KSW 15 Sub - help with hookup questions...

[BillA]

Hello,

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Yet another silly newbie question for you all

(BTW thanks for all the advice so far from previous questions I am finally feeling like I am understanding my options, choices and setup moreso than ever before).

Ok this question is about my KSW 15 powered sub, and I will try to make it as short as possible.

I have an Onkyo TX DS575 receiver, 5 channels 75 watts per channel, on the back panel there is a Subwoofer PRE OUT RCA style connector (just one). My KSW 15 sub has an rca style LFE jack (only one) as well as a set of LINE IN R&L rca style inputs.

To be totally honest I got the sub, plugged it in, turned the level to 6, plugged a thick RCA style video cable I had as a spare from the LFE output on the receiver to a Y cable and put that into the two L&R inputs on the sub and left the sub on 24/7, it worked & sounded good, so I never fiddled with it (I was also in an apartment so I never really got to excercise the subs capabilities).

Now I am in a house and have begun the process of upgrading speakers, wires, etc and want to get the most out of setting this system up RIGHT.

KSW 15 sub,

Two mains are gonna be RF-25 or RF-35s (havent decided yet)

Two rear surrounds are Quintets (for now)

Center is a RC-3

On the speakers I will be using a 14 gauge sound king wire

(thanks again to your guys help on gauge and maker of a decent wire).

And I just want to set this sub up properly, If I go with the LFE on the receiver to the one single LFE input on the sub and remove my current Y cable to the L&R RCA inputs on the back of the sub, can I then turn the power switch to AUTO (vs on all the time) so that it will detect bass and kick the sub power on as needed ? I am 99% sure I tried this before and it didnt seem to want to kick ON for me unless there was a lot of bass in the movie or a huge long explosion, but maybe I just did it wrong...

Also on the back of the sub there are other options I dunno about , what is sad is that I did download the pdf of the KSW 15 off the site here and was more confused after reading it than before! First off are in and outs for speakers, I never ran any of my speakers thru the sub, always ran everything directly thru the receiver is that wrong?

The PHASE switch is the only one that made sense to me, and i couldn't tell the difference on 0 or 100 to be honest....

Lowpass, range of 40 to 120, I am guessing this is where you want the cutoff for the bass (in combo with your speaker choice) my speakers will most likely be RF 35s so they go down into the 37 hz range, so should I adjust my sub to go into the low ranges (say 50 or less) and let the RF 35s carry everything above that? Or do I run the fronts from the receiver to the speaker inputs on the sub then from the sub to the speakers (and it somehow makes a cutoff of the mains so the sub handles bass and the mains are restricted internally by the sub? Or am I not really understanding how that works? Currently I have it set in the middle around 90 and again I have never hooked up speakers

TO the sub, only that one RCA line from the receiver to the sub for bass sound.

Thanks for input on this, just wanna make sure when I do get my main speakers (probably the RF 35s) that I come home, use good wires, do it right, set it up right and get the most bang for my buck so to speak by setting it up properly.

Bill

[yromj]

The LFE connection SHOULD be the way to go. Just run it from the pre-out on the receiver to the LFE "In" on the sub.

Don't run the speaker wires from the receiver to the sub to the speakers. This is only necessary if you're receiver doesn't have any other way to power the sub.

Set the phase to 0 for most cases. The chances of needing to be 180 are very slim w/ only one sub.

Turn the cross-over (low-pass) all the way up. Otherwise you'll have cascading cross-overs (receiver and sub) and this is never a good idea. If you want to run your mains as large, set them to large in the receiver's menu. I know you'll find this "frustrating", but try your speakers as both large and small (very horrible terms for what's really going on). Small will send the bass starting at the cross-over frequency down to the sub. This will free up your mains for (I believe) clearer mid-range and give you more available power overall. Remember, just experiment to see which sounds best to you.

John

[big c]

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you use the LFE input in the sub you bypass the internal cross-over in the sub other than that every thing sounds right.

[Trey Cannon]

BIG C you are right, it will by pass the subs xover.

Not only that , but it will lower the output from the sub.

The LFE input is built to receive as much as 10db more input, therefore in stereo play, there will be very little out.

the only time it will have the "right:" amount of output is in a dts or dd5.1 mode.

I suggest , if you will use the system for more than movies, use the "Y" and go into the L & R inputs.

this will let you get all you can out of the sub when in stereo mode and the only draw back is that you will have 2 xovers in line with eachother. The lower one will be doing all the work , the other will just make the slope a bit steeper.

[yromj]

I wasn't sure about using the LFE connection on the sub. I have a question though. If his receiver is setup to use a sub, it will send the signal out of the sub pre-out regardless of source material (ie, CD, DD, DTS, etc.). Therefore, why would the input to the sub be less? I could see it if his receiver were setup to only pass true LFE signals to the sub, but if his receiver is setup using say an 80Hz cross-over point, why would it make a difference then?

John