Trigger and Calibrate Two Subwoofers Questions

[Craig Simon]

I just hooked up my trigger for he first time. The C1 to A51, using the on-off trigger, works fine. I also want to use a trigger to turn on a Panamax 5400-EX power conditioner that has the rest of the equipment connected to it. Both the C1 and the Panamax use a standard 3.5 mm mini-plug (unlike the A51). Not having a trigger cable I tried a Sony 20' control cable that is used for the projector into one of the programmable triggers set to on-off. It didn't work.

Is a trigger cable a specific cable -- meaning that I have to go to Radio Shack and buy a "trigger" cable? Is there a maximum length to a trigger cable?

Secondly, I have an NHT subwoofer for the LFE channel in the front of the room. I want to add a second NHT subwoofer in the back of the room. How does one calibrate (auto or manual) the second subwoofer. The front woofer is 16 feet away from the listening position and the back woofer is three feet. When both are on how is the level set? How is the distance set?

Thanks for the help.

Craig

[Peter Nielsen]

You need to make sure that the tigger voltage and polarity match the target device.

Did you see this notice in the 5400-EX manual:

"IMPORTANT, Please Note: The unit needs to be plugged in, and in the powered OFF state before inserting the DC input trigger mini-plug."

If it still doesn't work after following this, then try switching polarity (Quick&dirty cludge: Cut the cable in half, strip the leads, and twist each lead of each cable half back with the opposite lead of the other half, and finally cover the exposed copper with tape so that a short cannot happen).

Peter

[Craig Simon]

Thanks for the reply.

That's a wire I'm not going to cut. I'll try another one. But with the specs of the Panamax trigger below, if I understand it properly (and there's an excellent chance I don't :-) ) the 12v output of the C1 should work. I don't know what bidirectional polarity means. And, is it a possibility that the 20 foot cable is just too long?




Jacks:............................................ ........................3.5mm (1/8”) mini-plug
Voltage and Polarity:......................................... ....3 - 24V DC, bidirectional
Current Requirement:...................................... ..4.6 mA @3V, 58 mA @24VAttenuation:.................................. ...............< 1db from 950MHz -2.05GHz
< 2.4db @ 2.2GHz

[Peter Nielsen]

Thanks for the reply.

That's a wire I'm not going to cut. I'll try another one. But with the specs of the Panamax trigger below, if I understand it properly (and there's an excellent chance I don't :-) ) the 12v output of the C1 should work. I don't know what bidirectional polarity means. And, is it a possibility that the 20 foot cable is just too long?

No. 20ft is fine. By "bidirectional" they apparently refer to the fact that it has both an input and an output jack (two directions).

I too believe the 12V should be fine. However, it is possible that the polarity is reversed as there really is no standard for that.

Peter

[Chris D]

Hey, Craig! As for discussion about dual (or more) subwoofers, we've been talking about this out in the rest of the Guide lately. (you guys DO get out and look at the rest of the forum periodically, right?) I have dual SVS PC-Ultra subs myself. here's one of the threads I talked in:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=28380