jungzen Posted May 22, 2001 Share Posted May 22, 2001 I am intrigued to know how to setup a sub properly and how does it work. Just bought a sub to connect to my Pioneer DVD-636D with inbuilt DD/DTS decoder connected via 5.1 analogue input of my Marantz SR870 receiver. I am trying to setup the sub to work for both 5.1 ch DVD-Video playback as well as 2 ch music CD playback. I used the LFE preout from the amp via Y cable to the line in of the sub. Is this the right connection? My 5.1 ch ready doesn't appear to have any sub or bass management feature. Does this mean the followings: - 2 ch CD will not have sub freq processed to output via the LFE preout, therefore no sub for CD playback. - .1 output from DVD-Video will be output as is thru the LFE preout. Any freq above the sub crossover will then be discarded and not fed back to the main speakers. As of now, I have not heard the sub works. Perhaps this is due to the materials that I played. I just got the sub and have not played much on it yet. I set the crossover at 60Hz as my main speakers are capable of going down to 47Hz, and the volume at mid level. Appreciate if someone can help me understand this better. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted May 22, 2001 Share Posted May 22, 2001 Please post what kind of sub (brand and model number), and what kind of speakers you're using... will help muchly. Ray ------------------ Music is art Audio is engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted May 22, 2001 Share Posted May 22, 2001 Jungzen - Just to confirm how you have this all hooked up... You have your Pioneer DVDP connected to your Marantz via 6 cables (5.1) into the pre-amp input on the Marantz. You then have the subwoofer (as Ray said, what make/model?) connected to the LFE output of the Marantz. Do you also have a CD player or are you using the Pioneer DVDP for that? Where is the y-connecter you mentioned in this setup? Does the Marantz not have Dolby Digital decoding? Nor DTS? And is that why you are using the analog input letting the DVDP do the decoding? Your DVDP probably has bass management in it. Have you looked there? If so, with proper speaker configuration you should not lose any bass from DVDs or CDs. As Ray asked, please give makes/models on all speakers... Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jungzen Posted May 22, 2001 Author Share Posted May 22, 2001 Thanks for the show of help and sorry for missing the necessary information upfront. Ray, I got a second hand cheapie sub Yamaha YST-SW150 with 2x8" woofer. My 5 speakers are all the first series of B&W 600 - 603 for front, CC6 for centre and 601 for rear. Dougdrake, this is precisely my attempt to inject a new 5.1 DD/DTS life to the old Marants prologic receiver. That's why I bought the Pioneer DVD with inbuilt DD/DTS decoder. And yes, I use this DVD for both DVD-Video and CD playback. The sub is connected via a Y cable to the receiver - 1 RCA from the receiver LFE out and 2 RCA to the sub line in. I have checked the manual - there is no speaker level settings nor bass management with the DVD. I called the Pioneer technician - he said that I need to do that thru my receiver. But the receiver does not have bass management function either. And the speaker level setting are done thru the testtone in prologic mode. I have no idea whether this will be applied for the 6 ch direct connection. I have no clue how to get this to work. Hope you can help me out. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted May 22, 2001 Share Posted May 22, 2001 j, i take it your receiver has inputs for the 5 speaks & a sub(?) it may not be called bass mgmt in your dvdp manual, but if it has dd&dts 5.1 decoders, u should have a speaker set up which u tell it which speakers you're using (& whether a sub or not) & if they are small or large (that's the bass management part). i'd recheck that. ------------------ Klipsch KLF 30 (front), KLF C-7, Cornwall I (rear) Velodyne HGS-18 sub woofer Monsterbass 400 sub interconnects & Monster CX-2 biwire & Z-12 cable Marantz SR-8000 receiver Sony DVP-C650D cd/dvd player Sony Trinitron 27" stereo tv Toshiba hi-fi stereo vcr Technics dual cassette deck Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital cable box Boa's Listenin Lounge: Klipsch RF-3 (front), RC-3, cheap little Technics (rear) Monster MCX Biwires Sony STR-DE935 a/v receiver Kenwood KR-9600 AM/FM stereo receiver (vintage 1975) Russound AB-2 receiver switch to RF-3 Teac PD-D1200 5-disk cd changer Technics direct drive turntable Sega Genesis game player Sub: None yet rock