beethovenfan
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- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
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Main speakers: reQuest
Processor: Sunfire Theater II
Center: Mirage: OM-C2
Surround: Montage
I listen to stereo music most of the time so I want the two-channel to work at its best. I play DVD movies also, therefore this is a 2-channel/multi-channel system.
I initially connected the subwoofer output to the LFE input, both movie and music have rich and nice base, but, I could tell where the subwoofer was located (behind one of the main speakers, near the corner of the walls). I did some research and found out the problem:
Sunfire Theater II has an internal crossover from 80-120Hz and routes anything below the set crossover point, say, 80Hz, even in stereo mode, to the subwoofer, so apparently it is not a "pure" LFE output. Since the reQuest goes pretty low, I really do not want the Grotto to jump in at 80Hz as the Sunfire processor puts out a bass output even in stereo mode via its subwoofer output, so intead of conneint the subwoofer output from the processor to the LFE input on the Grotto, I ran the interconnect between line out L & R on the processor to the line in L & R on the grotto and set the low pass filter at 30Hz. Played some base-rich fine music and the ingeration is beautiful. While turning the low pass filter up, I started to notice the obvious location of the subwoofer while turning up the low pass filter toward its highest setting. I feel it is hard to tell the location of the subwoofer when its low pass filter is set below 45Hz. I set the processor's internal crossover at 80Hz and center and rear speakers at small, so all the bass below 80Hz from these channels in addition to LFE signal from all channels is rounted to the front speakers. Works even better than the subwoofer out to LFE connection setup. Base is great and subwoofer truly disappears. Also, I am not wasting the high-quality built-in crossover inside the Grotto that may be better than the one inside the Sunfire processor.
ML's recommended solution for 2-channel/multi-channel: connect both the line out L & R AND LFE/0.1 output to the subwoofer, be careful you really need a processor that has a "pure" LFE/0.1 output (not just a subwoofer output, not sure if such a processor exists) that does not put out signal in stereo mode otherwise the base from the subwoofer may not blend well with that produced by the main speaker unless the processor has a lower crossover to start with. Plus, two sources of signal are being fed into the sub simutaneouly when in HT mode or when the LFE output is actually a subwoofer output.
All together, I spent no less than 10 hours over a period of several days to get the Grotto working best for my needs. I am not sure if I did it correctly but my ears so far are happy.
Processor: Sunfire Theater II
Center: Mirage: OM-C2
Surround: Montage
I listen to stereo music most of the time so I want the two-channel to work at its best. I play DVD movies also, therefore this is a 2-channel/multi-channel system.
I initially connected the subwoofer output to the LFE input, both movie and music have rich and nice base, but, I could tell where the subwoofer was located (behind one of the main speakers, near the corner of the walls). I did some research and found out the problem:
Sunfire Theater II has an internal crossover from 80-120Hz and routes anything below the set crossover point, say, 80Hz, even in stereo mode, to the subwoofer, so apparently it is not a "pure" LFE output. Since the reQuest goes pretty low, I really do not want the Grotto to jump in at 80Hz as the Sunfire processor puts out a bass output even in stereo mode via its subwoofer output, so intead of conneint the subwoofer output from the processor to the LFE input on the Grotto, I ran the interconnect between line out L & R on the processor to the line in L & R on the grotto and set the low pass filter at 30Hz. Played some base-rich fine music and the ingeration is beautiful. While turning the low pass filter up, I started to notice the obvious location of the subwoofer while turning up the low pass filter toward its highest setting. I feel it is hard to tell the location of the subwoofer when its low pass filter is set below 45Hz. I set the processor's internal crossover at 80Hz and center and rear speakers at small, so all the bass below 80Hz from these channels in addition to LFE signal from all channels is rounted to the front speakers. Works even better than the subwoofer out to LFE connection setup. Base is great and subwoofer truly disappears. Also, I am not wasting the high-quality built-in crossover inside the Grotto that may be better than the one inside the Sunfire processor.
ML's recommended solution for 2-channel/multi-channel: connect both the line out L & R AND LFE/0.1 output to the subwoofer, be careful you really need a processor that has a "pure" LFE/0.1 output (not just a subwoofer output, not sure if such a processor exists) that does not put out signal in stereo mode otherwise the base from the subwoofer may not blend well with that produced by the main speaker unless the processor has a lower crossover to start with. Plus, two sources of signal are being fed into the sub simutaneouly when in HT mode or when the LFE output is actually a subwoofer output.
All together, I spent no less than 10 hours over a period of several days to get the Grotto working best for my needs. I am not sure if I did it correctly but my ears so far are happy.
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