Receiver and Subwoofer Crossover Setup
One of the most confusing subjects for first-time owners of surround sound A/V receivers is correctly setting the speaker and crossover menu. If you've ordered a 5.1-channel home theater speaker system complete with subwoofer, most of us understand that the subwoofer takes over much of the deep bass energy from the other speakers in the system. But where we all go wrong is assuming that we have to adjust the "crossover" in the subwoofer in addition to the crossover in the receiver's setup menu. For most installations, there is just one adjustment, and it's made in the receiver's speaker setup menu. All A/V receivers have a single RCA jack labeled "Subwoofer Out" or "LFE Out", which stands for Low Frequency Effects, Dolby's term for the .1 subwoofer channel. When you call up the receiver's speaker setup menu on-screen, there will be a question regarding whether you have a subwoofer running and what crossover frequency you want to use (some receivers may not give you a choice of frequency; they will likely be factory set at 80 Hz or 100 Hz). If you are using a subwoofer, choose the subwoofer "On" setting, and an 80-Hz crossover frequency. With Axiom bookshelf or center-channel speakers, or any other bookshelf or moderate-size two-way tower (e.g., the M40ti), set them to "Small". While you are at it, set the surround speakers to "Small" as well. In this mode, the receiver will route all deep bass frequencies below 80 Hz to the subwoofer via the receiver's rear-panel "Subwoofer Out" jack. For Axiom's larger tower speakers--the M80ti's, M60ti's, and M50ti's -- depending on the particulars of room size, start by selecting the "Large" setting on your receiver for the left and right main speakers, and "Small" for the center and surround channels. With these settings, and the subwoofer set to "On," most receivers will route full-range sound, including deep bass, to the main left and right speakers, and bass below 80 Hz to the "Sub Out" jack on the rear panel of the receiver. (Some rooms may benefit from smoother bass by getting deep bass from three room locations--the sub plus the main left and right speakers--rather than a single subwoofer.) If running your left and right fronts on "Large" produces too much bass output, change the settings for the mains to "Small." You can also experiment with crossover frequencies, raising the center-channel crossover frequency to 120 Hz if you find that results in smoother dialog sound with less coloration. But 80 Hz is a generally desirable crossover frequency in most applications. Make sure you connect a single RCA coaxial cable from the "Sub Output" jack to either the left or the right line-level RCA input on the subwoofer. You don't need to use a Y-adaptor to connect both jacks. But you do want to set the subwoofer's crossover to its maximum rotation so you remove it from the circuit. This is done to avoid "cascading" two crossovers, which might cause uneven and erratic deep bass output. The only occasion where you will need to use the subwoofer's built-in crossover control is when you are not using a line-level "Sub Out" connection from an A/V receiver. If you are running an older two-channel stereo receiver or an integrated amplifier that lacks a subwoofer output jack, connect the subwoofer by running the receiver's left and right speaker cables to the subwoofer's high-level or "speaker-level" input connectors. A second set of speaker cables would then run between the subwoofer and your main left and right front speakers. In this scenario, you would adjust the subwoofer crossover control to achieve a smooth blend between your main speaker's bass output and the subwoofer's deep bass output. Again, setting the sub's crossover control to the 80-Hz position is a good place to start. If you use a crossover frequency much higher than 80 Hz, deep bass will start to be directional, so you risk hearing the subwoofer as a "source" of sound, which is what you want to avoid. Of course, if you have your subwoofer at the front of the room near your main speakers, it doesn't matter if the sub's output becomes directional. You can use a higher crossover frequency if you get a smoother transition between the mains and the sub. In either scenario, a good alignment DVD such as the Sound & Vision Home theater Tune-Up disc is a useful tool for fine-tuning the balance between the subwoofer and your main speakers. The RadioShack sound-level meter is also helpful when used with the Tune-Up DVD subwoofer test signals. by Alan Lofft (bio), Axiom Audio (reprinted with permission) Looking for a new subwoofer? Start by visiting Axiom's subwoofer page to see what you need to consider. |
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     Unregistered guest |
Hi, i'm from Uruguay. i've a Home Cinema System Philips LX700 with a passive subwoofer. The subwoofer produces a plastic vibration with 20Hz Frequency, but the subwoofer specifications say that handle freq is 40Hz - 150 Hz. My question is, how can the subw reproduce the 20 Hz Freq if just handle 40Hz - 150Hz??? |
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Anonymous |
Your frequency will go down to 20 hz as stated by the manufacturer, it just depends on how much higher the frequency you want the subwoofer to handle. You then have the ability to set the subwoofer to handle from 20-40Hz .. 20-50Hz .. etc etc up to 20-150 Hz. |
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Unregistered guest |
Hi I have a Panasonic home theater system. I want ot know how to get the biggest thump out of my subwoofer? |
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Unregistered guest |
Hi I have a Panasonic home theater system. I want ot know how to get the biggest thump out of my subwoofer? |
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Anonymous |
Hi, I have a subwoofer that only has 8 inputs for left and right speakers and a line for lfe in. How do I connect this to my receiver and the rest of my surround sound system? |
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Anonymous |
OPTION 1 ====== For the center and surrounds, you want to connect them directly to the receiver and set them to small. Set the receiver crossover Hz to near what your speaker Hz are. That's your only choice, example: if these speakers only go to 155Hz and your options are 120Hz or 200Hz in the receiver select one (whichever one sounds best). For the front left and right, connect the receiver front outputs to the subwoofer speaker inputs. Connect the subwoofer speaker outputs to the physical left and right speakers. Set the subwoofer crossover Hz to near what your speakers are. In the receiver, set the front speakers to large. Unfortunately, because of this, you cannot also attach the receiver's sub-out to the subwoofer. As a result, you lose the .1 in 5.1 completely. OPTION 2 ====== Set the receiver crossover Hz near your speakers Hz, all speakers to small, the subwoofer Hz near your spearkers Hz. Connect the subwoofer to the receiver sub-out. Connect the front speakers to the receiver left and right speaker outputs set to small. |
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Unregistered guest |
I have a non power subwoofer and my receiver has a subwoofer output which also supports LFE. when I hook the non power sub to the output on the receiver there's no sound. is there a way to get sound for example hooking up one of the front main speaker to the sub in then hooking the sub output on the receiver to one of the main front together at the same time, or will that blow a channel. I have a 600 watt 6.1 receiver with 100x6 |
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Unregistered guest |
I Have an Philips lX700 speaker system connected to my PC. My Soundcard is a 5.1 Realtek 6XX series chip. I am not at all satisfied with the slow and low powered bass, my system is giving out. I tried every sub placement experiments. How can I ever get some good punch from my system. |
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Unregistered guest |
I Have an Philips lX700 speaker system connected to my PC. The company claims it to output 300W of RMS power. Actually It's power is far below than some 150W local speakers. Someone please help, if this might be due to abnormal setup |
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