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Home Theater: Is Subwoofer a must?

I'm just setting up my first home theater system. I have a Proceed PAV, with Classe amplification. A CA-200 drives my Legacy Classic mains while a bridged CAV-75 does center and surrounds. The Legacy Classics have (2) 10 woofers in each speaker, crossover set at 120hz. When I play music, which is 90% of my listening the bass is plentiful and solid. I've noticed though, that when I watch movies the bass is a little lean. I checked my Proceed PAV and made sure the internal crossover was turned off. My question is this, when they make these recordings on dvd, vhs or whatever do they separate all the bass information for the subwoofer channel? Do they think nobody buys full range speakers anymore? Or do they just want to make you buy a subwoofer? I thought with the bass response of my Classics I wouldn't need one. Am I wrong? Thanks for your help.
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Showing 3 responses by jmcgrogan2

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jmcgrogan2 OP
6,346 posts
 
Thanks for your responses. Avguygeorge, in speaker setup I have crossover off. This is suppose to allow all frequencies to go to the fronts. I have center channel selected as large so it can go full range. I don't see any other options under speaker setup. That is why I was wondering if the DVD format is encoded with the low frequencies rolled off and deep bass sent to the sub channel. In stereo when bass information is there the Classics can go pretty deep, so I assume the software manufacturers are doing something to change that.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2 OP
6,346 posts
 
Thanks for your responses. It seems like everybody is saying this is a hardware or room placement issue. That helps, my main concern is if it was a software issue I HAVE to get a sub. If it is hardware I need to keep fiddling with what I got. Tommart, if you say you don't notice the bass in movies then that means the software is not sending all low frequency information to the sub channel. That was my main question. Sean, I don't really have much room to fool with placement a couple inches either direction but as I am pleased with 2 channel sound and that makes up 90% of my listening I won't bother with placement. Kevinm brings up the point of bass management. I'm new to this so I don't know how the Proceed PAV does in this regard. I only see crossover on/off and center large/small/off as only options under speaker setup. I have crossover off and center large. This should send all low frenquencies to all speakers. The only other explanation is the software people encoding the dvd with low frequencies directed to sub channel.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2 OP
6,346 posts
 
I FOUND IT!! Thanks for all your help. I sat down and went thru the whole program step by step. Previously I spent time in Speaker setup and input defaults. Iwent into Mode Defaults, which had THX Cinema, Dolby Pro Logic, Stereo Surround and all other modes. Inside each mode there was a switch to turn sub on/off. Needless to say the sub switch was on in the Pro Logic/THX modes I thought since I turned the sub off in Speaker Setup section this was all taken care of. WRONG. I turned the switch off and put in Twister (hey my kids were off school today). Now I have real bass even in home theater mode. I felt the house shake. I don't think I need that sub. Thanks for all your help.
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