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New RW-12d.....Problem or adjustment needed?


tom67

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Using 100 Watt Yamaha which worked fine with prior unit. LFE output to sub with "Y" adaptor. The unit bottoms out with a " power vibration" at -5 volume setting.. I have receiver crossover at 80 and the sub LFE to off. I also tried the sub at near 150 and same results. It sounds like the type of "bottoming" you hear from the trunk of a lowrider and not a mechanical rattle like something loose. I'm 62 and do not need heavy bass or vulume, but this simply not adequate.....anyone know what I might be doing wrong here.

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why are you using a Y adapter with one sub? not needed.

Nezff,

I have AB'd one sub with and without a Y-splitter and with the Y it yields about 2-3 more dBs. If anything it should provide a signal with more voltage gain which can help with the auto-on mode to wake up better.

The x over on your sub should be turned up all the way, the x over on the yamaha to 80hz. You might have a setting in the AVR too high for your sub.

I do agree with all this.

Bill

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Yup, all that done. I have also played offending material with 2 channel only, then shut off mains and unit still has "power vibrations-distortion" like it has bottomed. I also tried same thing while bending over and lifting sub to make sure no extraneous vibrations from floor contact and same result. Unit sits on concrete slab with heavy marble flooring here in Florida, so no resonance in the home structure. Have to believe unit should perform at half volume (my guess about level where problem starts) without distortion. Guess I should return for another unit. On this sub, if you advance the volume to max it shuts of the LFE completely, and hence the receiver should be the boss and it is indeed set at 80hz.....have also tried at 60hz and same distortion.

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What model sub is this? Im at a loss right now unless something you arent seeing.

Willand, I know that the Y adapter adds 2-3db to the signal, I just wasnt sure why the OP was under the impression he NEEDED it unless he was having a "wake up" problem with his sub. The gain knob does the same thing on the other end. thanks

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Willand, I know that the Y adapter adds 2-3db to the signal

Nezff,

I figured you knew that but some think it is just voodoo which we know it's not.

I just wasnt sure why the OP was under the impression he NEEDED it unless he was having a "wake up" problem with his sub. The gain knob does the same thing on the other end. thanks

I thought the same thing but it surely is not needed unless he has wake up issues.

Maybe the Y-adapter is providing too much gain or something in the handshake between the receiver and the subwoofer.

Tom,

Is the -5 setting the master volume or what you have the sub set at on the unit itself?

Bill

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The unit bottoms out with a " power vibration" at -5 volume setting.. I have receiver crossover at 80 and the sub LFE to off. I also tried the sub at near 150 and same results. It sounds like the type of "bottoming" you hear from the trunk of a lowrider and not a mechanical rattle like something loose. I'm 62 and do not need heavy bass or vulume, but this simply not adequate.....anyone know what I might be doing wrong here.

bought one my gain is set at max on the unit and then 0 on the processor (umc remote allows sub gain to be adjusted with button), 150hz is way way way to high, try going lower maybe around 60-80 (but 80 has same issue for you apparently) mines set at 40hz because of my towers and I feel this sub is decent but a little weak in the low regions but for someone at 62 this sub may easily be to strong and not what you are use to hearing?

my recommendations are as follow

remove the Y adapter

put crossover 60-80 and toy around with it

turn lfe on and set your speakers to small or any setting that isnt large/full

on the other side at -5 setting on receiver you might be expecting to much from this sub at 80-150hz

if none of the above cure your ailments youll certainly need to provide a more detailed description

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I have two of these, and what you are hearing is not correct. You say the sub is at a -5 volume setting. Is that on the receiver or sub? I'm guessing that the -5 is on the receiver and that your sub gain is just too high. In my room, with my Onkyo, 1 sub set at -17 on the sub (receiver at 0) will produce an SPL of 75 DBs at 12 feet. As such, I would imagine that your sub and receiver combined gain should be set between -10 and -20.

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Thank you cornfedksboy........I think we are getting somewhere. The Sub itself is set at -5 and the receiver level for the sub at 0, which is Yamaha's default. The receiver can be set higher or lower. By "combined Gain", I trust you mean the sum of both (ie -7 on the sub and -7 on the receiver= -14)? The sub's gain range is from -38 to +11 and I guess I dont have a feel for what is to be expected. Having said that, on music, the sub "bottoms" and distorts at -5 combined. It did not seem normal to me to have this happen at this level when you appear to be far below the +11 maximum sub volume. I would have a similar concern with a receiver that began to clip and distort at a -30 setting. Do you know what setting is half volume is on these subs? Just trying to find out if I have a bad unit while I can still return it.

