Need Help With Rx-v3900 And Subwoofer

[dhiraj]

Hi, I just bought a Velodyne CHT-12Q subwoofer for my Yamaha RX-V3900 receiver. This is the first time I have tried to use a subwoofer with it. I am having a big problem trying to get the sub to work with the receiver.

Basically, I've got the sub plugged in to the Subwoofer port on the receiver. I set the amp gain to about half (40/80) and the crossover to 'Direct' then run the YPAO auto-setup. During setup I hear the sub produce some rather quiet test tones.

Now the problem, after setup, I try to play a movie, or some music, and I get no sound or vibration coming out of the subwoofer at all. If I go into the settings and select test tone, I can hear some noise out of the sub, but for any actual music etc there is nothing at all.

I know that the subwoofer works 100% because if I plug the sub into one of the Front Pre Output jacks on the receiver, it then plays along merrily with the music or movie as normal.

When I go into the setting and look at the Subwoofer's speaker level, it has been set to something very low like -9DB. I tried adjusting it to 0DB and all the way upto max and there is still no sound coming out of the sub. Also tried resetting the receiver to factory defaults, and checked to make sure it has the latest firmware.

My impression is that the receiver appears faulty, but I would greatly appreciate if anyone has some advice they could give me on this.

Also one last question. If I set my receiver to the 2-Channel Stereo listening mode, then will I normally still get sound out of the subwoofer? and if not, then what mode would I use to get just the front speakers and sub, but no center etc.

Thanks for all your time.

Edited February 5, 2011 by dhiraj

[duster]

menu-setup-speaker-configuration-subwoofer-bass out-SWFR

seven channel stereo will utilise sub, two channel stereo will use sub if fronts are configured to small

[dhiraj]

Ok so I'm making progress. I set the sub config to 'Front + SWFR' after which I noticed a tiny bit of vibration out of the sub when playing music but no sound... I then put the sub level up to +10DB, still almost no sound. Then I noticed that the master volume was on about -30DB, even though the front speakers were quite loud. So I put the front speaker levels down to -10DB and cranked the master volume up to about -5DB which made the front speakers very loud again. After this, the sub was quite pronounced, although it only seems to output the very lowest of sub-bass frequencies, as opposed to more musical bass that it produced when plugged into the Front pre-out on the amp. It also seems a bit unresponsive like this, despite playing with the phase settings.

Can anyone tell me why there is such a large difference between the signal levels for the fronts and sub? Also, I tried two different types of cable for the subwoofer. The first cable was a single male-to-male RCA which I plugged into the right input on the sub. After that I tried a Y-split RCA cable, plugged into both left and right inputs, which made it slightly louder. Perhaps my cable is still not sufficient?

menu-setup-speaker-configuration-subwoofer-bass out-SWFR

seven channel stereo will utilise sub, two channel stereo will use sub if fronts are configured to small

[bbar]

Ok so I'm making progress. I set the sub config to 'Front + SWFR' after which I noticed a tiny bit of vibration out of the sub when playing music but no sound... I then put the sub level up to +10DB, still almost no sound. Then I noticed that the master volume was on about -30DB, even though the front speakers were quite loud. So I put the front speaker levels down to -10DB and cranked the master volume up to about -5DB which made the front speakers very loud again. After this, the sub was quite pronounced, although it only seems to output the very lowest of sub-bass frequencies, as opposed to more musical bass that it produced when plugged into the Front pre-out on the amp. It also seems a bit unresponsive like this, despite playing with the phase settings.

Can anyone tell me why there is such a large difference between the signal levels for the fronts and sub? Also, I tried two different types of cable for the subwoofer. The first cable was a single male-to-male RCA which I plugged into the right input on the sub. After that I tried a Y-split RCA cable, plugged into both left and right inputs, which made it slightly louder. Perhaps my cable is still not sufficient?

Set sub config to sub only as per dusters post.

What are u playing for as Duster said there will be no SUB output for CD music unless you set front speakers in config to small!! So what are they set at?

