r/audio • u/topologeee • 15h ago

Difference between levels on receiver vs subwoofer gain knob?

I'm new at this.

For my subwoofer, in the Yamaha receiver menu there is a level menu. When I run the calibration it'll come back, -6 DB for example, while the gain knob is at 50 percent. If I want increased bass, is it better to use the knob on the back of the subwoofer and keep the level in the receiver? Or would it be better to increase it using the gain knob? Or does it not really make a difference.

There is an additional subwoofer trim level menu as well, when you go to options. I guess keeping that neutral would be the same?

I'm currently running a budget setup with a rsl speedwoofer 10e and polk tsi 300 towers as left and right.

Thanks.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 15h ago

Hi, /u/topologeee! This is a reminder about Rule #1 (If you have already added great details, awesome, ignore this comment. This message gets attached to every post as a reminder):

  1. DETAILS MATTER: Use detail in your post. If you are posting for help with specific hardware, please post the brand/model. If you need help troubleshooting, post what you have done, post the hardware/software you are using, post the steps to recreate the problem. Don’t post a screenshot (or any image, really) with no context and expect people to know what you are talking about.

How to ask good questions: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

•

u/X_Perfectionist 12h ago edited 12h ago

You generally want the trim on the receiver to be in the negative, so -5 ~ ~6 range. Especially if you use any sort of EQ or dynamic range adjustments (like Audyssey Dynamic EQ). That way the receiver isn't sending a clipped or boosted signal to the subwoofer. The gain on the subwoofer is just more/less voltage to amplify the signal coming in.

If you just listen to music and not movies with high SPL soundtracks, it's not as big of a deal.

So yes, keep it at -6 on the receiver, current setting on the amp. This will leave headroom if you want to adjust it up in the receiver for any reason.

You've matched the volume of your sub and speakers? With auto-setup or an SPL meter? And set the crossover and sub distance setting correctly to reduce any phase cancellation?

•

u/dswpro 14h ago

As a general rule of thumb you don't want to keep the receiver output very low only to have to crank the the input gain on the subwoofer because then you're also increasing the gain on the noise that's inherent in the line between them so you want your receiver to output like 50 to 75% of max then turn up the subwoofer level so that if you need to increase or decrease the total sub level you can do it on the receiver remote without having to reach behind the subwoofer.