Subwoofer hookup dilemma

[matteog999]

I have a 7.1 system; 3 LC265i for the front, LC80i for surround, TC65i for back surround and PSW505 as Sub. The receiver is an Onkyo TX-SR803.

The PSW manual gives three ways to hook up the sub:
a. Run the front speaker cable through it to the speakers and then set the amp so the front speakers are "Large"
b. If the Recever has a sub out (pre-amp filtered) you can plug it to that.
c. If the Recever has a sub out (pre-amp unfiltered) you can plug it to that.

My Recever manual doesn't state if the Sub-preamp-out is filtered or not.

Which one do I use?

[schwarcw]

If your sub has a crossover, run the cable from the receiver's "unfiltered" output. Then adjust the crossover at the sub to suit your taste. THX standard is 80 Hz, for music you may want to set it a little lower.

I'm sure some others will chime in, maybe with a diffeent opinion.

What does your manual say about the "filtered" output? Chances are it is set to 80 Hz if the reciever doesn't have an active bass management function.

[matteog999]

The recever manual doesn't state if the preamp Subwoofer out is filtered or not.
The subwoofer itself has both jacks; unfiltered in and filtered in. Should I assume that it is filtered and use the filtered in?

[adam2434]

The most commonly recommended set-up is to use the unfiltered LFE input on the sub, which allows the receiver's bass management and crossover to determine what frequencies the sub and speakers play.

If I were you, I'd start with all speakers set to "small" and crossover set to 80 Hz in the receiver. Then, calibrate your sub and speaker levels.

[matteog999]

Thank you, this worked great.
With the LC265i I found that the best setting for music is for the front three channels to be set to "full" and sub picking up from 90Hz. For movies Center to 80Hz, Front R/L to 80Hz and sub picking up from 90Hz. The mid surroung and back surround channels are all set to 100Hz.