Subwoofer help

[DrunkenMaster]

I listen to a lot of music. I live in an apartment - I don't want to disturb the neiborhs too much. Depending on how a track was mastered, there's a huge variance on the amount of bass in each track. I need help setting up a sub to 'remove' the bass from the speakers as I have more refined control on the sub and give better range for the sound for my system.

I have the Klipsh RF-10 speakers. There's two RED-Black terminals on the back of the speakers and a metal plate to connect each. I'm assuming that the manual refers to coupling/decoupling is if the plate is on or not. When I removed the plate, I think it stops the bass (lows) in the speakers.

The sub has one RCA-in, One-RCA out and two stereo cable in-out. My amp, a Sony, has a Sub woofer RCA plug in the back.

<B>I'm guessing to have more control and more bass from the sub and less bass from the speakers, I have to decouple the speakers, connect the AMP to Sub first using speaker wire and the then the sub to the speakers</b>. Is this correct? I've listed below how I have it currently configured:

1) I setup the sub using the RCA-not y-split into the RCA-In left jack. The cable runs into the Sub jack into the Amp.

2) I run the LF and RF speaker as normal. (Note this is purely LF+RF+Sub setup. No surround.).

3) The sub is working, I get some bass out of it.

4) I've fiddled with the LARGE and SMALL speaker setting on the AMP, it doesn't seem to draw bass away from the speakers. I've tried to lower the bass range/threshold on the sub not much difference. I'd prefer LARGE since I think this gives more range on the speakers too.

5) My AMP is set on "music" and it shows the sub + speakers are being used. SUB is on ON in the System. Bass on Sub is on +2 (I'm probably going to go higher). Bass on Front Speakers in on -6.

Sorry for length and if unclear. I'm not a stereo nerd. Can a nerd help me, please? :)

[MR_Candyman]

The problem you're having is that you're going about this all wrong. You don't use a sub to "steal" bass from speakers. It won't do that. You use a crossover to separate the bass, mid, and high. You can then run the bass line from the crossover to the sub and the mid and high to the speakers.

[Joel]

I have the Klipsh RF-10 speakers. There's two RED-Black terminals on the back of the speakers and a metal plate to connect each. I'm assuming that the manual refers to coupling/decoupling is if the plate is on or not. When I removed the plate, I think it stops the bass (lows) in the speakers.

Those jumpers are there for single-amplifier setups. If you were bi-amping, you'd remove the jumpers and use 1 amp to power the low end and another to power the mid/high end of each speaker. Yes, if you remove the jumpers and run the power into only the top pair of red/black, you'll have removed the bass woofers from the equation, but that will just sound terrible.

[WatTwo]

Well, this sounds like a crappy way to do it, but it works for me (2 speakers one sub, 2 channels) like yours

What i did was wire both speakers up to the same connections on the amp/stereo, (left) then put the sub on the right.

Then just put the balance more to the right, (sub)

Also wiring two speakers to one channel reduces the power going to each one, so they get less bass.

Like i said, not a good/professional way to do it, but it works :/

[DrunkenMaster]

The problem you're having is that you're going about this all wrong. You don't use a sub to "steal" bass from speakers. It won't do that. You use a crossover to separate the bass, mid, and high. You can then run the bass line from the crossover to the sub and the mid and high to the speakers.

See told ya'll I am a total noob. Your info is quite helpful since its going to help me better balance out the sound. Thank you!

[Joel]

Well, this sounds like a crappy way to do it, but it works for me (2 speakers one sub, 2 channels) like yours

What i did was wire both speakers up to the same connections on the amp/stereo, (left) then put the sub on the right.

Then just put the balance more to the right, (sub)

Also wiring two speakers to one channel reduces the power going to each one, so they get less bass.

Like i said, not a good/professional way to do it, but it works :/

You could really hurt your equipment doing that, never mind the fact that you're listening to only the left track in mono. Not smart at all.

[Dashel]

Get some good headphones or simply down tune bass on the receiver, no?

[DrunkenMaster]

Get some good headphones or simply down tune bass on the receiver, no?

It took some fiddling around, but I think the sub helped a bit. It was a matter of setting the levels properly on my system. I hope to move back into a concrete apartment next year anyways .... problem solved! :)

I think its okay now. I've seem to have found a better balance on the sub and sub on the speakers now. I in part wanted to make sure that hooking up the way that I had with just sub connection direct into the amp was fine or there was other better way. Thanks for the help.