Descent - Switches and low pass filter

Hi!

I am a newly happy owner of a couple of Descents that I want to connect to my pair of SL3s.

What low frequency setting should you recommend on my Descent in order to integrate with the SL3s? I find 70hz to work well, but then the volume knob is barely set at 1.8. Is this too low for the Descent to operate well?

If I connect two cables into the left and right Descent inputs and an LFE channel, and I send information to both these inputs (L&R and LFE) at the same time, do the Descent sum the inputs?

My other questions is about the power and light switches. On my SL3s, the red light turns on when the music signal is on, and turns off after 7min when the signal is off. Does the Descent operate the same with power and lights?

When I set the Descent light switch to dim and the power switch to auto, the logo lights are always on, even after 30min without music signal. Is the Descent supposed to act like this? Thus, it only consumes 13watts, which is inline with the manual description on power consumption in standby. However, if I switch from auto to standby, the logo light turns off and the power consumption drops to 9watts. If I switch to on, the power consumption is again 13watts and the logo lights are on.

If I set the Descent into auto, is it not suppossed to switch off the lights 7-10min when there is no signal and drop the power consumption to 9watts? Just like my SL3s operate?

Or do I have a ground loop or similar that keep my Descents on the entire time, even when they are set to auto? I can not hear any major hum. Maybe just a little when I put my head near the woofers.

Or is the volume knob set to low so the Descents do not know when to turn on and off? However, I can clearly hear the sub when it is suppossed to operate.

Thank you for your time. I really appreciate your help.


Best regards Darude

Darude,
There is really no correct volume setting for the Descent, it is all system dependent. My volume level with my CLS's is approximately 2.5, it was different when I had a different amp/preamp combination.

I have mine set to the 40hz position, I would think your SL3's put out more bass than my CLS's but I have not heard SL3's. At the 40hz position it is a pretty seamless match, not so at the 70 hz position.

My Descent does turn off after approximately 20-30 minutes with no signal. You may want to pull the inputs to the Descent and see if the Descent shuts off after 20-30 minutes. If it does turn off you know there is some signal getting to them, if not you possibly could have a faulty Descent.

Good Luck
rich

Darude said:

Hi!

I am a newly happy owner of a couple of Descents that I want to connect to my pair of SL3s.

What low frequency setting should you recommend on my Descent in order to integrate with the SL3s? I find 70hz to work well, but then the volume knob is barely set at 1.8. Is this too low for the Descent to operate well?

Click to expand...

I'd say 70hz is quite reasonable a setting for an SL3. It is not very clean below that, and relieving it from trying to go lower means it will do better in the 70-300Hz range.

As for volume, it's whatever it takes to reach a balanced level. No two systems are going to be the same.

Darude said:

If I connect two cables into the left and right Descent inputs and an LFE channel, and I send information to both these inputs (L&R and LFE) at the same time, do the Descent sum the inputs?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure, but I'd guess, yes it's summing them.

But a more important question is: How are you configuring your premap? Which model do you have?

Where is the primary crossover between mains and subs?

Darude said:

My other questions is about the power and light switches. On my SL3s, the red light turns on when the music signal is on, and turns off after 7min when the signal is off. Does the Descent operate the same with power and lights?

When I set the Descent light switch to dim and the power switch to auto, the logo lights are always on, even after 30min without music signal. Is the Descent supposed to act like this? Thus, it only consumes 13watts, which is inline with the manual description on power consumption in standby. However, if I switch from auto to standby, the logo light turns off and the power consumption drops to 9watts. If I switch to on, the power consumption is again 13watts and the logo lights are on.

If I set the Descent into auto, is it not suppossed to switch off the lights 7-10min when there is no signal and drop the power consumption to 9watts? Just like my SL3s operate?

Or do I have a ground loop or similar that keep my Descents on the entire time, even when they are set to auto? I can not hear any major hum. Maybe just a little when I put my head near the woofers.

Or is the volume knob set to low so the Descents do not know when to turn on and off? However, I can clearly hear the sub when it is suppossed to operate.

Thank you for your time. I really appreciate your help.


Best regards Darude

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that if you hear a hum, that you might have a bit of ground loop, and that's what's keeping the subs on.

Try disconnecting the audio input cables and just leave the sub plugged in, set to auto and see if it shuts off. If it does, then you have some residual noise (or a ground loop) forming in the linkup.

The volume knob setting should have no bearing on this.

Hi!

Thank you for all nice answers. After a lot of tweaking, calibration and listening I ended up with the crossover set at 70hz and the volume to 1.8. Now I have a wonderful base that integrates well with my mains. I could not be happier regarding the sound.

Also, my Descents turns itself off after I connected both my subs to the same outlet as my preamp. So it's not a problem any more. However, there is still just a small issue that may be solveable. It's about my second sub that I daisy chain from the master Descent subwoofer. When I raise the volume to maximun I hear a small humming noise, which arises after volume 7.

I tried to disconnect everything from the subwoofer to try to isolate the problem. I even unhooked every electric cable of the remaining system (amplifiers and such).

So when I only had my slave Descent connected to my electrical outlet (ungrounded) and the volume set to around 5 the Descent is silent. But when I set the volume to max the humming noise arises, which I can hear from my couch.

I though to my self that there is a problem caused of the ungrounded outlet so I tried to connect the Descent to a grounded outlet in my kitchen. Still with the exact same result.

Then I tried to switch the low pass filter from 70hz to 40hz and the humming noise got smaller, even though there is no connection to the low pass filter inputs (the outer switches did not affect the humming noise). I also did the same with my master Descent in order to draw a conclusion if there is a fault with my slave Descent. But the result was the same even here.

Is there a way to get rid of this humming noise? Or do I have to live with it? I don't want to lowever the slave output since I want both subs to play equally loud.
One way to solve the problem is to use the Descents as left and right subwoofers, but then I got two volume controls to set up and more cables connected. I would really like to use the daisy chain connection.


Best regards Darude