Hi GE Gang!

For whomever might benefit, here are some things I have finally learned about my audio system. Speaker setup and various playback options have always intrigued me. So, I decided to have yet one more go at reading the very large manual that accompanies my Onkyo NR 3009 Receiver. Lo and behold, I discovered some new things.

There are various ways to feed analog bass signals to the LFE ports on my NR-3009. There is the "Analog Direct ON" option when listening in "Pure Audio" or "Direct" modes. There is the "Double Bass ON" option when listening in almost all other modes, if the Front Speakers are set to "Full Band".

But, what I learned that was new to me (or finally sunk in) is that, if I set my Front or Surround Speakers to any setting other than "Full Range", the bass signals are cut from the speakers and re-directed to the LFE ports. With my Onkyo, I can choose the cut frequency for the speakers and match that cut frequency to the "LPF of LFE" frequency of the sub-woofer output.

Using this approach allows me to redirect bass signals to my Triton One LFE inputs and to my Paradigm and Klipsch subs, all of which are connected to my NR-3009 sub-woofer output ports - without doubling the bass because these signals have been cut from the speaker lines.

Well, probably I should have understood this option long ago, but, finding it now has been a light in the bass wilderness for me. As a result, I have completely re-configured my entire setup. My Triton Ones are now L/R Fronts, my Supersat 3Cs are now L/R Front Wides, my Triton Sevens are L/R Rear Surrounds, and my Altec-Lansing Boleros are L/R Side Surrounds. I have a pair of floor-standing KLH three-way speakers serving as Centers, left and right of my television. Except for the two KLH Centers, all speakers are now connected to my Onkyo, resulting in a 9.2 channel configuration. The two KLH Center speakers are connected to a separate AV amplifier, driven from the Onkyo Center Pre-out, so that I can control Center volume levels independently.

Because all bass signals below my selected 80 Hz cutoff frequency are being redirected to the subs, I am getting full bass without any bass doubling. Also, I am getting the same bass-signals distribution, regardless of the listening option I choose. I am now listening to music in "All Channel Stereo " mode and sampling the various Surround Sound modes available in my Onkyo.

As to the bass levels, I have the Triton One LFE controls set just above Minimum and I have the level and frequency controls for the Paradigm and Klipsch subs adjusted to match the intensity and frequency levels of the Triton Ones. Bass sounds are deep, but clean. And, I think that removing these low-end signals from the speakers has also improved the overall system sound.

This Old Dog is yapping happily.

Art

Some More New Info:

With my Onkyo NR 3009, there is a difference in bass level response between "Analog Direct Bass" and "Double Bass". In the Pure Direct Mode, only Analog Direct Bass has any impact (Double Bass does not affect sound in the Direct or Pure Direct modes). For all other listening modes, Double Bass must be used to send Front and Center channel bass signals to the sub-woofer output.

But, what is interesting is that Analog Direct Bass adds more bass sound than Double Bass. If I am listening in either Direct or Pure Direct modes and I turn Analog Direct Bass ON, I get more bass sound at a given Triton One LFE-gain control setting, as compared to listening in All Channel Stereo Mode and turning Double Bass ON. Both features increase bass, but Analog Direct Bass causes a greater increase in bass sound than does the Double Bass setting.

Currently, I am listening to music in the All Channel Stereo mode with Double Bass ON. I have the Triton One LFE gain controls set to the 4th notch up from minimum. I understand that GE does not recommend using Double Bass, but I have found that, in our setup, the use of Double Bass allows me to reduce the Triton One LFE gain control settings which, in turn, lowers the LFE bass levels when we watch movies. We prefer these lower LFE levels for movies and I prefer the augmented bass for music.

Just a bit more info for the gang to consider....

Happy listening,

Art