former 2-channeler... confused by surround receiver

[slothshady]

hello all, i recently upgraded my old jvc 2 channel receiver to the pioneer "vsx-516" 5.1 receiver... something to get me by until i get out of school.
i have a pair of 3-way floor speakers (12" woofers) in the front, some old book-shelf pioneers for the surround rears, and a 12" mtx sub hooked up.
i am extremely dissapointed in the output to my front speakers. with my old jvc they would pound... now they are getting a very low dosage of bass when i crank them up. i would like for them and the sub to be getting about as much bass as possible at the same time!
i have played with the settings, and even after setting the receiver to "large" speakers in front im not getting a whole lot of bass. i played with the crossover... didnt seem like it did much of anything. and i also tried playing the receiver in stereo mode... still poor performance... not to mention all the highs and mids went to poop.
do you guys have any suggestions on how i can get my floor speakers to step up their game?
or am i just paying for buying an $150 receiver?

[paul_pci]

If everything else except the receiver is the same, the speakers, the room, the components,and the recording, then it seems a confident deduction that the receiver is your problem, especially since you're confident you've set the settings appropriately. Would you be able to pick up a different receiver?

[slothshady]

yeah, i can always take this one back and get a new one.... but i dont want to break the bank. anything over $200 is going to be too much for me right now.
i got this pioneer for $120.

[slothshady]

ok got it figured out.... turns out im an idiot and just didnt have a proper connection with one of my floor speakers.
now for another question... how should i connect my sub to this receiver, the sub has the old school 2 rca line in setup, the receiver has the single rca sub out connector.
i know my dad has some crazy y cable thing for his sub at the house??

[basite]

no no no, for surround, the just buy a shielded rca cable, a single one!, that would do the job nicely.

it's just another channel you know.
just make sure the cable is shielded.

[slothshady]

ok, ill do that.
what does the shield do for the cable to make it better?
just limit interference?

and another question... i actually have 2 subs right now, they were both on sale and im just gonna take back the one that i like the least.
i bought the mtx SW2 12" and a polk PSW10 10".
so far the MTX is sounding better, but i was just wondering if any of you guys have any experience or opinions on these... (im doubting it, cuz it looks like most of you guys have high quality expensive systems from what ive read in other threads.)

[paul_pci]

It' s going to be a matter of taste and how each sub interacts with the room acoustics. I say run each sub for about a week throught your normal listening routine and see which one fairs better.

[spasticteapot]

ok, ill do that.
what does the shield do for the cable to make it better?
just limit interference?

and another question... i actually have 2 subs right now, they were both on sale and im just gonna take back the one that i like the least.
i bought the mtx SW2 12" and a polk PSW10 10".
so far the MTX is sounding better, but i was just wondering if any of you guys have any experience or opinions on these... (im doubting it, cuz it looks like most of you guys have high quality expensive systems from what ive read in other threads.)

MTX makes some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff - none of it is astounding, but none of it sucks too much either.

However, I can say that MTX speaker drivers are very, very durable. I've seen 20 year old MTX speakers that work just as well as they ever did.