Max_Durham Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 I am new to home theater and need some guidance on how to tweak my KSW-12. Basically it sounds muddy when playing music. It sounds better (but not great) with HT. It is connected via the sub-out on the receiver. I am not experienced with HT, so please make any advice clear and simple. Thank you, Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Place the sub out of corners,alongside the front wall. About 2 feet from the front wall(if possible). What main speakers do you have? Are your speakers set to small or large? How big is your room? The KSW line of subs tend to become boomy when placed in corners unless cut below 60Hz. If you cut your sub at 80Hz(reciever preset)the alongside the fron wall and 1-2 feet away from the back wall should give you as clean bass as you may hope from your KSW. TheEAR(s) Now theears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Durham Posted June 27, 2002 Author Share Posted June 27, 2002 TheEAR, Due to maintaining harmony with my wife, the sub is in the corner behind the tv and component stand. Altering this configuration may be the best solution, but this is unlikely due to the above. Due to my wife's wish not to overkill our living room with speakers, I had to compromise and go with the Quintet system. In return I will get a bonus room above the garage in the new house and will be able to select accordingly. I viewed this as a reasonable compromise as she takes a lot of pride in the interior appearnce of the house. She has also realized the limits of the Quints when it comes to music. But they are hidden and do very well for HT. The Quints are set to small. I have experimented with a SC-1 as the center and have had good results by tweaking the inputs. I set the center to large when using the SC-1 and small with the Quint center. Still deciding which to use. The room is about 14' X 16'. When you say cut the sub to 80 hz, that would mean on the sub itself, correct? Will this "tighten-up" the sub? What do you mean by the receiver preset? Due to the speaker placement issue, is a down firing sub the best option? TheEAR, thanks for your help. Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Depending on your receiver, the sub preout is usually pre-set to cut the output above 80hz so it does not go to the sub. The Quintets only go down to about 100-120 hz, so cutting the sub at 80hz leaves a 1/2 octave hole. On my Dad's Quintet setup, we had to set the fronts to large (and say Sub=No in the setup), and then wire both the sub (using the speaker level inputs) and the front Quintets to the receiver directly. We did not use the receiver's sub out as it was fixed at 80hz crossover. I'd suggest setting the fronts to large, wiring as described above, and set all other speakers to small (including the center regardless of whether you use the SC-1 or the Quintet center). Set the crossover on the sub up at 120hz or so (that might be the highest setting), and then set your sound levels accordingly using the test tones or a calibration disk. Also, you may have the volume of the sub set too high, which can cause it to sound boomy and overpowering, I believe. Calibrating the setting, as mentioned, should help that. The best calibration is done with a Radio Shack analog SPL meter (about $35) because your ears have a hard time correctly assessing low frequency volume. Doug ------------------ My System Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Durham Posted June 28, 2002 Author Share Posted June 28, 2002 Doug...thanks for the reply. I will check the sub volume first and try and adjust it accordingly. I have a Yamaha RXV-1200 receiver and I don't know off hand what the crossover is fixed at. I will check this out and see if it is fixed or can be adjusted?????. I will study on wiring the sub to the speaker level inputs. Thanks again, Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Max - To clarify, the way you hook both the sub and the front main speakers to the Yamaha is to run left and right pairs of speaker wire from the speakers AND the sub back to the Yamaha, then connect both sets of wires to the appropriate (+/-, L/R) binding posts, so that each binding post has two speaker wires on it. If there isn't room, let us know and we'll give you some options (like stacking banana plugs, using a drill chuck to twist 'em up tight, etc...) Doug P.S. On page 12 of your owner's manual, it says that the cut-off point of the sub output is 90hz, so I would still advise you to use the wiring method suggested above, and set it to sub=NO and front=Large. ------------------ My System Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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