I finally hooked up the JBL PB10 subwoofer I purchased several months ago. I guess I can't even be an early adopter with technology I already own.



I did the basic hookup from the line out of my pre amp, and toyed with the controls a bit, particularly the volume and crossover frequency. I'm running it Polk Monitor 7s, and initial returns are very good. In a minute here I'll close down the house to seal in the cool night air, and will crank it up a bit to see how it is at high volums, but at low volumes it really rounds out the sound, subtly.

Okay, at high volumes it's very nice, too. It adds a lot of punch to the kick drum and bass on Seven Summoner's Tales, which has some nicely defined bass lines, considering Sting is a bassist.

I always had a bias against subwoofers because I equated them with windowratttling car systems. But after listening to everyone on here say I needed one, I got it after my abortive DQ-10 deal and before my successful DQ-10 purchase.

I can't remember if I got a manual with this or not, but I'm "reorganizing" so finding it could be a lifelong project.

The powered sub has high-level in and high-level out jacks. Is there a way to set up the system to get optimal sound, or to experiment?

thanks,
dennis

A good trick for placement is- and I kid you not- to place the sub in the spot where your seat goes, then crawl around on the floor to see where it sounds best.

Once you find that spot, move it to that area, and put your seat back.

Otherwise, experiment with it- if it sounds boomy, or you notice the sub, then it's too dominant. The sub should augment the bass, but should not draw attention to itself when playing.

Subtlety is the key.

do you really want him to crawl around, thats funny, even if it is the best way to find the sweet spot.

I can picture it. bongo's signifigant other goin, what the hell are you doing on the floor?

ah, we need pictures.

elroy

better yet- he's a media mogul. Let's put it on Youtube.

I'm too proud to beg, hence my lack of sig oth after 3.5 years
of what I thought was an excellent relationship.
Then again, I didn't do anything that merited begging,
and if a reasoned, handwritten letter wouldn't awaken
her cold dead heart, I'm thinking begging would just
be self-demeaning with the same ultimate empty result.
(OKAY: I win the award for WAY TMI)

But I'm not too proud to crawl. I would have to enlist
my new bachelor's play pal to take the images.

And when I post it on youtube, I'll be sure to implicate
all of you by displaying "SoundThinking Member" in the
header. "you know, doing what THEY do..."

you wont find any shortage of implicating material here.

When I sign your yearbooks, my list of adjectives for you guys:
"knowledgeable, helpful, implicational."

Adding the Dahlquist DQ-1W sub to my DQ-10's amost 31 years ago made such a notable improvement, I wondered how I managed to enjoy the speakers without it. I initially used the Dahlquist passive crossover, but when I moved and had the woofer placed off to my left, and no longer on the same wall as the 10's themselves, I heard the bass very clearly coming from the left, and found that horribly distracting.

That was corrected by purchasing the Dahlquist electronic crossover and using an additional amp. Not only was bass deeper and better defined, but the electronic crossover had a far steeper slope than the passive one did, so the directionality of the sub was reduced.

I used this setup for years until a loose connection in the crossover delivered a loud "BRAAACCCKK!" into the sub, and actually melted the voice coil! What a stink! I then purchased a Definitive Technology PF-15TL+, 500 watt powered sub and realized what a real subwoofer actually sounded like! The Def Tech goes much, much lower than the DQ-1W ever did, and there's no sense of "tubbiness" at all. Best of all, it blends in so well with the DQ-10's as to never draw attention to itself.

My preamp has two line outs, and I play the DQ-10's full range from one output, and drive the sub with the other. I don't like the idea of feeding a signal into the sub's crossover (or any other crossover, for that matter) and then feeding that signal back into my main amp, because that has an undesirable effect on the main speakers. I'd suggest a similar use for your setup.

I place the sub on the same wall as the 10's, and off to their right. This was done more of necessity than experimentation, but I'm very pleased with the sonic results.

So, I guess the main purpose of this post is to drive the DQ-10's full-range, unfiltered in any way, and use a line level input to the powered sub. Then, just play around with the crossover adjustments (if there are any), and the level until it sounds right to you.

As you described with the Dahlquist passive crossover and the woofer placed off to your left, I too have found a mediocre setup will indeed isolate the bass and let you pinpoint clearly where the source is coming from.

You said you purchased the Dahlquist electronic crossover and use an additional amp. I see indeed the benefits of this, and have a few toys to experiment with- a passive NHT I need to modify, a powered Paradigm crossover, a decent power amp, a few NHT external sub amps, ect.

Subs are NHTs or 3D Acoustics, and I suspect that they will do better than the Dahlquist factory sub, while though it looks good and matches well in appearance and sound, doesn't have the benefit of subwoofer technology that we've come to love.

I also strongly agree with running the DQ-10's full range from one output, and driving the sub with the other. I too, find feeding a signal into the sub's crossover and back into your main amp is going to have a nominal at best, major at worst sound quality effect on the main speakers.