All Klipsch Now and Need Help

[bobkeenan]

I have had a pair of Heresy speakers since 1980 and as far as I can tell they still sound great. So I have built on them. I recently got a Reference RC-35 Center and a pair of RS-35 Surrounds. Mostly because of Wife compromises I have the surrounds on 2 posts in the back of the room. The TV is in a corner. The center is right below the TV. The fronts are on either side of the TV, spaced about 6' apart. Oh and I just got a great EBAY deal on a KSW-12 that I have behind the TV about a foot away from each wall of the corner. I have a Sony reciever. Its a few years old but its a 5.1, 100 w/c. I have the woofer hooked up on a Y cable to the LFE ports and the sony subwoofer. I have all of the speakers set to small and have said yes to the subwoofer. There are also distance settings on the reciever that have been set to the true distances.

It sounds good to me but I wonder if I can get better ; )

I have read a bunch of the threads but I would like to hear suggestions for my system?

1. Should I get rid of the LFE and go directly to the reciever and run the mains off the sub?

2. What should I set all the speakers at (small/large)

3. Any other tips?

Thanks for any help!

[radiob]

Buy the correct surround speakers for your herseys, or use them in 2 channel and buy the refrence mains to match your surrounds. Good Luck.

[bobkeenan]

Thanks for the help but I have all of the speakers now. I am looking for suggestions on subwoofer wiring (lfe vs main) and reciever settings (large/small/distance) and any other suggestions.

[SickPuppy]

I would continue to use the LFE output to the sub so that your not feeding the full spectrum signal and set the Hersey's to large, all others to small.IMO(except no sustitutes,your mileage may vary)

[dougdrake]

Bob - If you continue to use the sub output, I'd set all to small. Heck, I've got my Forte's set to small and they reach way deeper than your Heresy's

However, a setup I like (and will return to after the temporary setup I have now), is to run the speaker leads to the sub, and then on to the mains, and then set your mains as large and sub=no. This gives me infinite control over the crossover using the sub's crossover, something my receiver won't let me do. I am not aware of any downside to this, except that adjusting the channel levels means I have to get out of my chair to adjust the subwoofer level directly on the sub amp.

[bobkeenan]

OK.... I will try main to sub and sub to mains. Do I leave the lfe connected. And if I disconnect that do I loose the .1 of 5.1 ?

[Sublime40]

I don't think you want to have both the speaker inputs and the lfe connected at the same time. This could cause a problem. If you use the speaker inputs, I believe you do lose the .1, that's the output to the sub. Do you have a splitter for the lfe inputs from your sub out? This is required on the KSW-12 to receive full output. Use your amp to set the crossover if it has one and set the crossover on the sub to the highest level. Hope that helps.

[bobkeenan]

The instruction on the ksw-12 say you can hook up either the LFE or the speakers OR both. That did seem strange to me. But I just checked it again.

I do have a splitter on the LFE so there is one subwoofer out on my sony reciever and two LFE in's on the ksw-12. Both are attached with the splitter.

I do not have a crossover on the reciever. Maybe for Christmas I will upgrade it. All I can set is large or small. I can also turn off the Subwoofer out.

If I disconnect the LFE and run the sub off the main out from the reciever. I guess I would turn off the sub on my reciever. So will the Bass be better on a DVD 5.1 this way or with the LFE only?

[SickPuppy]

The lfe output is meant to feed a power sub, it does not feed it line level power, just a signal and then the subs own amp "does the work, so yeah, leave it on and hooked up. And I would still leave the herseys set to large and the crossover on the sub set to where the hersey's star to loose it, or slightly above. If they get weaker around 50, then set the sub to 60 or 75 hz. You really need to experiment with this due to amps, room acoustics and speaker placement. what I suggested works very well for me--in my house--with my speakers....

[colterphoto1]

Look at it this way, if you hook your main L/R through sub then into L/R mains, you may be using the built-in crossover as a high-pass (low filter) for your Heresy's, when they should be able to take full range sound. Also, you will be relegating your sub (in HT mode) to receiving only sounds routed to L/R speakers, when in Dolby Digital 5.1 and better, the sub should be receiving the intended special '.1' mix intended for it. In other words, your sub in this setup might not be getting all the signal it's intended to.

In LFE mode, you can control the amount of bass going to your LCR and surround speakers by using the large,medium, small settings (which is basically a bass rolloff filter in the medium and small modes) to individually control the low frequencies going to each of your 5 speakers, while your sub will be getting the full advantage of the 5. 1 mixes and will receive the signals intended by the producer/mixer.

Hope this helps. Good listening!

[edwinr]

To fully exploit the .1 channel, you need to use the LFE line out from your receiver to the line in on your sub. You may then set your receiver to small/large on your receiver's speaker size selection. I think selecting 'small' on your receiver will give you a bass roll off around 80 hz in your mains - check the setup manual for your receiver. You can also try the other options mentioned above, but using the receiver's setup options will give the best 5.1 sound with the least hassle.