Sunfire Home Theater System - Manual (Page 17)

17
5SERgS
Troubleshooting
The Sunfi re Subwoofer is expertly
de signed and built to provide years of
trou ble-free per for mance. Most prob-
lems that occur can usually be solved
by checking your setup or making sure
that the com po nents con nect ed to the
am pli fi er are on and fully op er a tion al.
The following information will help you
deal with common problems you may ex-
pe ri ence during normal use. If a problem
still persists, please contact your Sunfi re
Dealer for assistance.
Not enough bass
• Check that the input con nec tions are
going to the input ter mi nals and not the
output ter mi nals. In other words, the
connections from your pream pli fi er must
go to the subwoofer’s line level inputs in-
stead of the line level high pass outputs.
If they are connected to the outputs by
mis take, the bass will be weak but the
sub woof er will still function.
• If your preamplifi er has a single
sub woof er/LFE output jack, make sure it
con nects to the subwoofer’s Left (Mono)
input. If the bass is still not enough after
check ing all the re main ing points, use
a Y cable to connect the pream pli fi er’s
single sub woof er/LFE output to the
sub woof er’s right and left inputs.
• Make certain the subwoofer is in a cor-
ner location, fi ring at 45 degrees into the
walls formed by the corner. This is not
ab so lute ly essential, but will maximize
the bass output and give the smooth est
possible re sponse. If you place the unit
so one of the drivers is fi ring into one of
the walls, leave three inches of clear-
ance between the driver and the wall.
• Home Theater preamplifi ers usually
have a way of ad just ing the level of the
sub woof er/LFE output, either using a
remote control or with a small volume
knob on the back panel. Make sure that
this is ad just ed correctly.
• Check that your preamplifi er or
receiver’s sub output is turned on. Some
systems only have a sub output signal
when the front speakers are set to
“small.”
• If the preamplifi er’s subwoofer/LFE
output has an adjustable crossover fre-
quency, make sure that the sub woof er’s
own crossover point is set to BYPASS or
part of the bass range will be missing.
Not enough bass in a 5.1
sys tem
• 5.1 home theater preamplifi ers usually
have a bass management system which
allows the bass to be redirected among
your speakers. For example, the bass
normally present in the front speak-
ers can be redirected to play in the
subwoofer, or the sub woof er can play
the bass from all the speakers, in addi-
tion to its dedicated LFE (low frequency
effects) channel. Make sure that all of
the bass man age ment options are cor-
rectly set. The preamplifi er may have a
way of turning the sub woof er output off
entirely, so check that it is always on.
• Check that the preamplifi er calibration
procedure is correctly adjusted. Usually,
the preamp will send a test tone through
all the speakers in your system, allowing
you to adjust (trim) the volume of each
chan nel until they are all playing at the
same level.
• If the bass is weak only when playing
5.1 surround sources, check that your
pream pli fi er is correctly set to decode
the 5.1 sur round modes, such as Dolby
Digital or DTS.
• DVD discs have a menu which allows
you to select which soundtrack to play.
Check that the correct 5.1 surround
audio soundtrack is selected, otherwise
it may just play stereo into your preamp
and you won’t get the true LFE signal
into the subwoofer.