Help please--home theater problem
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| Hey, I'm new to this board and I'm having a problem that I hope somebody could help me out with. I recently upgraded to a full surround sound (5 channel) home theater system and also bought a Marantz SR8200 receiver. My front speakers are Paradigm 90P's which have built in powered subwoofers. Everything else is Paradigm too. My problem is that when I'm watching movies the subs in the 90P's don't seem to work, but they work just fine when when listening to music. They only don't work while watching movies. There's just no thump during the movie and there should be. Also, when I watch movies I have to turn the system up really loud (like over 50%) just to hear the movie at a normal level. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about the technical stuff, but I'm pretty sure I have everything hooked up right, but maybe not. Does anybody have any idea what the problem might be? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Matt |
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po | Whoa, Paradigm 90P's should THUMP. All you should have to do is connect the LFE (subwoofer line out) from your receiver to the line level in on the 90P. There's a level control on the back of the 90P for the sub as well that you may have to adjust. I don't know if there is a line level out on the back of the 90P but if there is, use it to connect to the other line level input on your other 90P. There should also be some settings on you receiver that control what goes out that sub out jack. On my Onkyo, I remember the default for the sub out was for all the bass from the other 5 speakers instead of the ".1" LFE channel from the DTS5.1 or DD5.1 (I think that is a bad default as you won't get the proper dedicated sub signal in movies). Fiddle with the sub settings on the receiver and you'll probably find something that works for you. Those 90P's should break windows. |
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po | One more thing, if you turn the system up to 70% does it start shaking your windows? If so, you've got it hooked up right. Just fiddle with the sub control on the Marantz, it's a rockin receiver and is bound to have tons of configurables for that sub out. |
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Matt Anderson | Hey, thanks for your response and I agree that the 90P's should thump cuz they used to. I haven't messed with any of the settings that you mentioned yet, so I'll try that. First off, as of now when I turn it up to 70% it's loud, but not THAT loud. I've got it at 50% right now and it's nothing too special. My old integrated amp was a Marantz PM7000 and I don't think I was ever over 50% on that thing--I remember 50% being freaking loud! Secondly, each 90P has one LFE in, but no out. Is it alright if only 1 speaker is hooked into the subwoofer out on the receiver, or should I use a splitter or something? Also, will just any old audio cable work for that? Finally, what about the movies not playing very loud? Any opinion on that? Thanks again. Matt |
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Matt Anderson | Quick addition. I found the bass setting on the receiver and turned it up, so now it really thumps when listening to music. I'm still getting nothing when it comes to movies. I put in Jurassic Park put it on the first T-Rex attack. I think that shoulda blown me away, but I wasn't getting much. I'll look into the sub out deal. Also, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the SR8200 model, but it's volume goes from -71 db to +13 db. While I was watching Jurassic Park I had it at +4. That's almost all the way up, so that should have just about blown the roof of my house off right? For some reason it just isn't very loud. It's actually that way when it comes to music too. I'm not sure what I should do. Matt |
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po | If it thumps when listening to music you may have it set such that the sub out is taking the bass out of the other five channels as opposed to using the dedicated ".1" channel. So, its possible when you run movies, the ".1" is not run (although you should still hear some bass). With the 90P's you shouldn't really have a need at all for a subwoofer for music so you may have to hunt to find the subwoofer mode that only generates a sub signal when a ".1" track is found. As for the loudness, I would call someone at technical support because it sounds like something might be broken. You double check all your cabling is + to + and - to -? If you give them your laundry list of equipment, they'll probably be able to help you out. Also, for the sub, I would use a subwoofer cable. You got a beefy system, splurge on some good cable. Get a monster bass cable or something. I think you can use a splitter at the receiver if you want to send the LFE to both subs. It would be an awful waste to only use one of those beauties. I got a pretty cheap system and when I've got it up to 70% it's pretty loud. I can't go past 75% or my wife gets really mad. Also, now I have no idea if this has anything to do with your lack of loudness but, those 90Ps are rated to something like 250W while the Marantz is about 120W/channel so even at full blast you can only drive those speakers about halfway to their full capacity. That being said, halfway on those should knock your roof off. You got heavy gauge wire (12 or better)? Gosh, I'm probably not too much help here. Keep pouring through the Marantz manual, you're bound to find something. |
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po | Just another quick one, you shouldn't have to touch the generic bass, midrange, or treble controls on the receiver. The less you do to the signal as it passes through the receiver, the better things will sound overall. There should be subwoofer specific controls, not just bass adjustment. |
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Matt Anderson | Thanks again for your responses po. I'll check into the things you mentioned and see what happens. |
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po | No prob, Hey I just looked up on the Marantz web site and found the manual. Have you gone through the speaker setup menu and checked everything looks correct? You can set the speaker size, distance and also the bass peak level which it says you should adjust anytime you change subwoofer level. As you can probably tell, I'm bored at work right now.  po |
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| I had a similar problem. What happened for me was that the DTS decoding was being done through my DVD player and not my reciever. To solve the problem, I had to change a setting on my DVD player and every worked out. |
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Anonymous | WHAT HAPPENED?? I was waiting for the happy ending like his dog blew up because it was so thumping. Ah geez... |
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| HI ROOM I JUST PURCHASED A SHERWOOD AUDIO/VISUAL RECIEVER AND AM HAVING SOME PROBLEMS HOOKING UP MY DVD PLAYER. I HOOKED THE COAX CABLES UP THE WAY THE DIAGRAM IS FROM THE DVD PLAYER TO THE RECIEVER. I STILL DON'T HAVE PICTURE OR SOUND. I RAN THE VIDEO OUT FROM THE DVD PLAYER TO THE VIDEO IN ON THE RECIEVER THEN I RAN ANOTHER COAX CABLE FOR VIDEO OUT ON THE RECIEVER TO VIDEO IN ON MY TV, STILL NOTHING. IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME GET THIS THEATER SYSTEM HOOKED UP IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT : BGCOUNTRY25@AOL.COM |
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