Rythmik Subwoofer Owner’s Official thread

Bhoot

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I know a lot of people in the forums own Rythmik subwoofers. Most of them are prebuilt and support for sale and service also exists officially in India.
I hope all the owners of these subwoofers can come together and help others with doubts and settings to help people understand the subwoofer settings to make their subwoofer sound optimal.
Also it can help people looking for subwoofers to better understand the product Rythmiks is selling because it has no advertisements and very few reference material (eg youtube videos) to go by.
 
Good initiative, it will be nice to share best practices which you learned with Rythmik sub during your journey in this thread.
 
Does any one play with PEEQ option on Rythmik sub ?
I am using Rythmik 12SE model build by Salk.
Salk uses a bigger Cabinet and stiffer cabinet than Rythmik and slightly more expensive..
 
Finally got my pair of FVX12. In one phrase I would say I was “blown away”. The woofers are heavy and difficult to move around, but noticing a little physics couldn’t solve ;-) . Next I hooked them via LFE and they sounded awesome. The lows in particular didn’t drop off till 15 Hz though there was a bit of port noise with the famous Edge of Tomorrow opening scene. Watching 1h30m of Transformers Last Knight, i realized this bass was tiring. Nothing to do with the subwoofer, it was the room. Hard flooring, combination of Gypsum RCC a horizontal beam in the ceiling in the middle of the room, extending 2 feet below the ceiling and glass. No audio equipment is built to deal with this and does throw harmonics off and that is to be expected in a normal room. Currently I have very minimal to no acoustic treatments in my room. First setup position of woofers. Did my calculations of standing waves and placed them at 2nd standing wave position. My room is 23x13 feet so I set the ports at the intersection of 5.75 and 3.25 feet from the front and left and right walls. Though the targeted standing waves were dealt with nicely the others got aggravated and the exercise was a failure. From Harman paper of multi sub placements I decided to exploit the corners, FL and FR for me.
Next I started measurements. Hooked up my umik1 and set it at MLP and lo behold, below 30 Hz I had a gain of about 10 dB upto 13Hz with lul at 40Hz and 60Hz. Started playing with a rough house curve I set up in my REW and applied peq filters (10 for minidsp 2x4HD)and fed them into the said device. The bass sounded lower ofcourse, mainly coz therew is good for negative gain at frequencies that need a cut and not good at adding gain at frequencies that need a push.
Straight up went to second set of measurements, this time adding boost in the MiniDSP inputs at frequencies that were lower, rinsed and repeated and the curve now saw a lot of the 40Hz and 60Hz drop removed. I boosted 10db to the input and I was a happy man. Next I eyeballed a house curve. For those of you who don’t know, a flat line is the perfect sub response with a *. That * means you’re sitting in the open with no walls glass furniture etc. with low frequency the tendency of a 30Hz volume is perceived lower than 200Hz at same decibe reading, ie human ears are less sensitive to picking up lower frequencies. My house curve from my calculations put 20Hz and 120Hz at same volume peaking at about 35Hz with an overall gain of about 7db ( I’ll revisit and give finer corrections later) from 20Hz decibel.
the result was superb.
Replaying the edge of tomorrow sounded less boomy and less tiring. The head didn’t vibrate that much here as the sofas still feel a bit wiggly with superb bass. The club scene in John Wick when he pulls out the gun and shoots through glass sent each bullet shot directly into my chest. SUPERB. Next up came Godzilla (latest one) starting scene, those 3 steps with increasing intensity and the roar is perfect check for bass headroom and I realized I had plenty.
Disclaimer, not paid by any individual or company for this post. Things mentioned in these reviews are borrowed from friends or bought by self for individual use. The woofer gain knob is still set to 12 o’clock position and because of the MiniDSP I don’t need to worry about changing levels on each sub individually and later messing it up to make it sound lopsided bass. Overall the current drop at different seating positions (2 rows) is about 4-6 dB at various frequencies but I generally don’t use more than 1 row where the drop is less than 2 dB calculated by REW and application of var filter.

