Not getting enough bass: Any ideas?

[mchuckp]

I received a VTF2mk3 a few days ago. It is connected to an Onkyo 803 receiver. My speakers are all Aperion. My mains crossover at 80hz and my center and surrounds at 100hz. I have the sub at extension to 18hz and one port plugged.

I got it hooked up via the LFE. The volume dial goes to 5 and I have it a little past 1. This thing is much more powerful than my old 10" JBL sub. In my receiver using test tones from Digital Video Essentials and a SPL meter I had to set my sub level at -13. It goes from -15 to +15.

When I'm watching a bluray or HD-DVD movie it seems fairly decent to me. But during 2.1 music playback and particularly regular TV I'm just not getting much.

I watched TV this evening for a few hours and watched American Idol, Survivor, and CSI. I purposely watched them at a higher volume than usual and not ONCE did the sub ever turn on. After this, I put in some test tones just to make sure it works and it did kick on.

I could argue that a lot of music and TV doesn't go below 80hz and that is why I'm not getting anything but my old sub would kick on fairly regularly and I used the same crossover. Again, it was less powerful and the volume on the sub was louder and the level in my receiver was much closer to "0".

Am I doing something wrong? Is having the level in my receiver so low that it is hurting output? Should I turn the sub down below "1" and readjust my receiver?

I just don't know what else I should do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd really like to appreciate this sub but just doesn't seem to wanna do any work unless I'm watching a bluray or HD-DVD movie and fairly high volumes.

Mike

[Pete_Hsu]

Mike, could you describe for me exactly how the subwoofer is connected to your receiver, and what settings you are using on the sub amp? Also verify that your front speakers are set to 80Hz crossover.

Is there any particular reason that your center and rear speakers are set to 100Hz crossover? What happens when you set the crossover to 80Hz for all speakers (front/center/rear)?

Note that the gain (ie. volume) on the subwoofer amplifier should be set to about 9-10 o'clock. Also, try removing the port plug and setting the 'Bass Extension' switch on the subwoofer amp to the 2 port open mode. This will give more output capability and punch. Also, try inverting the phase on the subwoofer amplifier to see if you notice any difference.

Right now, it sounds as if you are only getting bass from the subwoofer on LFE effects from movies. You should be using an RCA subwoofer interconnect and sending that from your 'Sub Out' on the receiver to the 'Sub In' on the subwoofer amp, while setting the Crossover switch on the subwoofer to 'Out'.

As an aside, if you don't mind providing a rough sketch of your room, then I can give you some placement recommendations too.

Thanks!

[Bill3508]

Your sub level setting on the receiver is way too low. Its keeping the signal so low that its not strong enough for the sub to come on. Try to keep it about -5 and recalibrate. Also, depending on the source for you music you may have to bump the sub up some. Sat radio is highly compressed and void of bass. CD should be fine though. But first recalibrate given the above info and see how it sounds.

Bill3508