[cmdratz]

Hello.

I can't get enough loudness out of my sub-woofers. They are too low to hear. It is a matter of about 10 decibels. I already have my sub amplifier turned all the way up. The source material is just not loud enough. Is there a way to boost the signal right out of my receiver in the phono-cable-run and before it gets to my sub-woofer amplifier?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[bsoko2]

Too many varibles! How big is your room, what size is your sub, speakers setup, where is the sub in the room, and last of all, did you setup your sub using a spl meter?


Bill

 

[ransac]

Also give sub and receiver models and describe how you have it connected (what connector on the AVR/sub). Detail the settings on the sub amp as well (how are the switches and knobs set).

 

[eric-t]

Pics of the room would help as well.

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Do you have the LFE (sub) level inside your receiver turned up? You could always turn everything else DOWN, and then turn up the master volume on your receiver.

 

[eric-t]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cmdratz /forum/post/18223505


Hello.

I can't get enough loudness out of my sub-woofers. They are too low to hear. It is a matter of about 10 decibels. I already have my sub amplifier turned all the way up. The source material is just not loud enough. Is there a way to boost the signal right out of my receiver in the phono-cable-run and before it gets to my sub-woofer amplifier?

Thanks in advance for any help.

If this is the case something isn't right

 

[JChin]

wow, cmdratz just posted in the intergation room

.

But these are some very good and important questions that need to be answer

.

 

[cmdratz]

Hello again.

Okay. My subs have worked when wen I connect via optical or coaxial. Then I can use my receiver's speaker level adjustments. However one of my sources is connected to the 8 analog jacks in my receiver, and I can't independently adjust speaker levels for the analog ins. So what I'm asking is, can I hook up, say, a phono preamplifier (or something similar) to boost the analog signal from the receiver to the sub amplifier? I will try to answer as many questions as I can. The room is about 18' by 18'. My two subs are 15" each. My speakers are large and 7.1. The subs are in the back of the room, elevated about 1' from the floor and at 5' and 12' from the left wall. I did not setup my sub using an spl meter. I will describe the sub because I don't know the model while I type here from college. Each sub is a 2-way Carvin DJ speaker with a 15' sub on the bottom of the cabinet, and a large rectangular horn, on the top of the cabinet. If the company still has the manual for it, it is either the TR 1502 or the 1540/A. I have a Sony STR-DG800 receiver. The Mackie amplifier is set to subwoofer. I set its lowcut to 35hrz. I set the rolloff frequency to 125hrz. I don't have a digital camera so I can't take pictures of the room.

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[cyberbri]

When you use the multichannel analog inputs, your receiver probably isn't doing any sort of bass management. That is to day, only the LFE signal is going to the sub, and no bass is being re-routed from the other speakers to the sub.


To check, when you have the multi-channel input selected, go into the Speaker settings and see if you can make changes to size: Large Vs Small.


If this is indeed the case, go into your multichannel source and set up the speakers there. You will likely need to change all speakers to Small, and enter the speaker and subwoofer distance settings as well. You can copy these distance settings from the settings in the receiver, if you've set it up properly (ie., mains are 9'4" from the listening position, center channel is 8'11", surrounds are 6'4"). The device should also let you set the speaker level trims, which you can copy from the readings you got using your SPL meter and entered into the receiver.


That way you should be able to turn the subwoofer's gain knob back down to the level you had it when you calibrated the speakers with your SPL meter.

 

[cmdratz]

cyberbri,

When I use the multichannel analog inputs, my receiver indeed is not doing any bass management. I can't even get a loud enough simple LFE track to play loud enough. I am unable to set my speaker sizes for the analog outs of my Pioneer BDP-320 Blu-Ray player. I don't have an SPL meter. (One of the reasons I picked it was the group of reports that it could adjust the sub up to six decibels more than the normal setting. I can't seem to adjust anything in the analog section of the Blu-Ray player's menu.) So again if I can't boost the sub signal or change the other levels down inside the player, can I hook a little rca preamplifier to the receiver rca sub out to boost the level before it gets to my sub amp thereby making an analog volume more audible? Hopefully I've just missed how to change the bass management on the player's analog outs. The home theater setup is in my parents' house, so it will take some time for me to get to it to try to adjust it again, about two weeks from now. Here is a quote about the analog outs that I can't seem to change. "This multi-channel analog output is helpful if you've got an older receiver that lacks HDMI audio support. Unlike many competitive models (Panasonic DMP-BD80 and Samsung BD-P3600, for example), the Pioneer player allows you to increase (not just decrease) subwoofer level output over the multi-channel analog outputs. Though I found I had to crank this up to the max (+6 dB) and adjust the analog gain for the subwoofer input on my preamp to its max in order to get decent bass over the analog outputs. But this is common to all Blu-ray players with multi-channel analog outputs due to the way low bass is stored and transmitted over analog connections." Hopefully I'm just a dunce and missed how to do it in the menu; all I can seem to get to is a lip sync variable for the analog outs.

Thanks once more for your help.

 

[cyberbri]

BDP-320 review:

http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/Pioneer...yer_Review.htm


"As for audio adjustments, if you are using the 5.1 or 7.1 analog audio outputs on the BDP-320, then you can raise or lower the output levels of the L, C, R, SL, SR, SBL, SBR and SW speakers within the range of -6.0 dB to +6.0 dB. (You do not have this option if you are running audio through the HDMI cable.)"


UK manual download (there's probably a US manual, but this is the first one that came up)

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products...320/media.html

 

[cmdratz]

cybertri,

Look at the back view of the UK unit. It does not have 7.1 analog outs, whereas the US unit (mine) does. I hope I find some way to adjust the levels, anyway. Do you have any opinion on using a preamp if I can't adjust the levels in the player? Maybe I have an old firmware version.

Thanks, so far, for looking.

 

[cyberbri]

The US review says it's possible to adjust the trims in the player's setup.



Read page 42 of the manual. It has the speaker setup settings, for large/small, volume trims, and speaker distance settings.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/ep...ctions0223.pdf

 

[cmdratz]

cybertri,

I read that information in the online manual before I bought the player. I just hope I hadn't pressed the right buttons or indicated the right ancillary settings when I installed it. It's time for me to wait two weeks and try again, I think. This quote with regard to the preamp is among the things that I'm worried about: "Unlike most of the other players we've tested (including the Panasonic DMP-BD80 and Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P3600), the Pioneer BDP-320 allows you to adjust the subwoofer crossover frequency to best match your main speakers (50/80/100/150 Hz) and also to not just decrease the subwoofer level but increase the level as well up to a maximum of +6 dB. Even so, I found I had to crank it to +6 and adjust the subwoofer channel's input sensitivity of my preamp to the max (+15) in order to get good bass out of the BDP-320's analog outputs." http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Pi...c-Player.shtml

Thanks so far,

 

[cyberbri]

Then this is more of a question for the official thread for your particular blu-ray player. Maybe there's an issue, and/or maybe there's been a firmware fix that you need to download.

 

[cmdratz]

Okay cybertri,

I'll search and post in the Blu-Ray player section. Maybe I'll find a way to boost the woofer. Cheers,