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RSW-15 �Auto-on�


Macallan

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I recently added a Peach II preamp to my RF-7, RSW-15 set up and have a question about the “Auto-on” feature of the sub. I now have the sub connected to the second set of outputs on the Peach and tell the Rotel receiver that I have “NO” subwoofer. What I have noticed is that the “Auto-on” feature of the RSW-15 is much less sensitive than with the previous sub out from the Rotel. I have to really turn up the volume on the Rotel (Peach in HT Bypass mode) to get the sub to come on. Any know why? Also I have noticed that when watching TV the sub never comes on unless it is Dolby Digital.

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I bought a used RSW-15 to replace my RSW-12 a while back. I've never been able to get the Auto-On feature to work. It worked great with the 12. We're not the first to have this issue. I think there's more to it. Mine is under warranty but I've been too lazy to take it apart to send in for service so I just keep it on all the time and set the crossover from my receiver. Don't know about the Dolby Digital thing. Is that a setting on your TV or your reciever? I'm not very bright when it comes to HT stuff.

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I have 2 RSW-12's in my set up and found the same problem with the auto on . So now I just leave them on all the time, except when I go on vacation. This way they are always ready and warm.

Ditto. I leave my SVS on 100% of the time unless I'm going to be gone a few days or more.

Dolby Digital probably sends a hotter signal to the sub and that's why it wakes up.

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I own an RSW-15 and had the same confusing situation with it not "auto-on"ing during lower volume sessions. This canbe especially maddening if you have your mains crossed over and send all low-pass content material to your sub.

My original freebie fix was to boost the subwoofer channel on my receiver's preamp to +7-10dB and lower the gain knob on the RSW-15 to maintain system balance. That way the sub sees a hotter input signal and turns on at a lower listening level than it would if you have the sub channel set flat.

The downsides are if you have any significant system noise in your sub you just raised your noise floor by 7-10dB and your preamp will start to clip 7-10dB sooner on the sub channel than your other preamp channels, assuming you have the other channels set to 0 dB. I have never had issue with noise or my preamp clipping so this solution worked well enough. It still took a higher volume setting on the preamp to get the sub to kick on than I would have liked.

My current solution is provided by using my Rotel line coditioner. It has switched AC outlets for the amp and sub power. So now I leave the RSW-15 switched "ON" and let the 12v trigger from my pre/pro control when the sub powers up.

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For me, it isn't a problem with movies since I can use the receiver's crossover. I have a Scott 299b with a center channel that I sometimes hook the sub to. The 1960 299b of course does not have an internal crossover setting so I must rely on the RSW-15's auto-on crossover setting. It never kicks on when I use the auto-on, even at 120hz like it did with my RSW-12 so I have to keep it on at all frequencies when I really only want it from about 50hz and below. Is this really an issue with all RSW-15s? Anyone else try it with an old tube amp's center channel? The RSW-12 worked beautifully.

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