Hello again.

I have connected four vintage Polk Monitor 10s for my fronts and surrounds. Using the DVD Master and Commander for my testing I found the cannon fire less impactful than I remember from my old Polk SurroundBar/PSW10 sub setup. So I have connected the PSW10 to the SUB/LFE output, set its crossover all the way up at 160Hz and turned on the SUB from the SPKR menu. The Monitor 10s reach down to 37Hz at the -3dB limit so I set the XOVER at the lowest setting: 60Hz. Additionally I have my stereo preamp/turntable plugged into the fronts of the 5.1 DIRECT.

So tell me if I am right or wrong about the following:

If I leave all four Monitor 10s set to LARGE, then I will only be sending the LFE (.1) channel to the PSW10. If I choose a stereo source (FM, CD, etc.) then no signal will go to the sub. This arrangement produces more punchy bass effects in surround modes but I detect no signal in stereo mode or 5.1 DIRECT.

If I set all Monitor 10s to SMALL, then all of the bass below 60Hz plus LFE go to the sub including surround sound and stereo inputs, but not from DIRECT inputs.

Am I understanding all this correctly?

Regards,
Jim

You understand correctly. There will be no subwoofer output in stereo mode (because no .1 channel and no bass management) and the 5.1 DIRECT input is an analog pass-through with no bass management.


That is correct.


You are. One thing to consider is calibration - have you adjusted the speaker levels with a meter? Might you need to tweak the subwoofer trim a bit?

Good. This gives me options to easily play with for music. I may prefer the sub off for music since the bass response is so good from the Monitor 10s. I calibrated the surrounds by ear to equalize the test tone volumes all the way around. I may want to lower the volume of the surrounds as they sometimes seem intrusive, not ambient. Similarly, I raise the subs volume until it gets boomy, then back it off. Do meters really do any better?

Thanks again, gonk.
Jim

Meters certainly can do better. Calibrating by ear is inherently inaccurate. By using a meter, you can match the levels to within a couple of dB - at which point, your system will be reproducing soundtracks at the levels that the sound engineer and director originally intended. I've exchanged posts with more than one person who was unsatisfied with their surround system's sound and blamed their hardware, only for them to subsequently calibrate with a meter instead of by ear and discover that the system was transformed as a result.

Calibrating subs still is often a bit of a "tweaking" process - the commercially-available meters tend to be less accurate at the very low frequencies, and many people prefer to run their subs "hot" by several dB for the extra effect that provides.

If the audio engineering at my local Century 21 theater exhibits what the directors and sound engineers intend then you can have it. It is often too loud and while the dialog is indistinct. This is what I like about home theater. I can tweak the settings to produce a soundscape that suits my hearing, not teenager's hearing that I wish I still had. Still I might give one a try. Are the cheapie Radio Shack meters good enough (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103667&filterName=Category#tabsetBasic)? The accuracy specs says +/-2 dB at 114 dB SPL which is louder than my table saw. What happens to the accuracy at more normal levels?

Regards,
Jim

Lots of theaters run too loud, and dialog often suffers as a result. That doesn't mean it's an example of what good home theater should sound like - on the contrary, it's another reason that I rarely go to theaters anymore. I have personally handled calibration of the "theater" in my den and I have the volume control in my hand.

The Radio Shack SPL meters are the standard tool for these purposes. It's sufficiently accurate. I've used one to calibrate my system and other people's systems numerous times over the last decade or so.