If you play a movie then you should get sub output when there is LFE sound. Won't be on dialogue but should be if you have an action flick with explosions or thew like.

Again, what are you testing with???

[duster]

Whats the low pass crossover set at on the velo and what vol set at?

Try setting the velo x-over to max (120hz). The 3900 fronts to small and the bass out to sub only.

Start from there and see how you go.

[dhiraj]

OK I tried setting the Bass Out to just SWFR, however there is no noticable difference in Subwoofer level between SWFR or Front + SWFR except that you get more bass out the Fronts with the latter, the sub level appears to sound the same.

And with either setting, the original problem remains. Which is that when the sub is plugged into the Subwoofer out jack on the Yamama, the subwoofer sound is incredibly quiet (or pretty much inaudible when using the default sub level of -5DB as set by YPAO'. Even when I crank the level up to +10DB and increase the gain on the sub to 80, it's nowhere near as loud as one would expect. The only way for me to get it to a decent volume is to decrease the levels of the fronts and center speakers right down to minimum.. and then increase the master volume right up, then the subwoofer sounds normal.

So yeah I've tried testing with Bass Out set to SWFR and Fronts set to Small with various crossover frequencies. The Subwoofer's low-pass filter is set to max or 'Direct' as it's called on the knob. Sources I have tried are DVDs running through the PS3 in Standard Movie mode, mp3s through IPod and laptop, running in either 2 channel or 7 channel mode.

This is in complete contrast to when I connect the Subwoofer to the left or right Front Pre-Outs on the Yamaha, in which case the level seems nice and loud straight away. This is what I have been doing as a hack job, until I figure out what's going on.

Whats the low pass crossover set at on the velo and what vol set at?

Try setting the velo x-over to max (120hz). The 3900 fronts to small and the bass out to sub only.

Start from there and see how you go.

Edited February 7, 2011 by dhiraj

[duster]

So yeah I've tried testing with Bass Out set to SWFR and Fronts set to Small with various crossover frequencies. The Subwoofer's low-pass filter is set to max or 'Direct' as it's called on the knob. Sources I have tried are DVDs running through the PS3 in Standard Movie mode, mp3s through IPod and laptop, running in either 2 channel or 7 channel mode.

When playing a 5.1 movie does the LFE show up on the 3900 display panel? The 3900 display panel displays the input source as opposed to some that display active speakers.

[kwarrior]

Also...you need to set the decibel level on your subwoofer setting on the Yammi to a low level...you need to experiment....you will then find that you are receiveing LFE signals...

..and you should also have the TEST signals to give it a shot....

[dhiraj]

Yep, the LFE channel is active. I didn't think it was outputting at first because it was so quiet I couldn't hear it. That's the problem with the sub output, the level is simply too low relative to the other speakers. The other problem is when I crank the level right up, I'm not getting 'musical bass' only very low sub-bass that doesn't quite sync with the front speakers, and then for stereo music with Fronts set to small and bass out set to SWFR, I'm getting extremely quiet bass out, even with bass level cranked up and sub gain turned up, and it doesn't sound very musical again. Tried playing with the crossovers extensively, doesn't seem any way to get the sub to sound right through the sub output..

But yeah again, when I plug it into the front outputs I get very musical bass at a decent level. I'm actually quite happy to leave it plugge d into my front pre-out sockets. My main concern is whether the sub channel is faulty, i.e. not performing as per the yamaha's specs. Since my warrenty is running out in about a month, if there is a technical fault I'd like to get it looked at before then. Although I imagine trying to convince anyone at Yamaha that it's faulty would be near impossible, unless there's some way to get them to benchmark it for me.

Also...you need to set the decibel level on your subwoofer setting on the Yammi to a low level...you need to experiment....you will then find that you are receiveing LFE signals...

..and you should also have the TEST signals to give it a shot....

