Question Subwoofer works in the setup, but not afterwards

[__Alex__]

Hi,

I have a Denon AVR X2100W with two small Bowers and Wilkins speakers and a BW subwoofer. Everything used to work before, and lately I realized that I actually rarely hear the subwoofer. When testing with music with lots of bass, I could see that the subwoofer does not work at all.

My first thought - probably I have the wrong cable and it damaged something. Explanation - the subwoofer has two (L and R) slots on the back, but I had a cable with one end on one side and one end on another side. I could barely connect the cable to the receiver because it was extremely tight. I thought - probably something got damaged there. So, I bought another cable: 1 end on one side and two ends (L and R) on the other side for the subwoofer. I connected, and it seems like this is the right cable (even though the old one worked in the past - it was just too tight). Actually, I am now using subwoofer 2 slot in the receiver - just in case the old cable damaged the subwoofer 1 slot.

I run the Denon setup in which I put the Denon mic at different places in the room, and it does some measurements. The subwoofer works perfectly, and also the system can "hear" it though the mic. I was very glad that the problem is fixed now. Then, I go back and tried different youtube videos especially designed to test subwoofer (a lot of bass), and the result is that the subwoofer is silent. I have tried youtube videos through chromecast, youtube on a laptop connected to Denon with a HDMI cable, and Spotify which sent signal directly to Denon via wi-fi. Subwoofer is silent in all cases. But if I use the setup, it works so well that the walls shake.

What can be wrong here?

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[davidgirgis]

Disclaimer: Don't play anything too loud during the setup process.

You have a simple connection or setup problem.
What model are the speakers and subwoofer?

Make sure your subwoofer is connected to the "Subwoofer 1" RCA connection in the "Pre-Out" section on the back of you Denon receiver.

 

[davidgirgis]

I believe the speaker type is small or medium. There may be an option of speaker size/type in the Denon receiver's menu somewhere.
when a small/medium speaker size is selected, the receiver configures the crossover point automatically so that, most frequencies play through the speakers, while bass frequencies (e.g. 400 Hz and lower), play through the subwoofer.

 

[__Alex__]

Problem solved!

Thanks a lot! I am now using the subwoofer 1 slot and I went through the automatic setup again. The problem is solved. As you write, the speakers were classified as being "large" automatically. Then I went to manual setup, changed them to small and the subwoofer started to work! Thanks a lot.

The reason is weird - when I bought the system, the setup automatically classified the speakers as small, and now it classifies them as large (I have run the setup several times). So, probably there was an update which messed this thing up. Anyway, it works now. Thank you very much!