Home Theater System User Manual
17
5SERgS-ANUAL
Troubleshooting
The Sunfi re Subwoofer is expertly 
de signed and built to provide years of 
trou ble-free per for mance. Most prob-
lems that occur can usually be solved 
by checking your setup or making sure 
that the com po nents con nect ed to the 
am pli fi er are on and fully op er a tion al.
The following information will help you 
deal with common problems you may ex-
 pe ri ence during normal use. If a problem 
still persists, please contact your Sunfi re 
Dealer for assistance.
Not enough bass 
•  Check that the input con nec tions are 
going to the input ter mi nals and not the 
output ter mi nals. In other words, the 
connections from your pream pli fi er must 
go to the subwoofer’s line level inputs in-
stead of the line level high pass outputs. 
If they are connected to the outputs by 
mis take, the bass will be weak but the 
sub woof er will still function.
•  If your preamplifi er has a single 
sub woof er/LFE output jack, make sure it 
con nects to the subwoofer’s Left (Mono) 
input. If the bass is still not enough after 
check ing all the re main ing points, use 
a Y cable to connect the pream pli fi er’s 
single sub woof er/LFE output to the 
sub woof er’s right and left inputs.
•  Make certain the subwoofer is in a cor-
ner location, fi ring at 45 degrees into the 
walls formed by the corner. This is not 
ab so lute ly essential, but will maximize 
the bass output and give the smooth est 
possible re sponse. If you place the unit 
so one of the drivers is fi ring into one of 
the walls, leave three inches of clear-
 ance between the driver and the wall.
• Home Theater preamplifi ers usually 
have a way of ad just ing the level of the 
sub woof er/LFE output, either using a 
remote control or with a small volume 
knob on the back panel. Make sure that 
this is ad just ed correctly.
•  Check that your preamplifi er or 
receiver’s sub output is turned on. Some 
systems only have a sub output signal 
when the front speakers are set to 
“small.”
•  If the preamplifi er’s subwoofer/LFE 
output has an adjustable crossover fre-
quency, make sure that the sub woof er’s 
own crossover point is set to BYPASS or 
part of the bass range will be missing.
Not enough bass in a 5.1 
sys tem
•  5.1 home theater preamplifi ers usually 
have a bass management system which 
allows the bass to be redirected among 
your speakers. For example, the bass 
normally present in the front speak-
ers can be redirected to play in the 
subwoofer, or the sub woof er can play 
the bass from all the speakers, in addi-
tion to its dedicated LFE (low frequency 
effects) channel. Make sure that all of 
the bass man age ment options are cor-
rectly set. The preamplifi er may have a 
way of turning the sub woof er output off 
entirely, so check that it is always on.
•  Check that the preamplifi er calibration 
procedure is correctly adjusted. Usually, 
the preamp will send a test tone through 
all the speakers in your system, allowing 
you to adjust (trim) the volume of each 
chan nel until they are all playing at the 
same level.
•  If the bass is weak only when playing 
5.1 surround sources, check that your 
pream pli fi er is correctly set to decode 
the 5.1 sur round modes, such as Dolby 
Digital or DTS.
•  DVD discs have a menu which allows 
you to select which soundtrack to play. 
Check that the correct 5.1 surround 
audio soundtrack is selected, otherwise 
it may just play stereo into your preamp 
and you won’t get the true LFE signal 
into the subwoofer. 