Does any one play with PEEQ option on Rythmik sub ?
I am using Rythmik 12SE model build by Salk.
Salk uses a bigger Cabinet and stiffer cabinet than Rythmik and slightly more expensive..
peq can be used only when using line in and doesn’t work with lfe in. It is to boost or cut down on frequencies with a selectable dB and q. All peq work the same so Rythmik by Salk should be no different.
 
Ok, at present I am not using it for stereo. I will try it when I have time.

I do use Dirac and in general it is not good to boost a dip or null by more than 4dB. It may put lot of effort on drivers.
It is easy to attenuate the peaks but dont boost dips.

Why dont you try different position for subwoofer, try subwoofer crawl?
Sometimes it is difficult to get rid of all nulls due to room dimensions even with subwoofer placements.

I just noticed that you have two subs and with some placement you should be able to tackle it I guess.
 
Ok, at present I am not using it for stereo. I will try it when I have time.

I do use Dirac and in general it is not good to boost a dip or null by more than 4dB. It may put lot of effort on drivers.
It is easy to attenuate the peaks but dont boost dips.

Why dont you try different position for subwoofer, try subwoofer crawl?
Sometimes it is difficult to get rid of all nulls due to room dimensions even with subwoofer placements.

I just noticed that you have two subs and with some placement you should be able to tackle it I guess.
While the crawl is a good method, it’ll only give you crest and trough for the frequency being played through the sub. Every frequency has a different bandwidth and thus give highs and low at different distance. There will always be 12 (basic) standing waves in every room, 4 for each length, width, height. Those are the first that you should calculate and not have your listening positions at their null/ floor level.

Just for reference, here is the REW (doodh ka doodh, Paani ka Paani)
This image is the output at MLP comparing the old subs (Klipsch 10SW + Kef T2) vs the pair of Rythmik FVX12 out of the box config.
Screenshot_20200507-005317.jpg

The image below shows frequency responses in different config of Rythmik mode. It's still not the final figure, I'm still playing with it, ironing out problems one at a time. These graphs also don't have any smoothening applied coz that would be pure wrong. My XO is set to 120Hz and the localization of bass isn't felt from any seat. Both subs are placed in the front corners near the FL and FR and filtered through a minidsp 2x4hd for a not too loud at the bottom end response. The reciever is set to -9.0db for LFE and the gain knob is about 75% and I do feel the room getting pressurized. Watching blade runner 2049 starting scene at Master volume -20db corresponds to the green line levels shown below and it does vibrate my recliners a bit. If I go to the red line for the same scene with MV - 15 db, the shake is pretty awesome. John wick magnum shots in the club scene are felt in the chest and for fury, I can't play the red line without exceeding the capabilities of the Sub.

