Hi all... I am posting this in the section that seems to have the most activity and for general help. I bought a 950 preamp on the ebay outlaw store and love it. It sounds flat out amazing but it's got one quirk. I have to turn the LFE channel up to like +8 to get any kind of decent output out of that channel. Is this normal?

this system is a 2.1 music only system with marantz monoblocks for the amps and energy RC-70 speakers which I have bi-amped (so I have 4 monoblocks and I split the L and R feeds with a y-cable for the amps that run the highs and lows). I am crossed over on my L and R fronts at 60hz, I am using digital bass management (not bypass mode) and my mains are set at 0 db gain. I am using an optical cable to connect my Sony multi disk CD player to the 950 on optical input 1.

Anyways.. for the LFE, I also have to use a y-cable to split the LFE channel so I can get any kind of decent output out of it even at +8 on db gain on that channel. With that setting I still have to have the sub gain knob at least at the 2pm position to get good bass out of it.

Should I try setting my mains at -5 and then the LFE channel at +3 to kind of offset this or is there something else I can do? I have tried 3 different subs and they all behave the same way.

any and all input welcome.


EDIT: http://www.avsforum.com/t/748147/lfe-subwoofers-and-interconnects-explained
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/post-prod...fe-channel.html

I wonder if this 10db thing has something to do with it. Most LFE channels are boosted +10db to balance out the LFE with the other channels but that seems to be what I am lacking here.. I didn't want to max out the trim to +10db but that seems like what I need to even things out. Is it safe to do that? does it increase distortion? (decrease sound quality?)