[bbar]

Yep, the LFE channel is active. I didn't think it was outputting at first because it was so quiet I couldn't hear it. That's the problem with the sub output, the level is simply too low relative to the other speakers. The other problem is when I crank the level right up, I'm not getting 'musical bass' only very low sub-bass that doesn't quite sync with the front speakers, and then for stereo music with Fronts set to small and bass out set to SWFR, I'm getting extremely quiet bass out, even with bass level cranked up and sub gain turned up, and it doesn't sound very musical again. Tried playing with the crossovers extensively, doesn't seem any way to get the sub to sound right through the sub output..

But yeah again, when I plug it into the front outputs I get very musical bass at a decent level. I'm actually quite happy to leave it plugged into my front pre-out sockets. My main concern is whether the sub channel is faulty, i.e. not performing as per the yamaha's specs. Since my warrenty is running out in about a month, if there is a technical fault I'd like to get it looked at before then. Although I imagine trying to convince anyone at Yamaha that it's faulty would be near impossible, unless there's some way to get them to benchmark it for me.

Well, you may have an AVR issue and will need to have it looked at.

The only time I have seen something like this is when I was playing with crossover on the sub. I mistakenly had it set at 40 Hz so basically nothing was output as only a couple of instruments go below 40Hz.

When I set it to MAX then all was good; but not your problem as yours works ok when u connect to L or R pre-out terminals.

So, you have checked the settings for the LFE channel and have them set properly so can only be a fault I guess.

To confirm all speakers set to small and crossover in 3900 set to say, 100Hz and LFE level at default which is 0.0.

If so then would take to repair!

[geoffcb1503559619]

But yeah again, when I plug it into the front outputs I get very musical bass at a decent level. I'm actually quite happy to leave it plugged into my front pre-out sockets. My main concern is whether the sub channel is faulty, i.e. not performing as per the yamaha's specs. Since my warrenty is running out in about a month, if there is a technical fault I'd like to get it looked at before then. Although I imagine trying to convince anyone at Yamaha that it's faulty would be near impossible, unless there's some way to get them to benchmark it for me.

It does sound like there's a problem. I've found Yamaha service very helpful, and in my case honoured a fault in a reciever that had just gone out of warranty. So definitely get it checked over.

Geoff

[jimmie1503564574]

sorry for the grave dig but just had this problem myself, feel like a totall idiot now tho. had the sub plugged into the wrong hole , both labeled sub-woofer but one is in the 5.1 ch input section

[Quark]

sorry for the grave dig but just had this problem myself, feel like a totall idiot now tho. had the sub plugged into the wrong hole , both labeled sub-woofer but one is in the 5.1 ch input section

You're not alone - been there, done that.

[mmu16]

There seems to be 2 different Sub outs in the back of your receiver - have you tried both of them?

[Eli]

I think he has it fixed.

[ultan2903]

You're not alone - been there, done that.

Me too has the problem been fixed/sorted?

[Azz123]

Good to hear you've got the issue resolved.

With your setup though, if YPAO set your other speaker levels to very high and your sub output low, it's sayig that your sub volume is too high.

Try backing your sub volume down and run YPAO level check again.

If you're just using your Yami to power all other speakers (no external amp), If I was you I'd still run all other spakers as small and have your crossover aroud the 80Hz mark regardless of their capabilities. This will give your Yami more headroom and let your sub take care of the hard work.

[Guest Crackelaktor]

I am having a similar issue with my new Yamaha RX-V3071 and 12 inch Energy S12.3 sub. Might need to check I have it plugged into the right port. I replaced my V3900 with the new V3071 but have not been happy with the bass output since. Something isn't setup right.

[miata]

I only have the RXV-1800 but I suspect that my outut options are almost identical. I too think that perhaps you might have plugged into the wrong output. The Manual is not quite as easy to follow as I would like and considering that this is my third Yammie (DSPA-2070,DSPA 3090) you would think that connections would be instinctive but of course they are constantly evolving and the manuals are being re-written. My sub is Yamaha and that took quite a while to figure out, it should have been "plug and play".