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How Screwed Am I?

Disclaimer: I'm a newb but I am aware I didn't make the best equipment choices when I bought this stuff. My only defense is it was five years ago, I was in a hurry, and I didn't spend much cash.

I've got a Sony STR-DE845 receiver and a Bose Acoustimass 6 Series II satellite system (it's got single cubes, not doubles, and a passive "bass module"). Please, any ranting against Bose will be preaching to the choir at this point. I will indeed upgrade my speakers...later.

I want to get some bass out of my system, and the Bose bass module is godawful. So I'm shopping for an inexpensive (<$300) active subwoofer. The problem is that the satellites run through the bass module, and the super-secret Bose crossover is apparently set around 280 Hz, which is way high. Too high to use an active subwoofer or the receiver as the crossover. The receiver will only crossover up to 180 Hz, and active subwoofers around 120 to 180. So not only would I lose 180-280 Hz, but I might damage the satellites. So it looks like I need to keep the Bose bass module just for its crossover utility.

Finally I figured, hey, I'll just leave the Bose system as is and plug the active subwoofer into the receiver's LFE jack. But I couldn't find any stats on what where the LFE crossover is for the receiver. I've seen reports of 70, 80, 100, and 120 Hz for various receivers, so I assume it's somewhere in that range. My plan had been to buy a subwoofer that went pretty high (some go up to 200Hz) to try and better match the satellites, but it looks like no matter what its range the sub would be limited by whatever the LFE output fed it.

It looks like my only option (assuming I can only afford a subwoofer at this point) is to buy an active subwoofer, plug it into the LFE, and deal with the fact that there'll be a big gap of about 180 Hz between the top of the LFE (around 100) and the bottom of the satellites (around 280).

Oh, and I have one more question. Is my LFE output only going to work as the .1 channel when I'm playing a DVD in 5.1? Or will LFE output work for regular stereo inputs as well?

Any constructive comments would be appreciated. Such as, are my assumptions correct? Are my conclusions correct? Does anyone have any alternate proposals on how to solve this? Is my only option one of sucktitude?

Thanks,

- G
sbrueckn54b7
reubent
7,051 posts
 
You have received some good advice above. Even though I previously answered that , yes, what you propose will work, I would also suggest, as some of the previous posters did, that you simply spend your budgeted dollars a a pair of different speakers.

If you want to stay at a budget level, the Athena line of speakers is considered to be an excellent soounding speaker for the $. They are very efficient so they don't require a lot of power, and from what I've read, they are good enough that they could be used in the future when you upgrade.

Athena makes a highly regarded floor standing speaker that list for $499 and gets great reviews. These are often sold at AudioAdvisor for $359-399 and sometime include shipping. They also sell this line at Best Buy, but I've never seen them priced as low as AudioAdvisor. Oh, and AudioAdvisor has a no-risk 30 day return policy.

Anyway, its a journey! Take your time and decide what is most important to you. Do some homework and it will pay huge dividends.....

Enjoy,

TIC
dlr
201 posts
 
Just make sure that if you try to sell the Bose, don't tell the customer what you think about the system. Anybody with one of those $200-$400 all-in-one surround systems would probably be happy to upgrade to a Bose!!! system. You might want to go out and shop for the speaker configuration you like and then decide what your next step is. Now that you are taking the time to plan ahead, I would figure out what your "final" system would be. That way your chance of making a similar mistake is lessened. Find the speakers you like and can live with financially and then plan your course. It took me abut 5 years of patience to get my dream system put together. $5,000 worth of speakers for $1600. I'm not saying go this anal route but a little planning can go a long way. Good luak Dan
mfc28412
15 posts
 
sell the bose--get vandy 1c speaker and one vandy sub
pabelson
344 posts
 
One basic problem with the Bose approach is that it tries to make the "subwoofer" cover too much ground, and nothing you've contemplated fixes that problem. You sure won't find a subwoofer (at any price) that "better matches" the Bose satellites. Bose makes its subs to match its sats, and--at least that far--it knows what it's doing.

In other words, you can't improve on what you've got except by replacing it.
slappy
903 posts
 
I gotta agree with the "Sell the Bose" suggestion and add that to the budget.
Not sure how big of a priority surround sound is for you, but i reccommend selling the bose, try to get 4-500 for it.
Take that 300 you have and pick up an Athena Subwoofer as earlier suggested, then take what you got from the Bose system and see if you can score some Jm Lab Chorus 707S's. Excellent sound for the budget, im running a pair of them and honestly i like them better than my last 3 sets of speakers and one of those sets cost me 1,600.

From there you can save up for a center and surrounds if needed, but in the meanwhile a pair of 707S's and an Athena SUb with that reciever, even tho it is not "surround" will smoke that blose acraptimess system.
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