Best way to make sure subwoofer is working/not all movies use it??

Question

I hooked up my subwoofer with my 5:1 surround system home theatre and it doesn't seem to add to the experience of The Crow. I thought there was a decent enough scene to make it shake the room, but nothing...how do I know if IS NOT working right?

I put a music CD into my DVD player and it sounds good, but the subwoofer didn't seem to make any noise. It was a base ridden song, too. Do I have to turn the volume on the receiver up enough to hear it? The subwoofer is at the mid sound level. I didn't turn the receiver up real loud, but I thought loud enough to feel some base when my ear was pressed to the woofer. Any ideas why it wasn't pounding?

Answer 1

You dont really state if your system consists of speakers and an a/v reciever or is an out of the box solution.

There are channel levels for both these setups. Just read your manuals and find out how to adjust the channel levels. There you will find the channel levels for your subwoofer. Just increase it and you shall be fine,

Another way to make sure is to download a frequency sweep cd or sometimes, good recievers have a speaker test option where it passes on noise to the individual speakers for level adjustment.

Also (if available) make sure that the connections are right. Mostly its a single RCA that goes into the LFE in of the subwoofer OR it could be a pair of UTP cables that go into the push-in kind of speaker connector.

Enable the LFE option on ur reciever(if available)

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Your receiver should have a test-tone generator used to set the volume levels of all the speakers. That should include an output to the subwoofer alone, and if you hear that, you know the sub is working. The sub may not sound very loud in comparison to the others, because the ear sensitivity to low frequency sounds is weak. To properly balance the system, you should use a Sound Level Meter (SPL meter--you can get one at Radio Shack).

The test tone generation is part of the set-up menu of the receiver.

Another approach is to get a DVD test disc, such as Digital Video Essential or Avia Guide to Home Theater. Those discs also have test tones recorded on them.

http://www.videoessentials.com/
http://www.ovationmultimedia.com/avia.html

Answer 3

test tone, will show you what you need