General Description; Installation; Positioning In The Room - Genelec HTS6 Operating Manual

Genelec HTS6 Active Subwoofer

General description

The Genelec HTS6 is a powerful active
subwoofer designed specially for high quality
digital 5.1 channel Home Theater systems.
Its 19 to 120 Hz (± 3 dB) frequency range
and 124 dB sound pressure output capability
are sufficient to handle the most demanding
high SPL applications.
High quality XLR and RCA line level input
connectors and adjustable input sensitiv-
ity provide easy connection to all types of
decoders. Bass roll-off rate and crossover
phase can be adjusted to suit different
acoustical environments and subwoofer
positioning. A "LINK OUT" connector allows
coupling two or more subwoofers together
when very high sound pressure levels are
required.

Installation

Each subwoofer is supplied with a mains
cable and an operating manual. Once
unpacked, place the subwoofer in a suitable
location (For more details see the 'Position-
ing' section).
Before connecting the audio signals, ensure
that all equipment are switched off. Check
that the subwoofer voltage selector switch is
set to the correct voltage. Audio input to the
subwoofer can be made via balanced XLR or
unbalanced RCA connector. We recommend
the use of balanced cables and connectors
due to their better noise immunity. Do not use
both inputs at the same time.
The "LINK OUT" connector can be used for
daisy-chaining several subwoofers together
when high SPL is required. Simply connect
a balanced XLR cable from the "LINK OUT"
connector to the "XLR INPUT" connector of
the next subwoofer. See section "Using mul-
tiple subwoofers".
Once all connections have been made, the
subwoofer and main speakers are ready to
be powered up.

Positioning in the room

The placement of the subwoofer in the room
affects the overall frequency response and
sound level of the system dramatically, as at
low frequencies the effects of the room are
strong. Even a slight change in the subwoof-
er's location can make a marked difference
in the frequency balance and often patient
and methodical experimentation and testing
is needed to find the optimum placement.
The placement will affect the phase dif-
ference between the main monitors and the
subwoofer, and also the bass roll-off rate.
These effects can be compensated by the
use of the controls in the amplifier unit; but
we recommend that at first you leave the
switches untouched and concentrate on find-
ing the position where the subwoofer gives
the smoothest response, and only then use
the controls to fine-tune the balance and
phase alignment between the subwoofer and
the main speakers.
To begin with, place the subwoofer slightly
offset from the center of the front wall. The
recommended distance to the wall is less
than 90 cm / 36" measured from the sub-
woofer's drivers. This position gives increased
acoustic loading (and SPL) due to the prox-
imity of the front wall and floor. Cancellations
from the front wall and floor are also avoided.
In a multichannel system the main speakers
should ideally be positioned symmetrically
and at an equal distance from the listening
position.
If the frequency balance is not right, try
moving the subwoofer slightly to the left or
right so that different room modes are excited
at different levels. Positioning the subwoofer