I have a pair of Cerwin Vega D-9's (not the shitty party kind), a power amp and a Yamaha 7.1 receiver. The power amp is connected to the pre-out FRONT slot on the back of the receiver. In other words, my A/V receiver is controlled like a preamp since I use it for selecting sources, adjusting bass + treble but no amplification. When I turn the bass up on the receiver/preamp, the 15" woofer on the speaker moves like crazy but it's pushing out quick bass or a short boom kinda' bass instead of pushing deep bass or long throw. It's hard to explain. Will I need an EQ? Graphic EQ or regular?
OK, but i suggest you read up on speaker placement. Plug it into google and take a look. Also double check the polarity of your speaker connections, or just reverse them from present connection.
"When I turn the bass up on the receiver/preamp, the 15" woofer on the speaker moves like crazy but it's pushing out quick bass or a short boom kinda' bass instead of pushing deep bass or long throw. It's hard to explain. Will I need an EQ? Graphic EQ or regular?"
Yes, well, you do seem to like bass. 2500 watt subwoofers, 15" woofers and cranking the bass all the way up. Julien, you kinda need a good lesson in how this stuff works.
Unfortunately, other than you like bass I don't have much of an idea of what you really expect. Your description above is not very helpful and, if you are as typical in this whole affair as you sound, then "deep bass" isn't really what you're after either.
Most of what is on a disc is not "deep bass" but rather midbass that has been eq'd in the recording process. The lowest frequency you'll get from an electric bass is 41Hz, which just barely qualifies as "deep" bass. Kick drums are not any better.
One problem you'll run into with the bass tone control on your receiver is it is too broad in its effect to be very useful in raising just the bass response without affecting other music along with the bass. So, for the most part, I would tell you to just forgo the tone controls, they are doing more harm than good.
As far as speaker placement goes, I seriously doubt you'll find much value there since speaker placement programs tend to emphasize smooth, clean, well integrated bass response and that doesn't sound like what you're after.
Place your front speakers on the floor and in the corners of the room, so they are sitting at the tri-corners of the two walls and the floor. That will give you maximum bass emphasis. If you need more high frequency response with your speakers sitting on the floor, tilt the speakers backward to aim the tweeter at your listening position.
Your listening position influences how much bass you will hear. Rooms have null points where one wave cancels the other. They also have points where bass response is emphasized. Once you have your speakers postioned in the corners, walk the room from front to back and you'll hear areas where the bass is stronger and weaker. Place your chair in the strongest area for bass.
Until you get a real subwoofer, this is what you'll have to live with. Once the sub is in the system you can change bass quantity with the turn of a knob. Until then you'll just have to realize the CV's are designed to play loud without much power. They are not designed for "deep bass".
Live with what you have until you can insert the subwoofer.
Thanks Jan. Hey Christopher, thanks for the tips but I'm not trying to waste money. The reason why I was considering an EQ was because I once had my CV's in my bedroom which was hooked up to the receiver and my source being the PC. When I played songs from Windows Media Player 11, I had the EQ activated with the two left bars all the way up. My room shook! Now that my CV's are downstairs, I have no EQ and the long throw bass lacks. That's why I want an EQ.