I have some "multichannel" cds that don't seem to have a sub/LFE track. The cds that do have the LFE seem to all be called "surround sound" and add the "5.1" in the cd booklet of cover. The ones without any apparent sub track are called "multichannel" in my limited sampling.
I have a gorgeous classical cd with lots of bass from a cello - but nothing comes out of the subwoofer. Some fairly deep bass comes out of my 20khz-60hz speakers, but with my sub set to crossover at 100 or even higher - nothing comes out of the sub.
I could put the receiver on surround sound Dolby Pro Logic II or I can hook up speaker level inputs to the sub to get the bass into the sub - but both startegies degrade the sound somewhat.
Am I doing something wrong? Is there a better way? Am I correct in thinking that some or many multichannel cds and dvd-a discs have no subwoofer track?
yes some , i wouldn't say many do not have a sub track.
now when you say multi channel do you mean sacd/dvd-audio.
or just dts and d.d.
if your talking dts and d.d. you just set your speakers in the reciever to be small and say 80hz or higher and set your sub at say 80hz.
then any sounds 80hz and lower go into the sub regardless of whether it has a dedicated sub track.
if your talking sacd/dvd-audio with the 6 analog cables going into the reciever.you do this: set your speakers in the dvd player to be small and say 80hz or higher and set your sub at say 80hz.
then any sounds 80hz and lower go into the sub regardless of whether it has a dedicated sub track.
now the 80hz and alll speakers to small is just a starting point to get the sound to come out the sub. once you got that you can play around with the crossover settings and maybe set your front speakers back to large but with sub on in the respective menus.
if that doesn't get you somewhere then i don't know what will.
Setting speakers to small downgrades the sacd/dvd-a sound right? (these are sacd multichannel - 2 so far from Channel Classics).
Do you mean if I set the left and right speaker to large in the pioneer sacd player that I should still get bass from the surround channels if these are set to small and the left and right would not get downgraded?
but if the pioneer does truly degrade the signal when any speaker is set to smaill "ie bass management"
then you are in a pretty sticky situation because in your case you want the sub to work so you need the bass magement.
i say try it and see how it sounds to you.
on my hk reciever i can adjust bass management even on the sacd/dvd-audio analog inputs so i have adjusted mine from there and hear no degration of sound from doing so.
hmmm - I think my Onkyo 501 can do this too - but it doesn't seem to play any bass still. This is confusing - I guess it will take time to figure it out.
Okay - in case anyone has some advice - here is a summary of my bass management problem:
I have a pioneer sacd player that sends out 5.1 channels. On a sacd that has no sub / LFE track how do I adjust my Onkyo receiver to get something to the bass?
I believe I can set it to either pull bass from all channels, from surround channels, or from the LFE channel only. But this is only if I process the sound more and not in multichannel "pure" mode. I think that when I choose multichannel setting - which does the least processing of any setting - I cannot do anything with the sub within the receiver - in which case I can only tap the speaker wires and hook them up to the sub through the speaker level inputs.
I am guessing that a speaker level input is the best I can do if I run multichannel in my onkyo receiver. Maybe a cabled speaker level input will be pretty good rather than the 16gauge speaker wire I am currently using.
I guess the other option you mentioned Kegger is to try to manage the bass inside of the 563a pioneer sacd player that is famous for ahving some bass management problems. By turning the surrounds to small speaker setting. Do the mains still get the pure super high quality sound that the 563a is known to have? Probably not but can I hear the difference?
(This is me kind of talking out loud to see if I can figure it out)
Ah - manual says that when multichannel mode is selected all subwoofer and other speaker settings are ignored.
So I can decide to hook up speaker level inputs to the sub and unhook the line level, or try to control it in the dvd player, or live without the sub for that disc.
i would try the dvd player and see if you hear a difference.
and yes even if you leave the mains at large that the bass management kicks in and that is where the pioneer is to be sub par.
but can you hear it is the question.
so i say try and see what it does for you.
rtsammy
Unregistered guest
Posted on
You could try hooking the Sub directly to the dvd LFE out, this will tell you if the LFE channel is getting dropped inside the receiver. If it works, you won't want to leave it this way, since you won't be able to track the subs volume with the rest of the system, but it is a good test to tell you where the signal is getting lost.
ukelele
Unregistered guest
Posted on
this might be another option... Outlaw Audio ICBM-1