Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Graph testing again, I'm confused, so is mojo :)

Ok guys after a few years of hanging around these parts you would think I would have it all figured out. NOT

Now that it appears that "direct" mode ignores bass management settings, I've begun to listen to music using standard CD Stereo mode. I'm not very happy with the output overall, especially in the Bass category.

Keep in mind I normally have all speakers calibrated the same using my meter around 75dB. Lately, based on what Jakeman has provided, I've been calibrating my sub to be a little lower so it matches closer to my main settings. I also use a crossover of 80hz and "small" for all speakers.

My Denon 2805 only has one crossover setting, so this has always seemed to work great both for movies and music. However, this was because I have always listened to music using Direct mode and it now appears this is giving my 80's the full freq range since the bass management is bypassed.

When listening to music in "stereo" mode now, the music has no "punch" anymore. I assume this is because the 80's are now sending the freq's below 80hz to the sub. I know JohnK and others talk about this "rolloff" theory, however, this does not seem to be very active in this situation.

Highs/mids are fine, but the low frequencies sound thin. If I click the "direct" button on my Denon remote, BAMMMMM, the music sounds killer and has more life to it. From my understanding from everyone, this is more than likely due to my left/right 80 woofers are now adding addition dB's to the sub's output alone.

If I set my 80's to large, and listen to "stereo" mode, it sounds much closer to "direct" mode as the 80's are getting everything.

It appears that I can adjust the Sub level while in "stereo" mode and this will stay active only for "stereo" mode and not affect the other settings more movies, direct mode, etc.

But even when cranking up the sub level, it just was not the same as when the 80's were added into the picture.

So what do the rest of you do when listening to music? Which mode do you use and which bass mgmt settings are you using?

I feel like a newby all over again.