Sub Woofer

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Sub Woofer

chilli

13 posts

Geek

#94641 15-Dec-2011 19:15

I am a little confused with the purchase of a sub woofer and wondered how others have approached it.
I have a Onkyo 709----Kef Q900 fronts with a Kef IQ60C centre and at the side Mirage 390is (overkill but my original fronts).
I am using a Logitech Z5500 as a sub in the meantime.
I have spent probably 4hours on the net looking up "subs" available in NZ up to $2200 (more than I wanted to spend) and I have not found any that have received "rave " reviews and a lot of them had "no longer available" overseas.
I am not an audiophile but would like the sub to be "pretty good". I am about 50/50 music/ HT and realise everybody has a different "ear" but with every other speaker I have investigated I been able to get a good cross section of views but not with subs, with some of the $2000 subs rated as past their best and poor value for money.
Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#558509 15-Dec-2011 23:49

I like Velodyne's, the CHT12Q is particularly trick... what with the remote that allows you to easy swap between Movies / Rock / Gaming etc etc. Next up, are the stunning B&W subs - some of which actually look like objects you'd like to have in your lounge - and not just a big black box.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#558553 16-Dec-2011 07:55

A sub needs to complement your existing speakers. If you have good low frequency capability from your front speakers then you can look at deep only subwoofers, but if your front speakers cannot produce much bass in the first place then you'll be needing something that can fill that higher bass area as well.

Then you start looking at how big a room you have, how powerful you want this, how many features are important to you - as in infra red remote control capable etc.
What do you want from your new subwoofer?
What don't you like about your current model?

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#558665 16-Dec-2011 12:42

I've got a massive early 90s Celestion passive sub just laying around. They don't actually call it a subwoofer but something else, it's probably about twice the size of most 12" subwoofers you'd come across so it doubles as a small coffee table.

I wish I had the space for it :)

The principle I work with as far as subwoofers are concerned, is that you shouldn't notice that it's there until you turn it OFF. I'm running an 8" JBL at the moment (was about $1200 about 5 years back) and it's more than adequate given that my main speakers are just some oldish Energy e:XL series bookshelf units. They can't manage much of any merit below about 60Hz so I've got the receiver on crossover duties and set to about 90hz, the only time the sub noticably overpowers the main speakers is when there's something playing where they've deliberately amped the bass freq's.

I had an Infinity unit years ago which was nice but a bit on the basic side.

They both pale into insignificance after my self-designed & professionally built Cerwin-Vega based unit, which unfortunately had an external amplifier which was only 100W. It was a thing of beauty :)

@KnightNZ

chilli

13 posts

Geek

#560797 22-Dec-2011 19:51

Sorry about delay in replying but have had PC problems.
Thank you for the help and I am going to do more research.
Quote
I like Velodyne's, the CHT12Q is particularly trick..------------
I like the look of this one and within my range ---just

Quote
Jaxon----- Small room at the moment but moving house to larger in 12 months.
Interesting in comments about depth of bass as My Kef,s are quite good at bass (to my ears)
The Logitech z5500 is a 5.1 surround system off my PC that I have high-jacked and would like to return and also is a bit of an industrial "thump".

stevenz
The principle I work with as far as subwoofers are concerned, is that you shouldn't notice that it's there until you turn it OFF.

I think that is the first thing I learned---I was way off in what I thought I needed.

livid2

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#560822 22-Dec-2011 21:49

Hey Chilli, how did you hook up your z5500 sub to your onkyo 709? I am thinking of getting the 609 and want to temporarily use my z5500 sub and speakers with it.

Thanks

chilli

13 posts

Geek

#560882 23-Dec-2011 09:08

livid2: Hey Chilli, how did you hook up your z5500 sub to your onkyo 709? I am thinking of getting the 609 and want to temporarily use my z5500 sub and speakers with it.

Thanks

When I used the z5500 I did not have the 709 so used the "TV optical out" and the sound was generated by the z5500 amplifier.
Now I have the 709 I am using the z5500 as a sub only and the 709 connected to separate speakers.

livid2

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#560990 23-Dec-2011 15:00

So if I understand correctly, you have the z5500 sub connected to the 709 and separated speakers connected to the 709?

If that is the case how have you connected the z5500 sub to the 709? what cable did you use and where is it plugged into on the 709?

Thanks for your reply

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chilli

13 posts

Geek

#561287 24-Dec-2011 21:48

Right---
I originally had the z5500 connected via a digital optical cable to the TV as the total 5:1.
I have now purchased new speakers and am using the Z5500 connected as a stand alone sub.
The original speakers that came with the Z5500 will I have been told not work very well if connected to the 609/709.
To connect to the 609/709.
The output from the amp is a mono signal. You will find 2 outputs on the back of your amp marked "sub woofer" these are for 2 subs, but we at this stage are working on one.
Get a cable that is a 3.5 micro on one end and a 2 RCA on the other..Cut the RCA,s off, strip the wires back and join both centre wires together and outer wires together.
Next get a single RCA cable/RCA cable ( I split a double one) cut off one end, strip the cable and join the centre to the other cables centre and outer to the other cables outer. Use insulation tape.
Then put the RCA end into the amp and the micro end into the #1 port on the back of your z5500 control pod. Make sure you have "enabled" sub woofer on the on screen menu.
Away you go.

livid2

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#565856 7-Jan-2012 19:08

Great, thank you for your reply and instructions. So at the end if the day you need a cable that has a 3.5 jack on one end and a single RCA on the other. You plug the RCA into the sub out on the 609 and the 3.5 jack into the z5500. Speakers are connected directly to the 609.

I will give it a go. Thanks!