is LFE?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

What exactly is LFE?

post #1 of 6
1/6/13 at 9:44am
Thread Starter 
Is the LFE on an amplifier the same as what I sometimes see as "sub out". Is LFE volume controlled by the main amplifier's volume control? Meaning is I connect two speakers to my amps speaker out and sub to LFE, will both the speakers and sub's volume be controlled by the amp's volume control?


thanks
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 6
1/6/13 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GerGa View Post

Is the LFE on an amplifier the same as what I sometimes see as "sub out". Is LFE volume controlled by the main amplifier's volume control? Meaning is I connect two speakers to my amps speaker out and sub to LFE, will both the speakers and sub's volume be controlled by the amp's volume control?
thanks

Greetings! LFE stands for Low Frequency Effects and it is a discreet audio channel programmed into media to carry bass signals to a subwoofer. Yes, Master volume control or receiver will increase volume of all devices attached, so it's important to establish a baseline speaker+subwoofer volume settings (I suggest Audyssey) before use.

Crossover setting in your receiver will determine how much bass gets sent to the LFE channel. For instance, if you select a 100Hz crossover, then all sound information below 100Hz will be sent to the LFE channel.

I hope this helps.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 6
1/6/13 at 11:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrolicBeast View Post

Greetings! LFE stands for Low Frequency Effects and it is a discreet audio channel programmed into media to carry bass signals to a subwoofer. Yes, Master volume control or receiver will increase volume of all devices attached, so it's important to establish a baseline speaker+subwoofer volume settings (I suggest Audyssey) before use.
Crossover setting in your receiver will determine how much bass gets sent to the LFE channel. For instance, if you select a 100Hz crossover, then all sound information below 100Hz will be sent to the LFE channel.
I hope this helps.

Matt, I hope you don't mind, but I would like to re-phrase your response slightly to clarify it:

"Crossover setting in your receiver will determine how much bass gets sent to the LFE channel subwoofer output. For instance, if you select a 100Hz crossover, then all sound information below 100Hz will be sent to the LFE channel subwoofer output."

The distinction is that the LFE Channel is a channel in the recording. The subwoofer output of the receiver contains the LFE channel PLUS the re-directed bass from the main channels that have crossovers applied to them. It's a subtle, but important, distinction. smile.gif

Craig
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 6
1/6/13 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GerGa View Post

Is the LFE on an amplifier the same as what I sometimes see as "sub out". Is LFE volume controlled by the main amplifier's volume control? Meaning is I connect two speakers to my amps speaker out and sub to LFE, will both the speakers and sub's volume be controlled by the amp's volume control?
thanks
What "main amplifier" do you have. Is this a 2-channel system? Not many 2-channel amps have a subwoofer output. Even fewer 2-channel recordings have an LFE Channel. Of course, you could be using a multi-channel receiver with Bass Management to listen to 2-channel music. In that case, you'll only get a signal to the subwoofer output if you have crossovers set on the speakers, and you run the receiver in "stereo" mode.

Please list what equipment you have and how it is connected and configured so we can give you a more precise answer to your question.

Craig
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 6
1/6/13 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
The for the clarification everyone.
I actually do not have any equipment yet, but I do want a 2 channel system to hook up to my computer(mostly for music listening).
All I need is two channels. If you would like to recommend any amplifiers then go ahead. I dont want to spend a ton but I do understand an amp might be anywhere between 200 to 400 for a decent one. I understand some amps I can connect to computer via optical or usb etc. since they have a dac built in. I will probably end up with a pair of bookshelf speakers too.

My brother brought to my attention the klipsch rw-12d at newegg for 300 but Im wondering if there are other subs for 3 to 400 that will do a better job for music. I listen to a lot of electronic music like trance or club music but I hate boomy inaccurate bass.
Some subs I have come across:
cadence
http://www.cadencesound.com/products/CSX15-Mark-II.html
Hsu stf-2
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html

I understand if I don't have sub out I can just hook up speaker out to subwoofer then subwoofer to speakers, like a splitter with a crossover..
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 6
1/6/13 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by craig john View Post

Matt, I hope you don't mind, but I would like to re-phrase your response slightly to clarify it:
"Crossover setting in your receiver will determine how much bass gets sent to the LFE channel subwoofer output. For instance, if you select a 100Hz crossover, then all sound information below 100Hz will be sent to the LFE channel subwoofer output."
The distinction is that the LFE Channel is a channel in the recording. The subwoofer output of the receiver contains the LFE channel PLUS the re-directed bass from the main channels that have crossovers applied to them. It's a subtle, but important, distinction. smile.gif
Craig

True indeed Craig, I definitely don't mind the clarification at all, as it's a very important distinction to make.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Subwoofers, Bass, and Transducers › What exactly is LFE?