A very small suggestion for people not happy with subs

[Naveenbnc]

Hi Guys, this suggestion is already given million times in this forum, but still its worth saying one more time.
Many people are unhappy with their subs, and they end up changing one sub after the other.
And some people keep adding multiple subs. I did the same in my early days.
Before taking any such step, please see the attached image that shows the sub response in my room at 3 different locations.
In each location, the sub behaves completely differently. So before changing your sub, or adding multiple subs, make sure the sub is kept in a best place in your room. Integrating your sub to your room properly, and focusing on room treatments will be more rewarding.
So much content available online on this subject. Or talk to some professional HT installers.

Seniors know all these points, there is nothing new. But I hope this info helps the newbies at least.
Thanks,
Naveen

 

[ankitbhargava]

I learnt it hard way too!
Better to invest into a calibration mic and learn elementary REW to play around with sub positioning and fixing delays to integrate with mains. If you have already invested into two subs (moderately good), rather invest into something like MiniDSP 2*4 HD for taming the Subs and fixing many frequency issues using the Parametric EQ.

 

[spirovious]

Audyssesy Multeq app helps to correct SW frequency graph manually to some extend. Its handy to achieve better performance.

 

[Naveenbnc]

I learnt it hard way too!
Better to invest into a calibration mic and learn elementary REW to play around with sub positioning and fixing delays to integrate with mains. If you have already invested into two subs (moderately good), rather invest into something like MiniDSP 2*4 HD for taming the Subs and fixing many frequency issues using the Parametric EQ.

Since I'm not satisfied with bass for movies, I built more than 10 subs. Sealed, ported, H frames, bandpass, Ripoles etc. That was also an enjoyable learning, but with measurements the whole job is lot more enjoyable.

 

[mail2sumanth]

Basic is to change the position of the sub before going any further. Next is the cutover frequencies. knowing your speakers is a must for this. if you feel the presence(directional)of the sub then that Is the first symptoms and you need to look into the settings. Just blindly sending all the bass to the sub is also not the right way as suggested in many places. It depends on your setup and room. And also depends on how many subs in room to balance it. If two subs are present make sure they don’t cancel each other, introduce little phase or delay. Then the room treatment along with room calibration.

 

[crewcut]

They say that you should put your sub on the sofa and then walk around to where it sounds the best. Then locate the sub to that place.

 

[newlash09]

Hi Guys, this suggestion is already given million times in this forum, but still its worth saying one more time.
Many people are unhappy with their subs, and they end up changing one sub after the other.
And some people keep adding multiple subs. I did the same in my early days.
Before taking any such step, please see the attached image that shows the sub response in my room at 3 different locations.
In each location, the sub behaves completely differently. So before changing your sub, or adding multiple subs, make sure the sub is kept in a best place in your room. Integrating your sub to your room properly, and focusing on room treatments will be more rewarding.
So much content available online on this subject. Or talk to some professional HT installers.

Seniors know all these points, there is nothing new. But I hope this info helps the newbies at least.
Thanks,
Naveen

View attachment 53773

Very well said naveen

And if I may add to that...I've never been a fan of full range room correction dsp so far. But will be giving it a try these vacations. But at bass frequencies , dsp makes a lot difference, as we are not at liberty to adress room modes by way of bass traps in most rooms. So dsp works a charm here...especially when and if, we can't place the sub woofer at the most optimal position in the room sadly

 

[john mathew]

They say that you should put your sub on the sofa and then walk around to where it sounds the best. Then locate the sub to that place.

Thanks for this valuable info. Let me try how it's going to work in my room.

 

[arj]

Excellent topic and you need not need to use a calibration S/W .
For those who do not want to get to all that, the Old school method is to keep the sub in your Listening place and play it. Now crawl around the potential placement positions to find the place where the bass is the loudest.

So now you have your position of the sub and you need to figure out the setting, for that move place the sub in its position and keep the vol and crossover high ( where possible on the sub) . if you have a phase adjustment this is when you adjust it to the position where it is the loudest, else rotate the sub till you get a position it is the loudest.

Finally for the volume adjust it down slowly till the sub is just heard ie almost not heard when on but missed when off ..it is very subjective but anywhere in the realm you are good.

 

[firearm12]

Along with good sub position, bass traps at vertices of a room will change the perception of subwoofers forever.

 

[Hari Iyer]

The only issue I found in my sub was not actually physical location of the sub ( which do matter a bit) but with the phase integration of my main woofers with the sub. Reversing the subwoofer leads solved this permanently.

The dip in the response @ 45 Hz is an indication of this phase reversal which is corrected by reversing the speaker phasing and not by room location. When you change sub location in room, you actually change the relative phase of sub w r.t main speakers.

Try this - reverse the speaker leads of sub or mains speaker. Measure the speakers for maximum dip location. Then correct by proper phasing. That will be best location for your sub imo

 

[Ravikiran 33]

Hi Guys, this suggestion is already given million times in this forum, but still its worth saying one more time.
Many people are unhappy with their subs, and they end up changing one sub after the other.
And some people keep adding multiple subs. I did the same in my early days.
Before taking any such step, please see the attached image that shows the sub response in my room at 3 different locations.
In each location, the sub behaves completely differently. So before changing your sub, or adding multiple subs, make sure the sub is kept in a best place in your room. Integrating your sub to your room properly, and focusing on room treatments will be more rewarding.
So much content available online on this subject. Or talk to some professional HT installers.

Seniors know all these points, there is nothing new. But I hope this info helps the newbies at least.
Thanks,
Naveen

View attachment 53773

Thanks for the information sir