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Old 25-06-2012, 14:36
steven123
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I have an Infinity Oreus 7.1 speaker set including a very large active subwoofer, which I use with an Onkyo TX-SR 607 receiver. I have always had the sub to the left of the TV/AV kit stand near to the left wall opposite the sofa ~2.5 meters from where I sit. Whilst this works fine, it does take up quite a bit of space in the already small room so I was thinking it would be much neater to hide it out of sight by relocating it to the left side of the sofa in the corner where the two walls meet.

However, I wanted to check that this would be an acceptable place for a subwoofer? Also, I am a little concerned that moving it closer to my listening position will make it sound too loud in comparison to the satellite speakers?

In addition, it currently has a 3m standard phono type cable from the receiver for audio, to reach the new location I would need a longer cable though as there is very little clearance at the back of the receiver, could I get away with extending the existing cable (with a phono coupler and a second cable) without an obvious loss of sound quality?

Any advice appreciated
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Old 25-06-2012, 14:43
tellytart1
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No, there should be no problems relocating it. You will need to go through the setup on your amp again to adjust the relative audio levels fed to the sub to account for the fact it is now closer to you, but almost all amps have this ability, or there'll be a volume control on the sub itself.

As for extending the cable, you will be fine with a phono extension lead, as long as it's reasonable quality, and the connections are firm rather than loose.
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Old 25-06-2012, 15:03
soulboy77
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Because of the type of job a sub-woofer does, the location is not that fussy for the effect it gives.

When extending the cable use some insulation tape to cover the connector joints to reduce the likely hood of them being pulled apart.
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Old 25-06-2012, 15:10
chrisjr
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A corner location can emphasize the bass of any speaker, so fairly obviously can potentially affect the sound from a sub, which is all bass and not a lot else!

The Onkyo amp you have has separate control over the level of every speaker so you can turn the level of the sub down to get it back to how it was in it's former position.
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Old 25-06-2012, 16:16
steven123
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Thanks, The amp does include a set up microphone which i used when i first set it up to get all the speaker levels right so i will just use that again and hopefully that will make any necessary alterations to take account of the subs new position.

Does the direction the sub faces make any difference? There is a circular speaker grille on the front and a large square hole on the left and right with square lattice style covering. I always had the speaker grille front facing towards the front of the room but looking at it the actual speaker cone seems to be on the side.

The other thing is if I move it, I will no longer be able to reach the power switch (rocker style switch, like on a light or PC PSU) on the back and will just have to control the power via the mains socket (or just leave it on as it powers off after a few minutes not used anyway). Is this likely to be bad for the sub?
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Old 25-06-2012, 16:25
chrisjr
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You don't need to perform the Onkyo set-up all over again. If you go into the menu system of the amp it has a section for setting up the speakers and a sub section for setting the Level Cal(ibration).

You just go into that and it plays noise through each channel in turn. Using the left/right/up/down arrow control just select the sub and set the level so it sounds reasonable.

As for which way it faces, have the circular grille facing outwards. That is more or less how it is designed to be operated. It also shouldn't do any harm switching on and off at the mains socket rather than on the back of the sub. All you are effectively doing is moving the switch from one end of the mains lead to the other.
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Old 25-06-2012, 17:09
grahamlthompson
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Thanks, The amp does include a set up microphone which i used when i first set it up to get all the speaker levels right so i will just use that again and hopefully that will make any necessary alterations to take account of the subs new position.

Does the direction the sub faces make any difference? There is a circular speaker grille on the front and a large square hole on the left and right with square lattice style covering. I always had the speaker grille front facing towards the front of the room but looking at it the actual speaker cone seems to be on the side.

The other thing is if I move it, I will no longer be able to reach the power switch (rocker style switch, like on a light or PC PSU) on the back and will just have to control the power via the mains socket (or just leave it on as it powers off after a few minutes not used anyway). Is this likely to be bad for the sub?
Some subwoofers have the driver cone firing downwards towards the floor. It normally makes little difference to the sound whichever way the driver points. The hole you describe may just be a reflex port. My sub has been left on auto for years without any ill effects, turning on the amp powers up the sub automatically.
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Old 26-06-2012, 10:08
Glawster2002
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The human ear isn't very capable of locating the source of low frequencies, so the sound from a sub-woofer is, effectively, directionless. Your ears pick up the sound but can't determine where in the room it comes from, unlike higher frequencies, so it doesn't really matter where in the room the sub is positioned.
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Old 26-06-2012, 17:15
56up
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turning on the amp powers up the sub automatically.
But the sub woofer was effectively in standby mode, not switched off.

My old amp had a 230v switched socket on the rear which I used to shut down some ancillary equipment like the sub an audio sender and a powered RIAA box for my turntable. But these sockets are not allowed any more.

Now have all my "on standby" units that do not require permanent power, TV, amp sub etc on remote sockets with the same code. One press of the remote turns them all off. And yes,I realise the sockets consume power but it is almost negligible.
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Old 26-06-2012, 18:13
grahamlthompson
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But the sub woofer was effectively in standby mode, not switched off.

