Onkyo TX-NR905 - Subwoofer in Direct mode

[thornsdale]

I have a TX-NR905 which is great, but,
Does anyone know if I can use the Direct audio mode (ie no signal processing) to listen to my stereo music and at the same time use the inbuilt crossover to feed the base to my sub? I think the only way I can get the sub to used is to opt for something like Multi-channel Stereo mode but I really want pure stereo plus the sub. ie no messing except for the cross-over.

Can anyone help please?

 

[stevelup]

Nope - afraid not.

All the subwoofer processing is done by the DSP's. The closest you will be able to get is to just put it in 'stereo' mode

Steve

 

[stevelup]

Which sub do you have by the way? Some (REL for example) can accept both line level and high level inputs simultaneously. That would solve your problem.

Steve

 

[stevelup]

Three replies to the same post - I'm rubbish.

There is a mode called simply 'stereo' - it outputs stereo+sub. You don't need to use any of the multi-channel modes.

 

[thornsdale]

Which sub do you have by the way? Some (REL for example) can accept both line level and high level inputs simultaneously. That would solve your problem.

I have a Yamaha YST-SW80. It has speaker connections (in and out) as well as the line level. The manual says you can wire it either way but doesn't explicitly say you can't use both at the same time.
So, three new questions:
1. Would it be safe to try?
2. Would that give better results for my music and other non 5.1 sources?
3. What happens when it gets the LF at line level from a 5.1 source? (I guess the amp's cross-over would mean that it wouldn't be receiving any LF on the speaker cables, so there shouldn't be any problems?)

Thanks in advance for any further help.

Bob

 

[stevelup]

Exactly - theoretically, when you're using it in 5.1 mode, there will be no LFE information on your front left+right so everything will come via the low level signal.

When you put the amp into direct / pure mode, full range signals get passed to your main speakers and so the sub should kick in.

The REL subs have separate controls for the low level and high level inputs but your Yamaha doesn't.

I reckon you should manually set the level on the sub whilst listening in pure mode, then re-run the Audyssey setup which should then match the LFE output.

Worth a try and I can't see you breaking anything!

 

[thornsdale]

Exactly - theoretically, when you're using it in 5.1 mode, there will be no LFE information on your front left+right so everything will come via the low level signal.

When you put the amp into direct / pure mode, full range signals get passed to your main speakers and so the sub should kick in.

The REL subs have separate controls for the low level and high level inputs but your Yamaha doesn't.

I reckon you should manually set the level on the sub whilst listening in pure mode, then re-run the Audyssey setup which should then match the LFE output.

Worth a try and I can't see you breaking anything!

Thanks Steve, I'll give it a go.

Bob