No Sub with Multichannel music (SACD, DVD-A).. Some questions....

[Doozer]

Hi everyone.

I am getting a Yamaha s-1800 dvd player and would like to hook it up so I can try out some SACD's and DVD-A discs. Currently I dont have a sub, I did a couple years ago but had to sell it. And so far my RF3's handle my bass needs pretty well. I dont listen to anything extremely loud and the wife... well, you know.

So it sounds to me that the yamaha has some sort of bass management in it but Im not sure the best way to hook it up to my avr. SInce I will not be using a sub, should I still send the signal from the player to the amp on that channel? Im not sure if my receivers bass management works on the analog inputs.. so I dont know how it will process the sub channel from the player.

Is it ok to not have a sub with this type of setup? I dont want to hurt my speakers. My mains should handle down to 37hz, but my center and surrounds might not handle it. Does this type of setup send low frequency to all channels? or does that depend on the settings?

Thanks!

[wuzzzer]

On your harman/kardon you should have the RF-3s set to Large or Full Range, whichever h/k calls it. Set the crossover at 80Hz for your center speaker and surrounds.

If you're using the analog outputs from the Yamaha I would see if they give an option to turn off the .1 LFE channel. A lot of receivers don't allow bass management over their 5.1/7.1 analog inputs.

It won't hurt the speakers to not have a sub but having one does benefit you in several ways. You'll get more output below the cutoff point of your RF-3s and your receiver won't have to work as hard since the sub will be amplifying the lowest of bass information.

[RichardP]

Your DVD player should also have a set up option for specifying no sub. It may then combine the LFE channel into the mains. If you tell it or your receiver that thare is a sub, then they will likelyl send those signals to nowhere, and you will be missing them.