Receiver with subwoofer level buttons?


I have a Marantz SR8015 v2 receiver and the remote has like 40 buttons on it, 36 of them are NOT important to me and are never used. Is there a way to adjust the subwoofer level from the remote? THere’s no way I’m going into that clunky menu to adjust.

Why do I ask? I just went to JL Audio Fathom f113s and they don’t have remotes like SVS, but they do have a "Reference" mode that bypasses all controls on the sub allowing you to make adjustments from your receiver/preamp. Wouldn’t that make sense to put sub controls on the remote?

Manufacturers please take note: No one understands all those buttons on your remote. Everyone needs to make sub adjustments from the seating position. Please add level, phase, polarity, and freq cutoff buttons!

dtximages

@lonemountain  My point was 90% of the buttons are useless for 99% of the people using these things.  Why not change some of these useless buttons to levels/phase/polarity/xover etc... Things we all should be using.

Most of us love tinkering for best effects.  Systems change and move and no one wants to do the stupid subwoofer crawl every time something moves a few inches.  Not to mention, once I have it dialed in, I always find myself second guessing later on. It's nice to make changes on the fly from my chair to hear the difference in this vs that etc.  

The Marantz SR8015 remote has 68 buttons!!!!  that includes a channel up/down button which almost nobody uses...ever..  Why not make that rocker switch a customizable level for the sub or center, or rear, or something useful.

I wouldn't say more remote buttons are always positive or user friendly.  The OP mentions he doesn't use 90% of them already.  Having more "places" to turn things up and down, change phase, crossover points etc also create blind alleys some folks travel down when operating and then get lost-they don't understand why the front end unit doesn't fix things like before because you bypassed that with the remote.  These HT processors/receivers/front ends are already incredibly complex.  The more buttons in more places definitely makes things more confusing for many, causing more tech support and more manual searching.  Especially older folks who don't see well! 

 

Brad

@dtximages

Essentially, you should be retaining all sub distances/levels/etc that fell out of a optimal calibration event, i.e. not alter anything in that receiver module or physically on your subs after calibration.

Later on, If you are listening to different bass heavy/bass light recordings and would like to turn the subwoofer levels up or down, i.e. make small on the fly tweaks....For example, the Yamaha Musiccast or AV Controller phone app ("soft remote control") offers the option to do so easily. Look at the Marantz’s HEOS phone/tablet app. I am fairly certain that it should have the option to adust sub levels and it should be very easily accessible. No one deals with the physical remotes much anymore for small on the fly tweaks of that nature!

If other manufacturers have not caught up to such user-friendly features, well, i hope they do in the near future.

@soix I have SVS subs and their app and i do love the app (except it won't link multiple subs together).

This system is for everything from kids Disney, to my youtube, youtube tv, to serious two channel listening/rocking so it's nice to have better control at my finger tips.

Many of the subs settings can be done via the HT processor/preamp, but we bury those settings deep within the menus and they're rarely used.  If they'd put buttons on the remote, we could utilize them more and make it MUCH more convenient.  Since MOST subwoofer manufactures have not offered remotes, this would be awesome.

It looks like Emotiva and Anthem are the best bets.

If this is strictly for HT being managed and run by a mass-market AVR I would’ve saved the considerable $$$ and bought the SVS sub(s) with their handy app and just avoided the issue altogether.  If this system is also for serious 2-channel listening with dedicated stereo components incorporated (and fully bypassing the AVR in that application) I totally get the JLLabs sub(s), but otherwise they strike me as not only inconvenient but probably also overkill for the application.  

Yes, but those functions are done in the subwoofer plate amp. So, the remote would be controlling the sub not the receiver.

Everyone needs to make sub adjustments from the seating position. Please add level, phase, polarity, and freq cutoff buttons!