SV Subwoofers
Page 8
Phase
.
Think of bass waves as conflicting or enhancing each other, depending on the
timing of their arrival at your listening location (either together, or not). Since some of
your room’s bass might come from main, center and/or surround speakers, as
well
as
your sub, getting these bass wave forms to arrive in a complementary,
enhancing
fash-
ion is the difficult job of the phase switch. Essentially, this control varies the timing of
the bass waves coming from the sub. You can tweak this endlessly and not hear much
difference. But don’t despair, the effect of bass cancellation will vary by volume and
frequency in your room, and no one setting is likely to ever be “perfect”. One simple
technique to optimize phase is to find a nice “bassy” loop (such as the menu of
“Godzilla”) and measure the loop’s bass response at various bass SPL peaks. As the
loop runs, you can make switch the phase knob. Where you see the most response on a
given bass passage is the phase setting providing the least bass cancellation in your
room (for the frequencies of the demo loop you chose).
Line In/Out.
Use one of the sub’s “Line In” jacks to connect the subwoofer to the out-
put jack of your receiver/processor.
Feeding just one input is enough.
If you are using a
conventional amp and/or a stereo setup you can use the “Line Out” jacks to send sound
(filtered of bass information) back to your system amp. A simple RCA to RCA cable is
all you need.
Auto On.
Your Powered Cylinder allows itself to be in an “auto on” mode… or on all
the time. With the former setting (the switch in the “Auto” position) your subwoofer
will “sense” that a DVD or CD etc. has begun and switch on immediately (the hard
power switch mentioned below must be on naturally). A few minutes after a movie, the
Auto On light will turn Red, switching the sub back off. When running (and sensing a
signal) the Auto On LED will be green. Sometimes, with very low listening levels, your
subwoofer might not get enough of a bass signal from your surround sound processor
to “trip” the Auto-On circuit. Should you ever find this to be the case you should leave
this switch to “On”.
Crossover Enable Switch.
If you allow your DD/DTS surround-sound receiver or
processor to manage bass frequencies (recommended), this switch should be set to
“Disabled”. This disables the “Crossover Frequency” knob and allows your sub to re-
produce just what it’s fed from the receiver. If you are using the sub in a two channel
(stereo only) configuration then “Enable” the crossover and adjust the associated knob
to best blend the sub into the low frequency output of your speakers.
High level inputs/outputs.
Not commonly used today, but binding posts are there
in case you don’t have low-level inputs/outputs on your receiver/processor. Typically
used if you are
not
using a DD/DTS compatible system.
Power.
This heavy duty two-position switch next to the power cord will completely
cut the power to your sub amp. Flip this switch to off should you ever move the sub or
change inputs or outputs.
A/C connection.
Plug your sub into a dedicated A/C outlet. “Convenience” outlets
of typical receivers often don’t provide the needed current. Avoid them.
Fuse.
User replaceable, contact SVS if you have trouble finding a replacement.