.
So is my TV it takes about 0.2W. How much power do you think it takes to monitor a phono socket for a audio signal ? I doubt it will take any more than monitoring an ir receiver for a power on command.

How much did your remote socket cost ?. Assuming 16hrs/day 0.2W over 12 months will use 1.168 KWh and cost about 15 - 20p.

If it cost a fiver and itself uses say 0.1W then the difference in energy amounts to about 7p or a pay back of over 70years. Remember the OP wants to site his Sub remote from other kit so would need it's own remote socket.

I don't think much of your economics

Pvr's have to be in sby to work, newer ones use less than 1W.
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Old 27-06-2012, 12:02
56up
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I don't think much of your economics
According to latest figures most homes use around £80 a year for standby power. Removing items that require permanent connection from the equation such as PVRs drops that to around £60 per year.

My set of sockets cost £19 and cost around £20 a year to run. Payback time less than 2 years.
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Old 27-06-2012, 12:31
grahamlthompson
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According to latest figures most homes use around £80 a year for standby power. Removing items that require permanent connection from the equation such as PVRs drops that to around £60 per year.

My set of sockets cost £19 and cost around £20 a year to run. Payback time less than 2 years.
This is such a generalisation as to be totally worthless.

A degree of commonsense is required

A sky pvr uses around 30W in sby, Freesat and Freeview pvrs use around 0.7W. You need to add up the total sby consumption of all the kit you turn off to make any meaningfull comparison. From a planet saving point of view you also have to factor in the energy required to make the kit and deliver it to you.

In my case apart from pvrs the only kit I have in sby is the TV and the subwoofer a total of much less than 1 Watt.

Say 1 watt if left on sby 24/7 for 365 days that equates to 8.76KWh at an approx cost of £1.30. Rather a long way from £60.00.

Incidentally I was an Engineer in the Electricity Supply Industry (National Grid after privatisation) for over 40yrs.

£20.00/annum indicates a power consumption of about 15W in total so unless the total consumption of the kit you turn off exceeds 15W then you are actually increasing your bill not reducing it.
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Old 10-07-2012, 12:04
steven123
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Sub relocated and working fine in it's new 'home', definitely has a bit more impact in its new location but I haven't bothered turning it down in the amp settings as it doesn't seem uncomfortably loud, just a bit louder than it was and doesn't seem to overpower the other speakers so I guess its ok? I find judging the volume of the sub vs other speakers very hard anyway as it is a totally different kind of noise to a normal speaker.

One thing I do find a bit of a hassle is turning it on each day and off on a night, as the sub has auto standby anyway I could just leave it switched on all the time? I always generally prefer to switch things off at the mains overnight (unless they absolutely HAVE to be on like a PVR) in case they have a malfunction and go up in smoke but I would have thought that fairly unlikely on a sub, particularly in standby mode?
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Old 10-07-2012, 12:33
gomezz
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If you are that obessive plug the amp and the subwoofer into the same switched gang lead?
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Old 10-07-2012, 12:55
Deacon1972
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Sub relocated and working fine in it's new 'home', definitely has a bit more impact in its new location but I haven't bothered turning it down in the amp settings as it doesn't seem uncomfortably loud, just a bit louder than it was and doesn't seem to overpower the other speakers so I guess its ok? I find judging the volume of the sub vs other speakers very hard anyway as it is a totally different kind of noise to a normal speaker.

One thing I do find a bit of a hassle is turning it on each day and off on a night, as the sub has auto standby anyway I could just leave it switched on all the time? I always generally prefer to switch things off at the mains overnight (unless they absolutely HAVE to be on like a PVR) in case they have a malfunction and go up in smoke but I would have thought that fairly unlikely on a sub, particularly in standby mode?
I suppose it's what you are most comfortable in doing, all the subs I have owned have been left on 24/7, even my active speakers are left on 24/7, never liked auto standby, basically because the sub shuts down when no LF signal is present, some subs are very slow at switching back on. All stb's/TV's/PJ are left in standby mode when not being viewed.

Have you thought about investing in a sound meter to set speaker levels? I bought one years ago and would be without one now.
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Old 10-07-2012, 16:34
steven123
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If you are that obessive plug the amp and the subwoofer into the same switched gang lead?
I guess, I'm not that obsessive as I actually leave the amp on standby when not in use as I heard they don't sound as good from cold.

I do have one of the special gang leads for the TV and all other equipment that shuts everything down after TV power button is pressed but as I've moved the sub to next to the sofa it is no where near the gang lead (which is near the TV and other AV kit).

I have given the sub it's own surge protected gang lead which I currently turn off after I have finished using it but if I didn't turn it off (and just let it put itself into standby when not used) I would be able to turn my whole home cinema set up on and off with just the TV remote power button, which would be very convenient indeed.
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