Yesterday, after getting home from a holiday trip, I turned on my system and discovered that my sub was not working. So, I wanted to adjust the settings properly to perform without it. By the way, I tested the 990 with an older sub, and it worked fine, so I know the signal from the 990 is not the problem.

So, I set my mains (Polk LSi9's) to large and changed the sub to "none" while leaving my center and surrounds at small. I then went into the crossover settings menu and reduced the mains to 40 from 80 and noticed a substantial DECREASE in base output. So, I played around with it and found that every crossover setting for the mains over 40 produced a large and somewhat boomy amount of bass from the mains.....all while the sub is set to none and the mains are at large while playing in stereo/upsample modes.

When setting the mains to large and sub to "none" I thought I was disabling the crossover function for the mains all together. So, I'm wondering how altering them would increase the bass signal.....even just setting them to 60 makes the mains sound boomy......and when set higher, the mids and highs become increasingly thin and muted while the bass becomes evern more pronounced. If anything, I would think just the opposite whould occur.

They seem to sound best when the crossover is set a 40....but, now I'm wondering if that setting is even correct.....and if there is a problem within the calibration function of the 990 that needs to be addressed.

The LSis are a two and a halfway shelf speaker with a 3 db roll off at 50hz and have a surprisingly strong bass. A lot of people don't even use a sub with them for music....and I'm thinking of doing the same.

Would I be better off setting the mains to small and sub to "yes"
with the cossover at 40 even though I don't have a sub connected?

Would appreciate any advice on what to do and if you think there is a problem with the 990. Thanks

where in the world is Gonk?

John226,

I just tried the settings you described and could not replicate the bass issue. I have set my mains to large with no sub, everything else set to small and tried the various crossover settings WITHOUT hearing any difference in bass output with my speakers. I tried it in stereo, bypass and upsampling with no difference. I am wondering if it is an intermittent glitch. Sometimes my 990 will not produce a signal for my mains when I switch from one setting to another. So what I found out I had to do was to turn off the 990 which reset itself and the mains are back on again. Happens very infrequently and something I have learned to live with. Also wondering if you have to upload the latest firmware and reset your 990 to stop your issue. Hopefully Gonk will chime in on this.

Slbenz

Thanks Slbenz...I will try the reset today and see if that solves it. Unfortunately, I am a Mac user which makes installing the new firmware more of a challenge. I really appreciate you running the test on your machine....at least I know now something is definitely off with mine. If I don't get it fixed this weekend, I'll call Outlaw on Monday.

Slbenz...

Thought you might be interested in what happened.....I turned the 990 off and on, and at first there was no change. Then I tried changing the surrounds to "none" and that seemed to have fixed it, even after resetting them to small.

So all is good for now at least. Thanks so much for your help, and Happy New Year.

John

John,

Glad to hear that you may have found a way to solve your problem. I had a feeling it was something to do with settings and your 990 like mine just needed a "little" nudge to correct itself. I see that you are from Sacramento and I have several family members that reside in Sacramento and the Elk Grove area and visit quite often. If you ever visit near Fremont, which is where I reside, look me up so that you can see and hear another follow Outlaw's home theater system. Happy New Year to you as well.

Slbenz

Thanks, will do. I've only had my 990 for a few months. It replaced a mid level Yamaha I was using as a pre. One of the things I've noticed is how much punchier and cleaner the bass is in addition to the vastly improved sound stage, depth and clarity of the overall sound. So, I am really enjoying it....quirks and all.