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LovemyHSU Unregistered guest | Hello everyone, I've just purchased an HSU STF-3. Thanks to all your comments and recommendations(especially Peter Galbraith) Salut!. It's like the hand of god shaking my basement!! But I digress. I am renovating my basement HT room and will be stripping the walls. I decided it would be a good idea to have to subwoofer cable go in the walls. So I went to my local electronics shop and purchased Rg-6 cable (quad sheild) and Rca connectors. Now from my receiver to the subwoofer, which is behind the listening position, there's about 40 feet if you follow the walls which the cable will. So I plug it in and it is just awful. I lose so much signal. I completely lose the bass in the last part of the THX intro!! Where my problem? Not the right cable. Lenght too long? Bad connection somewhere? I am currently running a Monster Cable 20 feet which is right in the middle of the room. After reading many post on the subject I gathered those expensive cables were not worth the money As long as you can get it to work I guess !! Help Thanks Eric |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 529 Registered: Dec-03 | The first suspect is the connectors. Having a solid connection is critical and the easiest to get wrong. If you have meter try testing the center and ground to make sure you've got it right. 40 feet of low level audio signal on good coax should be fine. Next, I would suspect the routing of the cable. Does it run by any electrical wires or lighting? |
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Gold Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 1415 Registered: Feb-04 | Salut ! Glad you like the Hsu ! I don't have any better ideas concerning the cable. Test it with a multimeter. It pretty much has to be a connector problem. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 5741 Registered: May-04 | I'm a bit confused as to what exactly is going on with the position of the sub. Is the sub now in the middle or the back of the room? Is the problem occurring with the sub in the same (middle of the room) location using the new cable? Or is the problem occurring when the new cable is used with the sub (placed behind the listening position) in a new location? Has the listening position changed at all? I would place my bets on the problem being caused by either the position of the sub or your listening position. Have you done any research on how to obtain the best bass response from your sub in your room? You could be sitting in the middle of a standing wave or other significant room problem. I'm going to discount the connections as the problem, though they are easy to check. Usually a connection to an RCA either works or it doesn't. A bad connection will, more often than not, shut down a channel completely. Check it anyway, it doesn't cost anything. I'm not a big fan of RG-6 for a subwoofer cable, I would always prefer a low capacitance, two conductor shielded cable. But, signal loss is not normally frequency selective in the way you describe. Typically if you have the upper bass, you will also have the lower bass. Routing problems will cause noise, not frequency loss. I'm going to assume I have understood the situation correctly in the first place and suggest you try the new cable in the old location before you proceed further. If the problem persists in this arrangement, I would either remake the existing cable being very careful of stray strands of shielding or buy some two conductor shielded cable and begin again. Before you take the trouble to run the new cable through the wall, check its operation with the subwoofer in place. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 530 Registered: Dec-03 | Hah! Good point! If you had only changed one thing and then had a problem it would be easy to identify. |
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LovemyHSU Unregistered guest | Thanks for all your help and no the subwoofer had not changed position. New cable, New sub, new placement right behind the listening position about 10 feet from the back wall. I'll chexk my connections |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 5788 Registered: May-04 | I don't know what results you had before the change in cable; but placing a sub in the center of the room is about the worst position you could choose. I will ask again. Have you read anything regarding placement for the best results? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 535 Registered: Dec-03 | http://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/Loudspeakers%26RoomsPt3.pdf |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 2038 Registered: Mar-05 | wow, that's some heavy stuff there Tim. Wish I had the time, patience and concentration to digest it all...this is one reason I've hesitated to invest in one of those Behringer EQs for my sub. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 536 Registered: Dec-03 | One sure fire way to annoy everyone in your home and potentially your neighbors is to run bass test tones for a couple of hours while you adjust your parametric EQ. |
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bear paws Unregistered guest | lovemyhsu - Eric Some how I get the feeling ur sub amp is not with the speakers. Rather u r trying to run speaker line out from the subamp 40ft to the sub speakers thru RG-6 ??? tell me it ain't so. If not then disregard this post and no insult intended. |
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Silver Member Username: MixneffectOrangevale, Ca. USA Post Number: 395 Registered: Apr-05 | "So I went to my local electronics shop and purchased Rg-6 cable (quad sheild) and Rca connectors. Now from my receiver to the subwoofer, which is behind the listening position, there's about 40 feet if you follow the walls which the cable will." _______________________________________________________ At 40 ft, you will need a signal amplifier. That is way too long for RCA/low level cables. The RG-6 cable is something I would resomend for audio, let alone a sub woofer application. Subwoofers draw more energy than any other type of speaker in a speaker system. This requires excellent power distribution. I would recommend that you would run EMT or flex in the walls, so that you may fish your cables through, or replace them without too much hassle. Personally if I were to bet on anything it would be the cable type, and length. I wouldnt rule out the connections, but I believe that the others have a higher probability. __________________________________________________________ |
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Silver Member Username: MixneffectOrangevale, Ca. USA Post Number: 396 Registered: Apr-05 | For the record; "I am currently running a Monster Cable 20 feet which is right in the middle of the room." ________________________________________________________ Since the sound was so unpleasant, he decided to run some shorter 20' Monster Cables, until the problem is solved. So I am guessing that the sub is now, either back in its place, but with thw Monster RCA's runnin accross the floor, or the sub may be in the middle of the room. But thats not his complaint. He was unhappy with the way it performed prior to the latest subwoofer location. It pays to read carefully. _______________________________________________________________ Correction: The RG-6 cable is something I would resomend for audio, let alone a sub woofer application. The RG-6 cable is something I would NOT RECOMEND for audio, let alone a sub woofer application. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 5847 Registered: May-04 | Mix - Please help me with how this could happen if the problem is the cable type? "I completely loose the bass in the last part of the THX intro!!" If I read that correctly, the situation is such that there is bass content until the signal decends to a certain frequency. In the extreme low frequencies, there is little to no output. I understand how capacitance rolls off frequencies, but not at the extreme lows with this cable's likely measurements. Likewise, I cannot see inductance nor resistance playing a part in this problem. As I said, I am not a fan of RG-6 for a subwoofer connection (though I've seen it many times when the installation is done by a shop); but I don't see where the cable itself could have this affect. The output impedance of the LFE out should be low enough to allow a 40' run of audio cable without a signal amplifier. You may be correct but I don't understand how you came to these conclusions. Also, a little more information from the original poster would be helpful here. |
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bear paws Unregistered guest | Bear paws u dummy. I should have first found out what a HSU STF_# was before engaging keyboard. Really disregard my stupidity. However i'm certain you found the problem by now,so what was it? |