AV9
E-15
5 – Subwoofer Settings
If no subwoofer was selected in the previous speaker menus you cannot adjust the
stereo sub level or the number of subwoofers.
Crossover Frequency: This setting de nes the frequency at which bass redirection
begins. Frequencies below this level are redirected from ‘small’ speakers to the Fronts
or to the subwoofer; frequencies above this level are not redirected. The value for this
setting depends on your speakers, environment and taste, and is best determined by
experimentation.
The adjustment can be made in increments of 5Hz between 40Hz and 150Hz.
If THX or THX Surr.EX have been selected in the previous menus, the crossover
frequency will be set to THX speci cation at 80Hz.
Stereo Mode: Select between Large, Large+Sub or Sat+Sub.
bass information is distributed between the front left/right speakers and the subwoofer when listening to
stereo sources. Choose the option which gives you the most solid even sounding bass (for best results
test with a set-up disc or live program material).
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Large: Pure stereo information — all audio is sent to the front left and right speakers. Use this
setting if you have large front speakers.
Note that this option will override the setting con gured on the ‘Speaker Sizes’ menu page.
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Large+Sub: Pure stereo is fed to left and right and extracted bass is sent to the subwoofer. In
this case the low frequency information is, effectively, duplicated.
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Sat+Sub: Use this setting if you have ‘Small’ satellite left and right speakers. Full bass
management is used in analogue stereo so that analogue sources are fed to the DSP where the
bass is ltered off left and right and redirected to the subwoofer.
Note that the above three Stereo Mode settings pass the audio through the DSP, which may degrade
the sound quality slightly. This can be avoided for the ‘Large’ setting by pressing the DIRECT button to
bypass the DSP processing.
LFE Level: Allows you to adjust the output level of the low frequency effects channel relative to the
other speakers in the system. This adjustment affects the loudness of movie low frequency effects such
as thunder, explosions, etc.
DTS LFE Gain: DTS soundtracks typically have the LFE track recorded 10dB lower than the main audio
tracks. It is, therefore, necessary to compensate for this by raising the LFE output level by 10dB, and
setting the DTS LFE gain to ‘Normal’ activates this compensation. Some DTS soundtracks have been
recorded with the LFE signal at the same levels as the main audio, however, and therefore require no
gain compensation. For these disks set the DTS LFE gain to -10dB.
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Normal: This increases the LFE signal by 10dB and is the recommended setting for the AV9.
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-10dB: This allows the LFE to pass directly to the output with no gain adjustment.
Unfortunately, there is no rule for determining which discs are recorded using which method. As a
general guide, however, it is only early DTS music discs that require the -10dB setting.
Sub Stereo: Allows you to trim the subwoofer output for stereo listening. Use this trim setting, with a
stereo source, to reduce the subwoofer output in stereo playback to an acceptable level. The subwoofer
level for stereo music often needs to be set at a lower level than that for cinema use. This depends on
various factors such as speakers, the types and styles of music to be played and personal taste.
DVD-A Sub Level: This setting allows compensation for subwoofer level gain from external decoders or
sources (such as DVD-A players).
When decoding digital inputs, the AV9 follows the convention for products of this type and sets the
subwoofer level 10dB higher than that of the other channels. Source products such as DVD-audio players
do not follow this pattern, however, setting the subwoofer level to be the same as the other channels.
This means that switching from material that has been decoded by the AV9 to that decoded externally
may mean that the subwoofer sounds very quiet. This setting provides for the removal of that difference
by allowing the subwoofer level of the DVD-A (multi-channel) input to be raised by 10dB.
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Normal: This increases the DVD-A sub level by 10dB and is the default setting for the AV9.
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Flat: This allows the DVD-A sub level to pass directly to the output with no gain adjustment.
If you are using the AV9 in combination with the multi-channel analogue outputs of an Arcam DVD-A
player, then this item should be set to +10dB.
No. of subwoofers: Allows you to set the number of subwoofers used in the system between 1 and 3.
All three subwoofer outputs are active all the time; this setting compensates the sub. output level for the
number of subwoofers in the system.