Screenshot_20200506-233716.jpg
 
Finally got my pair of FVX12. In one phrase I would say I was “blown away”. The woofers are heavy and difficult to move around, but noticing a little physics couldn’t solve ;-) . Next I hooked them via LFE and they sounded awesome. The lows in particular didn’t drop off till 15 Hz though there was a bit of port noise with the famous Edge of Tomorrow opening scene. Watching 1h30m of Transformers Last Knight, i realized this bass was tiring. Nothing to do with the subwoofer, it was the room. Hard flooring, combination of Gypsum RCC a horizontal beam in the ceiling in the middle of the room, extending 2 feet below the ceiling and glass. No audio equipment is built to deal with this and does throw harmonics off and that is to be expected in a normal room. Currently I have very minimal to no acoustic treatments in my room. First setup position of woofers. Did my calculations of standing waves and placed them at 2nd standing wave position. My room is 23x13 feet so I set the ports at the intersection of 5.75 and 3.25 feet from the front and left and right walls. Though the targeted standing waves were dealt with nicely the others got aggravated and the exercise was a failure. From Harman paper of multi sub placements I decided to exploit the corners, FL and FR for me.
Next I started measurements. Hooked up my umik1 and set it at MLP and lo behold, below 30 Hz I had a gain of about 10 dB upto 13Hz with lul at 40Hz and 60Hz. Started playing with a rough house curve I set up in my REW and applied peq filters (10 for minidsp 2x4HD)and fed them into the said device. The bass sounded lower ofcourse, mainly coz therew is good for negative gain at frequencies that need a cut and not good at adding gain at frequencies that need a push.
Straight up went to second set of measurements, this time adding boost in the MiniDSP inputs at frequencies that were lower, rinsed and repeated and the curve now saw a lot of the 40Hz and 60Hz drop removed. I boosted 10db to the input and I was a happy man. Next I eyeballed a house curve. For those of you who don’t know, a flat line is the perfect sub response with a *. That * means you’re sitting in the open with no walls glass furniture etc. with low frequency the tendency of a 30Hz volume is perceived lower than 200Hz at same decibe reading, ie human ears are less sensitive to picking up lower frequencies. My house curve from my calculations put 20Hz and 120Hz at same volume peaking at about 35Hz with an overall gain of about 7db ( I’ll revisit and give finer corrections later) from 20Hz decibel.
the result was superb.
Replaying the edge of tomorrow sounded less boomy and less tiring. The head didn’t vibrate that much here as the sofas still feel a bit wiggly with superb bass. The club scene in John Wick when he pulls out the gun and shoots through glass sent each bullet shot directly into my chest. SUPERB. Next up came Godzilla (latest one) starting scene, those 3 steps with increasing intensity and the roar is perfect check for bass headroom and I realized I had plenty.
Disclaimer, not paid by any individual or company for this post. Things mentioned in these reviews are borrowed from friends or bought by self for individual use. The woofer gain knob is still set to 12 o’clock position and because of the MiniDSP I don’t need to worry about changing levels on each sub individually and later messing it up to make it sound lopsided bass. Overall the current drop at different seating positions (2 rows) is about 4-6 dB at various frequencies but I generally don’t use more than 1 row where the drop is less than 2 dB calculated by REW and application of var filter.


peq can be used only when using line in and doesn’t work with lfe in. It is to boost or cut down on frequencies with a selectable dB and q. All peq work the same so Rythmik by Salk should be no different.
@RD-hunk read this.
 
@Bhoot Going off topic here, please don't mind - Couldn't help noticing "Black Diamond" screen in your signature. Is it installed in India? How did you procure it here?
 
@Bhoot Going off topic here, please don't mind - Couldn't help noticing "Black Diamond" screen in your signature. Is it installed in India? How did you procure it here?
Yes. There is one importer in India who also handled the installation. I think he's the only one for the country. A lot of high end demo places are using the BD and slate. Him and I being in the same city made it easier for me to bargain and purchase.
The prices are very weird compared to the USA, since the shipping and import has to be added. If you get lucky and he's got a bulk of screens coming in you might shave a bit on the shipping costs.
 
Any other Rythmik sub owners around here? Want to understand how you tunded the sub (using the options available on the sub) and the results achieved. Mine is placed in a typical Indian living room, 15x12 open hall, untreated, 2 windows etc. Currently, I set the values as suggested by Rythmik for HT, will do Audessy XT32 this weekend and see for difference. Meanwhile, pls share your experiences.
 
Just for reference, here is the REW (doodh ka doodh, Paani ka Paani)
This image is the output at MLP comparing the old subs (Klipsch 10SW + Kef T2) vs the pair of Rythmik FVX12 out of the box config.
View attachment 45659

The image below shows frequency responses in different config of Rythmik mode. It's still not the final figure, I'm still playing with it, ironing out problems one at a time. These graphs also don't have any smoothening applied coz that would be pure wrong. My XO is set to 120Hz and the localization of bass isn't felt from any seat. Both subs are placed in the front corners near the FL and FR and filtered through a minidsp 2x4hd for a not too loud at the bottom end response. The reciever is set to -9.0db for LFE and the gain knob is about 75% and I do feel the room getting pressurized. Watching blade runner 2049 starting scene at Master volume -20db corresponds to the green line levels shown below and it does vibrate my recliners a bit. If I go to the red line for the same scene with MV - 15 db, the shake is pretty awesome. John wick magnum shots in the club scene are felt in the chest and for fury, I can't play the red line without exceeding the capabilities of the Sub.

View attachment 45660
Good what is ur room size ? Can u post the placement of your dual subs with a simple sketch.
 
Got a FVX15 recently and looking forward to the learning process. I still have to hook it all up. Got a long sub cable, will be running ARC quick measure and moving the sub around to get the best spot in my space of 16 x 12 x 9(H).

