RSX 1055 + 5CH Stero=no Bass

[Nolan B]

Hey guys I am hoping someon can answer this for me. When I have friends over I generally switch to 5 Channel stereo in order to distribute the music around my whole place. For some reason however as soon as i make the switch to 5 Ch the sound from the Sub almost dropps of completely. When switching back to 2 channel it picks up again..does anyone know why?

[fordster]

I don't use 5 channel mode so not sure if it uses the sub or not. Does the LFE indicator come on the display? In 2 channel mode you have L+R and LFE (unless in bypass mode which is what I use). I'd guess 5 channel stereo uses all 5 channels plus LFE but check it's lighting up. If it is I'd check the crossover points are set correctly.

[Nolan B]

it is lit up. Would the cross over points change from stereo to 5 channel? I thought once you set them it would be set no matter what mode your in.

[fordster]

Good question, I'm not sure. Looking at the manual for the RSX-1056 on Rotel's website, it says:

2Ch/5Ch/7Ch Stereo Formats
The RSX-1056 also provides four modes that
disable all surround processing and deliver
stereo signals to amplifiers and speakers. There
are three options:

2CH Stereo: Turns off the center channel and
all surround channels in the system and delivers
a conventional 2-channel signal to the front
speakers. If the system is configured to route
bass signals from the front speakers to the
subwoofer, this capability remains in effect.

Analog Bypass: For 2-channel analog inputs,
there is a special stereo mode that bypasses
ALL of the RSX-1056’s digital processing.
The two front speakers receive pure analog
stereo full-range signals with no subwoofer
crossover, no delay, no level adjustments, and
no contour adjustment.

5CH Stereo: Distributes a stereo signal to
5.1 channel systems. The left channel signal
is sent, unchanged, to the front left and surround
left speakers. The right channel is sent
to the front right and surround right speakers.
A mono sum of the two channels is sent to the
center channel speaker.

The manual for the RSX-1055 does not have as much detail. To me, this reads that in 2ch mode (not bypass) it will redirect bass from the fronts to the subwoofer if set up. However the 5CH mode does not say this. Do you imply that it would (after all the LFE light is on) or not?

What mode do you normally use for stereo, 2CH or bypass? EDIT - the manual for RSX-1055 suggests there is no bypass so this question may be redundant (I have a 1056 which is what I was basing my thoughts on). It may be that Dolby ProLogic II or DTS Neo in music mode would provide more bass.

[Nolan B]

The manual for the RSX-1055 does not have as much detail. To me, this reads that in 2ch mode (not bypass) it will redirect bass from the fronts to the subwoofer if set up. However the 5CH mode does not say this. Do you imply that it would (after all the LFE light is on) or not?.

I imply that it should, or I would like it to. My speakers dont work well without a sub.

What mode do you normally use for stereo, 2CH or bypass? .

2CH

I listen to 5 Channel when I have quests over becuase my room is so big that 2 speakers need to be cranked to laud for the other side of the room to hear. With 5 Channel the whole room gets a good level of music.

PLII seems to produce more base then 5 CH, but doesnt really solve my problem. I guess I will just have to manually increase the bass on the back of the sub each time I play 5 CH.

[greenjudas]

I have a rsp 1066 pre and I find I have the same problem.A bit too much bass in 2 ch and not enough in 5 ch.I have always been a fan of 5ch and this is a slight problem, but one I will have to deal with by the looks of it.

[fordster]

According to B&W's website the ASW 500 supports speaker level inputs. Perhaps using these would enhance the bass?

[Nolan B]

According to B&W's website the ASW 500 supports speaker level inputs. Perhaps using these would enhance the bass?

thanks for checking onto that. Can you explain to me what that means exactly?

[fordster]

Oh dear, I hoped you wouldn't ask me that! Maybe somebody else could explain the details but my understanding is that on some subs you can wire the amp's speaker outputs to the sub through some kind of adapter (some subs, such as MJ Acoustics supply the adapter - Neutrik Speakon cable) in addition to your satellites. The sub can then reinforce the output that is sent to your speakers rather than relying on the amp sending to the LFE output.