New to the Club!!

[Adz]

Hey Everyone. I bought my first Rotel components a few months back and recently discovered this really great Forum. I'll have more questions than answers and I've caught the "bug" -- of the HT variety. I found Rotel because I'm wedded to Definitive Technology speakers which I have as part of my old Pioneer Elite system. When I went to upgrade my HT experience from a receiver to separates, I spoke to the technical Engineer team at Def Tech and they recommended Rotel #1 in terms of the best fit for my speakers - something about low impedence. I love my def techs which have built in powered subs so I set my front LR speakers to large and all others are set small and subwoofer is set to none. I bi-wired the mids and highs and then ran my subwoofer cable from the L&R full range channel on the 1098 into the full range low level input on the speaker to drive my built-in subs. The sound is incredible especially on the Lord of the Rings dvds.

My first question regarding the 1098 has to do with my SPL calibration. I followed the directions starting with the left speaker and increasing the volume until I hit 75 db reading - well this turned the volume on my left speaker way up to 82!! Then when I went to set my center and rear channels and I had to turn them down to -6 or -7 (the right is at -1). I play movies at around 70-75 volume since 82 is just way too loud (75 is pretty loud as well), but any reason why to achieve what they say is reference level, the volume would be so high?

Last thought, when I play a DVD movie through component video, I also get the movie playing on the TFT screen at the same time using a composite cable -- not sure what the point of that is and its a bit distracting. Should I be setting it up this way? I thought the TFT screen didn't work if I used component as my video input.

Your opinions are all very much appreciated.




Adz

[Kevin D]

but any reason why to achieve what they say is reference level, the volume would be so high?

Because reference level (depending on the room, but usually) is loud as &*!. Nobody says you have to listen at reference, it's just a good point to match everything from, and it's loud enough not to get outside interference.

Kevin D.

[mazuly]

Hi,

Welcome to the club.

First off, I think your setting of sub=no is not right. As I understand, you are connecting your left and right subs to RSP-1098 through the sub output of RSP-1098. If you set your speakers to large and sub to no, then the sub signal is basically rerouted to your left and right speakers and not to the sub output. So basically you are feeding the left and right speaker full range and not utilizing the sub. Check to see if the subs are working or not. I may be wrong on this though since I do not have a sub so someone else please correct me if I am wrong.

I personally would setup the following way for a 5.1 system:

Left, right, Center, Left Rear, Right Rear = Small
Sub = Yes
And then go to the sub option menu and set:
Left = Reference
Crossover = what ever you like depending on your speaker
Center = Reference
Crossover = what ever you like depending on your speaker
Right = Reference
Crossover = what ever you like depending on your speaker
Left Rear = Reference
Crossover = what ever you like depending on your speaker
Right Rear = Reference
Crossover = what ever you like depending on your speaker

Secondly, as Kevin D pointed out, the speaker setup is very much dependent to your room shape and dimensions so I would assume that it would be OK if you are reading deferent numbers for the left, center and right speakers on a SPL meter (I am assuming that you are using a SPL meter and not setting up using your ears)

Finally, you can turn the TFT screen off from the display menu if you do not want it showing anything. Or you can turn the TFT completely off by holding the menu button on the remote. The only thing is that every time you change volume, the display will turn on and then off after a few seconds (annoying, I know ). See the manual for more information on the display options.

Thanks,
Maziar

[Adz]

Thanks for your reply. I followed the speaker booklet which recommends this as the preferred hook-up method. The subs are definitely working. I may not have explained it correctly. For what's its worth, my L&R front speakers have the subwoofer built into the speaker. I bi-wired the mids and highs on each speaker. Then I ran the subwoofer cable from the "Full Range Low Level In" on the speaker (as opposed to the LFE Out) into the the 1098 using a Y connector. Bascially, the Y connector goes into the L&R channel pre-out on the 1098 - one half of the Y goes into the main L&R of the Amp and the other half goes into the full range low level in on my speaker sub. Bass Mgt should be set to large L&R front and subwoofer set to No. The bass mgt system of the 1098 will then send the LFE.1 signal into the L&R channels and its reproduced by the subs in the front speakers. Pretty wild - they sound amazing.




Adz

[mazuly]

Hi,

In that case what you are doing is correct. Just out of curiosity, why is it that you don’t use a y-connector on the sub pre-out of the 1098 so that you can feed that signal to your left and right subs? What you are doing makes sense as well, but I think you may have more control on the sub crossover frequencies and options using the pre-pro sub output.

Anyway, once again, welcome to the club and enjoy your gear

Thanks,
Maziar