Hello All,


I spent some time playing around with the settings in my Model 990 last night. Specifcally I changed my front L and R to large. When I did this the setting for my sub immediately changed from "Yes" to "L/R+Sub". With this setting, I believe that a full range signal is sent to my front left and right channel, and anything below the cross over point that I have set for the front left and right and the other 5 channels gets sent to the sub in addition to any LFE signal from the source material. So I guess this is called "double bass". I've been reading some older posts around the Hideout and it seems that this is considered my many to be a bug. Some others consider this just generally bad practice. Having turned this on and tinkering with the x-over point for my front left and right, I've discovered that I rather like the way it sounds.

So, I guess my question is this: Why are so many people against this type of setup? And if it's really considered bad practice, why would it even be an option? I know it comes down to listener preference. I just curious to hear other's stances on the matter.


as always, thanks in advance.


later,
simp

Ahhhh, someone has asked the quetion I want answered as well. I don't understand whats going on either.

I've listened to music using that same setup with my Yamaha RX-V1400. And yes, while in general people will think it sounds better, that's because it is louder and has more presence or fullness. A similar effect comes from speakers with more drivers, I think.

However, I found that listening carefully showed that this "double-bass" setup was less faithful to the original sound. Low-frequency notes would have less precision at the start and end points. Kind of like when that pedal is held down on a piano. I also think this would tend to produce extra bass in the frequencies where your front speakers overlap the subwoofer, but not provide a corresponding increase in the lower frequencies which cannot be reproduced by your front speakers.

If you enjoy this "double-bass" though, you might get a more faithful reproduction of sound by adding a second subwoofer and/or increasing the gain on your subwoofer(s) a tiny bit so it plays slightly louder than it would if correctly calibrated.

So what you're saying here is that while I might get increased (read "bloated" or "over emphasized") bass response, I am probably lacking in the mid-bass frequencies? Makes sense. Thanks. Still open for more input....


later,
simp

Very interesting. I, too, found that I liked the L/R+Sub setting. In addition, it is kind of "get my money's worth" issue - I spent a lot on full size, floor standing B&W speakers that are able to produce the full range of frequencies, so I want them to play full range. But I like bass, so I have a Velodyne to ensure I get the bottom end I'm looking for in both music and HT.

I may play around with it more to listen more carefully to the accuracy issues mentioned above.

In my system, the "double bass" setup cost me some accuracy. My floorstanders aren't designed to handle signals below about 50-60 Hz, but they tried anyway... so when they saw some heavy, deep bass, it led to some distortion. After rerouting all the bass to the subwoofer, I found it to sound noticeably clearer.

This might not be a problem for you if you have truly full range speakers, or if you're not an organ fanatic. Lots of variables. Doesn't cost you anything to try it out. If you like it better, then by all means go for it!