VTF-2 But Not?

[Oz-E]

Hi. I recently purchased a VTF-2 off of a contact at avsforums.com

Im extremely happy so far but in the process of configuring etc The manual says that I should let my reciever be the crossover and flip the In/Out switch to the Out position.

Problem being is I have no In/Out swithc on the back. In fact my layour is quite a bit different to that of the diagram.

Im a little confused as to how I should set it up. The mains are a set of Polk Audio R40. The specs in the manual for these are.

Overal Frequency Response: 40Hz - 24kHz
-3db Limits: 50Hz - 20kHz

I guess Im trying to work out where I should set the crossover on the sub and the filter on my reciever. Wont they clash?

Sorry for the newbie questions Im pretty new to the game.

At the moment my setup sounds great to me anywhere in the room even in my listening position while standing. As soon as i sit in my listening position however the bass is automatically killed and it sounds quite horrid.

Any expertise is appreciated!

Thankyou and kudos to Dr. HSU

[Sasha_G]

The "in/out" switch we were referring to was the one on the subwoofer. I have a question:

Are you using a Dolby Digital compatable receiver?

If you are using a Dolby Digital receiver, it will have a subwoofer output, and all the crossovers are handled in the digital domain by the receiver. The subwoofer's crossover should be disengaged by switching it to "OUT". Out is just an engineering term for "disengaged" or "off".

The crossovers on the receiver should then be set to around 80 Hz, and all the speakers should be set to "SMALL" on the receiver also. "SMALL" means that the speakers will not try to act like a "big" subwoofer, and bass management will be used to route their bass to the sub.

Regarding sub placement, are you sitting in the center of the room? Bass often gets cancelled out there.

For the best room placement advice, please fill out the following form to provide us with all the information necessary.

http://www.hsuresearch.com/support/index.php?id=36

Dr. Hsu will get back you as soon as possible. He is on the road right now, but he said he will try to check his email.

In the meantime, some rules of thumb:
1) corner placement on the opposite side of a large room opening is good.
2) near field placement within a few feet of the listener can sometimes reduce the room effects while allowing you to turn down the sub (which disturbs others less and gives you more maximum output capacity).

[Oz-E]

Sasha thanks alot for your reply.

I wasnt too clear on my original post on a few things so to clean them up.

My sub actually has no OUT switch on the back to disable its crossover? Im wondering if there were earlier versions that didnt have this?

My entire backpanel is actually a different layout.

As far as the room placement goes im in the mids of getting the info together to send into Dr. HSU.

Im tryed everything to my knowledge and bass is still non existant when sitting.

Thanks again.

[Ddavidson]

Nothing wrong with your VTF-2 or your description you gave as my VTF-2 is identical, and if you read all of the VTF-2 reviews (except The Audio Critic review) it describes and shows your setup.
http://hsuresearch.com/reviews/

Just turn your VTF-2 crossover setting to max (125Hz) as your receivers crossover point will be below that. By doing this you are effectively bypassing the VTF-2s internal crossover frequency and slope. Even if you have a bypass switch, for good measure you should leave the internal crossover frequency at its highest point.

The internal crossover inside *any subwoofer* are in most normal cases never needed. It really is a case of our needs from the old *stereo only* days now being made obsolete by the more popular surround sounds needs for handling 5.1 channels of bass management.


Ddavidson

[Sasha_G]

Yes, on the old one you just turn the dial all the way to 125. There is no content in Dolby Digital or DTS above that frequency anyhow.

[Lwang]

But doesn't the phase shift start at least one octave before the cutoff freq?

[Sasha_G]

Lwang,

Not sure I understand. Please explain.

[Lwang]

The phase shift of a crossover is gradual and starts occuring before the cutoff freq. So if you set the xo freq on the sub @ 125hz, and it has a 2nd order design. At 60-80hz, the crossover is already having an effect on the signal. By the time all the soundwaves are recombined from all the speakers at the listening position, there might be some cancellations.

[Oz-E]

ok I wish i had a clue what u were saying as maybe its relevant to my situation.

Any chance u can put that in lamens terms for me?

Cheers