Pioneer SW-E10 Owners Manual - Page 5

www.pioneerelectronics.com English 5 PLACEMENT AND FINE TUNING The placement of your new subwoofer is critical to its performance. The three most common locations include: A) In the corner of the room (which can result in a boomy or exaggerated low frequency response), B) Placement along one wall but out of the corner (moderate bass performance with increased fidelity over corner placement), or C) Alongside a front speaker (creating a better blend with the front speaker, but sacrificing overall volume). Experimentation with subwoofer placement is highly encouraged, as slight adjustments can create large benefits in sound reproduction. To further test subwoofer placement, place the subwoofer temporarily in your main listening chair and while playing a familiar piece of music, crawl around the listening room until you find the best-sounding position. This is usually a place where the subwoofer will perform well, and possibly at its best. A B FINAL SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS 1. After you have made all connections, but before making final adjustments, we recommend you let your new subwoofer play with an action movie or pop music for a few hours to let it break in. 2. Select the correct position for the POWER switch, either ON or AUTO depending on your system. The AUTO selection will leave the unit in a self-sensing mode, such that should the unit sense an audio signal it will turn itself on and then shut down after several minutes without signal, while in the ON position the subwoofer always remains on. 3. Adjust the LEVEL control so that the volume of your subwoofer matches the overall system volume. This ensures a smooth transition between the low and high frequencies of your system. If the subwoofer is connected to an A/V receiver or surround processor, you will need to set this control so it gives you enough range to fine-tune the level using the channel level adjustments in the receiver or processor. 4. Adjust the LOWPASS (HZ) control so that the frequency range of the subwoofer blends well with that of the front speakers. If you are using an A/V receiver or surround processor, we recommend you set this control to 150 Hz so the receiver or processor can perform the subwoofer crossover functions. If you are feeding the subwoofer from a stereo preamp or receiver, when using small satellite speakers, the appropriate crossover frequency should be from 90 Hz to 150 Hz, for bookshelf speakers 70 Hz to 90 Hz and for large floorstanding speakers 40 Hz to 70 Hz. Setting the crossover too low will create a gap between the frequency response of the front speakers and that of the subwoofer, while setting the crossover frequency too high will create a doubling of certain frequencies, making the music sound boomy. 5. Adjust the PHASE so that the subwoofer integrates fully with the rest of your audio system. This control ensures that the subwoofer operates in phase with the rest of the system, as an out-of-phase subwoofer will either sound like it is lacking in bass performance or that its timing is off. This setting will be determined by your listening position, the characteristics of your listening room and its interaction with your subwoofer. We recommend you start with the control set to 0, then listen to music with a melodic bass line. Now set the control to 180. Whichever setting delivers the most tuneful and consistent bass output is usually the best one. Experiment with the in-between settings on the PHASE knob if you wish. 6. Steps 2, 3 and 4 might require repeating in order to fine tune your system. Ensuring the proper blending between the speakers and the subwoofer is critical to the performance of your system, as a whole. C