Very little by way of treatment other than curtains and carpets. Will post the graphs when done. BTW, when and how the PEQ knobs at the back are put into use?
 
PEQ is simple. Just flip the PEQ switch to On and rotate the frequency knob and set it at the frequency where you wish to increase or decrease the volume. You can select between 20Hz to 80Hz. Then we have the Gain know using which you can either increase the selected frequency's volume upto 3db or decrease upto 12db. The final knob is Bandwidth. If you keep it at minimum then it will only affect that frequency, but if you increase the knob then it will affect the frequency around the set frequency as well.PEQ example.jpg

Hope this helps

You have one great sub. Take your time to fine tune the sub and the final result will be amazing. As I too own a rythmik, I know its qualities.
 
Last edited:
PEQ is simple. Just flip the PEQ switch to On...Hope this helps
I was thinking about this but I am very clear about it now: Rythmik needs to write their manuals in English and possibly engage @alphacentury100 to help.
Mnay thanks, that was a very simple and actionable explanation of the feature(s). Will try...
 
Finally got my pair of FVX12. In one phrase I would say I was “blown away”. The woofers are heavy and difficult to move around, but noticing a little physics couldn’t solve ;-) .
I am also considering Rythemic sub to buy. Probably considering 15" sub over dual 12" sub. My room size is 16*10 .
Or Would single 12" sub be sufficient ? . I am looking for deep bass.

I do not prefer to go for dual sub , as per my audition of dual subs before , i did not feel much difference . Only slight difference hearing sound both sides ..thats all. Otherwise single sub was sounding good. Also I need to spend double the amount for duals :) Instead i would prefer 15" sub which would go further deep ... Please suggest.
 
I am also considering Rythemic sub to buy. Probably considering 15" sub over dual 12" sub. My room size is 16*10 .
Or Would single 12" sub be sufficient ? . I am looking for deep bass.

I do not prefer to go for dual sub , as per my audition of dual subs before , i did not feel much difference . Only slight difference hearing sound both sides ..thats all. Otherwise single sub was sounding good. Also I need to spend double the amount for duals :) Instead i would prefer 15" sub which would go further deep ... Please suggest.
If you have a single row or a single seat to address a single subwoofer might do the job..
Demoing a subwoofer isn't the right way to choose a subwoofer unless you are sure that the subs were integrated properly..
And both subjective and objective Data is important to judge a subwoofer.

Good luck
 
If you have a single row or a single seat to address a single subwoofer might do the job..
Demoing a subwoofer isn't the right way to choose a subwoofer unless you are sure that the subs were integrated properly..
And both subjective and objective Data is important to judge a subwoofer.

Good luck
+1 to this point. In my last two years of the HT journey I have heard many subs and also tried different subwoofers at my place. Coming to a conclusion of a subwoofer performance based on showroom demo is one of the worst method. Different room, different setup. It may sound good in audition but bad in our set up and vice versa.
 
I have the F12SE A370PEQ3 model hooked up to Denon X3600 AVR, I have a few queries:
a) Power switch in AUTO means Surge limiter is also ON. Is this right?
b) Rumble filter ON means sub will go very low in frequency and OFF means it will ignore some low bass even if present in the signal. Is this the right interpretation or is the reverse true?
c) My AVR has pre-outs and sub out. Should I hook up the AVR-preouts to sub-Line-In or the AVR-sub-out to sub-LFE-In? I guess I shd use the LFE-in for HT and Line-In for Stereo. Is this right? How about using bi-amp feature of AVR and connect to sub-High-Level-in?
d) Will there be any issue if I connect both Line-In and LFE-In from AVR to sub and run the AVR and sub? Should I connect only one of them to the sub at any given time?
e) I guess the following settings may be applicable for most content, please comment?
HT: LFE-In, Rumble ON, Freq 28/Low damping, AVR/12, PEQ on and adjust as per taste. (Phase, crossover not applicable for LFE-In)
St: Line-in, Rumble OFF, Freq/14/High damping, 80Hz/24 for small LR speakers, PEQ on and as per taste, Crossover at 80hz, Phase as per
integration
 
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