[archiguy]

My old A/V receiver had no volume control for a powered subwoofer. My new receiver (Yammie 2400) does (I'm assuming; not delivered until tomorrow). It was such a pain, before, to walk over to the sub and turn up the gain dial when I wanted subwoofer output. As I live in a townhouse and the low frequency output of a sub cuts through even acoustically insulated party walls like paper, I've got to be careful in the use of that component.


Question is, do I now leave the sub gain dial turned all the way up and count on the receiver's subwoofer volume feature to control it, even down to zero? Half way up on the gain dial? What do you guys do?

 

[Dennis Gardner]

Leave room on both ends for adjustment to avoid unnecessary distortion or hums. Most receivers only adjust from -10 to +10 a 20db difference, so I calibrate to reference volume by setting my receiver to 0 and turning the sub knob until I get the balanced sub with my other speakers. This allows me a 10 db variance up or down controlled by my remote. Most powered subs adjusted this way will range from 1/4 to 3/4 on the sub knob.


Turning the sub all the way up risks a huge thump if powered on or unintended disconnections with your receiver happen.


Just my opinion,


Dennis

 

[flyersfan]

Most people here will try to calibrate it so the subwoofer blends seemlessly with the rest of their system. I'd recommend the same.


Having said that, when you do have it dialed in, you can turn down the subwoofer using the receiver. Just remember where it was before so it's easy to get it back to its optimal setting.


If you'll be turning it down a lot, try calibrating it so the receiver's output is 0db (on a scale of +10db to -10db) and use the volume knob on the sub. This gives you the greatest freedom.

 

[archiguy]

Thanks guys! I'll try that procedure, i.e. setting the receiver to 0 and turning the sub's gain knob up halfway or so. I imagine it might be difficult to get the subwoofer to "blend seamlessly with the rest of the system" because you don't really "hear" the output from that loudspeaker so much as "feeling" it, you know what I mean?


Basically, I just want to be able to turn the subwoofer "on" and adjust its volume level when I need it using my receiver's remote without having to reach behind the sub to fiddle with the gain knob. Most of the time I don't need or want any output from the sub at all. But if I'm watching a movie with a DD5.1 or DTS soundtrack, then I'll want it.


I have a handheld sound meter but don't know how to use it when calibrating my speaker output. I see folks talking about doing that all the time here on the Forum but have never read anything about exactly how that's done.

 

[Dennis Gardner]

Using a calibration disc such as Avia or Video Essentials, is the most thorough way of adjusting your sustems balance with your meter. They also give great tools for getting the best video picture from your monitor or projector.


Using test tones that can be downloaded from the internet can also be used to set the balance between channels of your receiver and sub.

They can be found here
http://www.nch.com.au/tonegen/



Dennis

 

[ontheinside]

Try this little trick, if the yammie has the option to adjust levels per input.

Select DVD input and adjust the bass to the levels that you like for action movies. Select another input, ext-1 for example, select that input to share the a/v inputs but adjust the bass for music, lower levels. Next- works great with a touchscreen remote set a button for action movies and another for music. That way you don't have to keep going over adjusting the bass levels. HIGH WAF.