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Thank you cornfedksboy........I think we are getting somewhere. The Sub itself is set at -5 and the receiver level for the sub at 0, which is Yamaha's default. The receiver can be set higher or lower. By "combined Gain", I trust you mean the sum of both (ie -7 on the sub and -7 on the receiver= -14)? The sub's gain range is from -38 to +11 and I guess I dont have a feel for what is to be expected. Having said that, on music, the sub "bottoms" and distorts at -5 combined. It did not seem normal to me to have this happen at this level when you appear to be far below the +11 maximum sub volume. I would have a similar concern with a receiver that began to clip and distort at a -30 setting. Do you know what setting is half volume is on these subs? Just trying to find out if I have a bad unit while I can still return it.

Mid-point volume on your sub is -24.

Yes, the sum of the gain between the Yamaha and sub should be well below 0 (starting point somewhere between -10 and -20) for most applications in most rooms. I have a "Reference" volume of 90 db's for my system in a 2000 cubic foot room using the RF-82 7.2 set-up. That means that when I set my receiver to "0" on the volume, I should be receiving about 90 db's of sound at the MLP and for most material I listen at -10, or 80 dbs with transient peaks maxing at about 100 dbs. In order to do this, my RF-82s are set to -7 and my subs are set to -12 on the receiver (max). The sub gains are then set to -7, or a sum of -19 so as not to over-power my RF-82s. Since I run two subs, I gain an extra 3 dbs of volume or so, so for 1 sub, I'd likely have it at a combined gain of about -16, or 9 db lower than my mains. Does that make sense? Basically, for whatever volume you listen at, try setting the combined gain at about -10 relative to your mains.

It sounds like you've got the crossovers correct. Next, check the setting. If you are bottoming out, make sure that the EQ is NOT set to "Depth," as that will increase the gain in the 20-30 Hz frequency and will exacerbate any bottoming out that might occur. It should be "Flat."

Lastly, you could/should do the sub-crawl, where basically you set the sub at/near the MLP and play a bass heavy song. crawl around on your floor and see how the bass sounds at various positions in your room. Where ever it sounds best (least bottoming out) is where the sub should be positioned, paticularlly, check how the sub sounds in that corner. You might have some nasty room reflections where your sub is currently situated.

Also, these subs are very good for HT and reasonably mediocre for music. Not quite fast enough for very good musical reproduction. I rely on my Audessey room correction software for music reproduction and then only listen in THX Music mode. It's really quite good when I do this, but other listening modes have varying degrees of dissapointment.

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Elite, your gain is set to max??? What size hole are you hiding that thing in?

what can I say I like bass...

this runs in the basement and with only 1 of these subs it can fall behind the rest of the system for the amount of bass that I enjoy, maxing out the sub itself and then being able to adjust it on the remote seemed to be the easiest option because sometimes you just need a +20 [:D]

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Elite, your gain is set to max??? What size hole are you hiding that thing in?

what can I say I like bass...

this runs in the basement and with only 1 of these subs it can fall behind the rest of the system for the amount of bass that I enjoy, maxing out the sub itself and then being able to adjust it on the remote seemed to be the easiest option because sometimes you just need a +20 Big Smile

Oh man, I just saw your system. I wouldn't expect an RW-12d to keep up with that! You need an upgrade!!!

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Elite....I have crossover on receiver set
at 80 and the crossover on sub turned off...(if you advance the setting
on sub past 150 it turns off).......so, the receiver should be
controlling.

mine is also off but was suggesting
toying around with it to test if the receiver
could be mishandling it (just a easy option to check)

Oh man, I just saw your system. I wouldn't expect an RW-12d to keep up with that! You need an upgrade!!!



this was my upgrade last week[:^)] had nothing this whole year while I sold my svs 12/2 to upgrade the rest of the setup

figured this should get me through winter as I tend to hibernate as much as possible, I debated for a long time what to get and simply decided on a holdover until I can land what I want

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Thanks a lot for spending your time with a detailed response....very helpful. I'm driving 11 year old Klipsch RB5s which will deafen you before they distort. I realize subs are amplified and hence different. Previous sub was a Klipsch KSW with 105 watts and did not bottom until almost the last bit of gain on most material. Still uneasy with notion of RW-12d distorting from about -9 to +11 (latest experimenting). I would like to think that is usable "headroom" for bass if needed. I just wanted to make sure, the unit was not defective during return period. I agree with your analysis of the sub. It is fine for HT and an average performer for music.It should meet my needs considering the $319 price paid. I have listened to HSU and SVS units circa $599 plus shipping and frankly not much better at moderate listening levels.

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