ENERGY sub connection

[Maximus DukusErectus]

What will be the best way to hook up the sub that comes with the "ENERGY CLASSIC" speaker package I purchased through this site?With "BOSE" you have only "their way" to set up,but with the "ONKYO TX-SR606,it has a Pre-out for the sub which I have a high dollar cable just for that purpose,but the sub that comes with the "CLASSIC" package has the old "SUB LINE IN(LEFT/RIGHT)" old red and white jacks....???Run my front speakers through the sub?Phase 0----180?Power mode ON/AUTO/OFF?.I thought "SLAVES" went out and were gone and only the powered survived.Don't get me wrong,I remembered my first "DOLBY PRO-LOGIC SYSTEM I set up to go with my first 45" MITZ BIG SCREEN BOX back in the 90's but the sub has me stumped......OHHHHHH CHRIS??????.

[MrBoylan]

What will be the best way to hook up the sub that comes with the "ENERGY CLASSIC" speaker package I purchased through this site?With "BOSE" you have only "their way" to set up,but with the "ONKYO TX-SR606,it has a Pre-out for the sub which I have a high dollar cable just for that purpose,but the sub that comes with the "CLASSIC" package has the old "SUB LINE IN(LEFT/RIGHT)" old red and white jacks....???Run my front speakers through the sub?Phase 0----180?Power mode ON/AUTO/OFF?.I thought "SLAVES" went out and were gone and only the powered survived.Don't get me wrong,I remembered my first "DOLBY PRO-LOGIC SYSTEM I set up to go with my first 45" MITZ BIG SCREEN BOX back in the 90's but the sub has me stumped......OHHHHHH CHRIS??????.

The sub that came with your system should have both a line level (RCA) input and a speaker level (left right speaker wire) input. You can hook it up either way but my advice would be to hook it up using the line level (RCA) input. "Auto" is probably the best power setting as this will save power when the sub is not in use and will power up as soon as it detects a signal.

As for phase of 0 or 180, that depends on your specific listening room set-up and how the speakers and the room all interact with each other. Once you've positioned the subwoofer where you want it, you should sit in your "sweet spot" (the place on the couch or chair where you normally watch a movie), and ask a helper (your son or wife) to switch the phase switch for you back and forth while listening to music or movies with a good amount of bass. Whichever position sounds best (0 or 180), and by "best" I mean whichever gives you the fullest bass response, should be where you leave the phase switch. If the subwoofer is out of phase relative to the other speakers in the room, then this can cause some cancellation in the bass frequencies which will lead to a thinner overall sound. If you can't hear any difference one way or the other then just leave it at 0.

A couple of things to keep in mind: it is *VERY* important to keep the + and - cables straight from receiver to satellite speakers. Again, this is a "phase" issue. If you accidentally connect a "-" output from the receiver to a "+" input on the speaker, the world won't end (and the speaker won't blow up), but you will then have one speaker out of phase from the rest, and this can lead to cancellation of some of the sound. The audible result is a slightly hollow sound that happens when two sounds out of phase partially cancel each other out. So keep + to + and - to - and you'll be fine.

Also, make sure you re-run your Audyssey auto-calibration function in your receiver after you plug in the new speakers and subwoofer. You activate this by simply plugging in the calibration microphone that came with the receiver and clicking through the on-screen menus with instructions. You'll need to send the wife and boy on an errand as the system needs total silences in order to work properly (be sure not to break wind, or if you do, then do it quietly). If the levels sound funky to you *AFTER* calibration, then you can revert to manual calibration but to do this well, you'll really need a disc with test tones on it and an SPL (sound pressure level) meter. Honestly I think you'll get great results with the auto-calibration feature so you shouldn't need to do a manual set-up.

Good Luck!

-Chris

[Maximus DukusErectus]

Everything went smooth,and the calibration was a nice touch for ONKYO.It confused me to see the "old" red/white rca jacks on the sub,but np.