on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jungzen Posted May 22, 2001 Author Share Posted May 22, 2001 Boa, that's what I expected too, but no, the Pioneer dvdp did not come with settings for speaker level only speaker presence. The setup menu has a speaker setting option that allows me to set which of the 5.1 speakers are connected. That's all, there is no small or large settings. I believe this thing should work one way or another. Surely they must have designed a dvdp with inbuilt decoder to be connected to a 5.1 ch ready receiver. I just can't figure out how. Help please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted May 23, 2001 Share Posted May 23, 2001 j, ok now u have the presence set in the pioneer dvdp to output to all 5 speakers & a subwoofer(subwoofer: yes or on)). u have all 6 dvdp outputs connected to the marantz's 6 direct inputs. are u getting sub output on movie dvd w/ a lot of LFE? getting any sub output when u play a 2channel cd? don't know that marantz but maybe it only outputs lfe from it's lfe out (since they call it an lfe & not a sub out). if you're getting dvd lfe but no low bass from the sub when playing cd, have u tried connecting the sub out on the dvdp directly to the sub & playing a cd? if there's no way to get the marantz to output cd low bass to the sub, then u may want to also connect the sub speaker level from the fronts & connect your front speaks to the speaker level outputs of the sub (if your sub has those connections). ------------------ Klipsch KLF 30 (front), KLF C-7, Cornwall I (rear) Velodyne HGS-18 sub woofer Monsterbass 400 sub interconnects & Monster CX-2 biwire & Z-12 cable Marantz SR-8000 receiver Sony DVP-C650D cd/dvd player Sony Trinitron 27" stereo tv Toshiba hi-fi stereo vcr Technics dual cassette deck Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital cable box Boa's Listenin Lounge: Klipsch RF-3 (front), RC-3, cheap little Technics (rear) Monster MCX Biwires Sony STR-DE935 a/v receiver Kenwood KR-9600 AM/FM stereo receiver (vintage 1975) Russound AB-2 receiver switch to RF-3 Teac PD-D1200 5-disk cd changer Technics direct drive turntable Sega Genesis game player Sub: None yet rock on! This message has been edited by boa12 on 05-23-2001 at 12:14 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jungzen Posted May 24, 2001 Author Share Posted May 24, 2001 Well, I have done some more testings. The sub works but just very weak and blown away by my main speakers. I can hardly hear its beats. The sub is probably a wrong match to my system. I tried playing a CD thru the DVD 5.1 channel connected to the amp. It doesn't output any sub bass. I suppose the direct input bypasses the sub processing. I tried with 2 channel connection and the sub output was there. I still need to test with DVD. Currently ordering some titles. Thanks for the help so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilH Posted May 25, 2001 Share Posted May 25, 2001 jungzen: I know dougdrake and boa have both inquired but I have not seen a confirmation from you (unless I am just missing it). How exactly is the DVD player hooked up to the receiver...how many jacks are hooked up? PhilH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buylow Posted May 25, 2001 Share Posted May 25, 2001 I'm really new at this but my sub worked great once I wired the main speaker L & R into my sub too. Left the LFE cable hooked up. 2 ch sound is much improved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jungzen Posted May 28, 2001 Author Share Posted May 28, 2001 Phil, the sub is connected to my amp thru a line level connection. I used the Y cable, 1 RCA plug to the sub preout from the amp, and 2 RCA plugs to the line in of the sub. I have done some more testings now on both CD and DVD and here what I found. 2 ch CD playback gets the sub working well, but muddies the sound. The CD playback definitely sound better in 5.1 channel connection with greater clarity and dynamics. DVD playback didn't start the sub on auto-on well, at times where there are sub frequencies (I know this for sure because I have played the same disk at a friend's system). In both cases, the sub output is very weak and overshadowed by my main speakers. Definitely no rumble and hair raising experience here. Thanks for everyone's tips. At least, I know that the sub now works. It's just that it's probably a poor match. On which topic, can anybody recommend a mid priced sub that will match well with B&W speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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