Home Theater Direct R8DT - Manual (Page 6)

6
PLACEMENT
The R8DT subwoofer uses the sonic reflective qualities
of an on-floor, corner placement to achieve optimal
sound performance. The closer it is placed to a corner,
the more emphasized the bass will sound. The R8DT
should also be placed close enough to the audio system
so that cables and wires are as short a run as possible.
Installation tip: put the subwoofer in the location where
the seated listener would be connect the subwoofer and
adjust for best sound. Move around the room and you
will hear a difference in the subwoofer output based on
your location and how the room acoustics affect it. Find
the area where the subwoofer sounds the best and that
is where the subwoofer should be placed. The crossover
point and the volume level may be retuned to compen-
sate for slight changes that may be needed.
ADJUSTMENTS
To start, set the crossover control to its center position.
This adjustment selects the frequency where the audio
will start to be filtered out. The higher the setting, the
more signal range will be allowed, increasing output
along with frequency range. Too high a setting can cause
poor sound if the subwoofer is covering frequencies that
are not in need of reinforcement, e.g., main speakers
and subwoofer covering the same range may create
undesirable levels of mid bass notes.
Phase selection can compensate for subwoofer place-
ment that is irregular or too far from the listener in rela-
tion to the main speakers. Low frequencies have long
wavelengths that have peaks and low spots. If these do
not align with the main speakers, there can be bass
cancellation. Reversing the phase will correct this.
Set the volume level control fully counterclockwise to mini-
mum. This should be reset after making other adjustments.
Method B (Most universal installation, least desir-
able sonically)
This connection method allows the subwoofer to be used
with virtually any audio system, but its audio output is
not as clean as when line in inputs are used as in
Method A.
Connect speaker wire from the amplifier/receiver’s main
Left and Right outputs to the speaker level input on the
subwoofer. Using the same size speaker wire, connect
the speaker level outputs from the subwoofer to the
main Left and Right speakers.
This method directly connects the main Left and Right
speaker inputs to the speaker outputs, but the sub-
woofer amplifier taps onto the speaker level signal to get
an audio feed. This signal, being previously amplified by
the amplifier/receiver, is not only too strong but also
contains a certain percentage of distortion relative to the
audio signal. This percentage (the lower the better)
should be specified in the amplifier/receiver’s manual.
This signal is internally reduced to feed the amplifier for
the subwoofer which will not only re-amplify the audio but
also any distortion present in the signal as well.
Speakers
Receiver
METHOD B
Subwoofer
R8DT SUBWOOFER