Paradigm Servo 15

[Lee Batchelor]

Greetings all. I'm knew to the group.

I have a rather large home theatre system and need some help on integrating my Paradigm Servo 15 with my L/R channels. The L/R speakers are Altec A-7-800's in 10 cubic foot domestic cabinets. (15" LF units). I'm driving these with a 6 year old Sony amp; 110 watts per channel. The L/R are set to "large" while the rest of the system is set to "small". The room is 22'x34'. I sit about 16 feet back from the system. The system is in the basement but completely finished with drywall, carpet and suspended ceiling. The room is quite "dead". My problem is that when the sub kicks in it does the tricks it's supposed to do but it just isn't what I classify as "musical", either on movie or CD playback. I've gone through the exercise of placing the Servo 15 where I sit and listening for the smoothest bass response and then moving the sub to that spot. The controller unit for it has a variable phase dial and frequency cutoff. I currently have it cutting off at 100 Hz. The sub is fairly close to a corner. I had a PSB Sub-Sonic 6 (12" driver, vented) prior to the Servo 15 and it sounded much better. I'm I getting too much bass? Perhaps I'm saturating the room despite its large size. Having read some of the fine articles on this site the only thing I think I could try is to set all the speakers to "small".

Your help and input would be very much appreciated. Many thanks folks!......Lee

 

[Johnd]

Lee: I too have a servo 15 in a basement (14"6" x 25'6" that is open at the end of the room to a 12' x 20' room) with a terazzo floor, (true) panelled walls and a low drywalled ceiling. I am supremely impressed the the servo's performance, although I designed the space for ht, and use it as such 90+% of the time. I guess my message is: a mere novice understands that a basement setting is about the worst environment for sound reproduction...particularly bass...it is not a concert hall. I have my speakers set to small (even my studio 100's) on my 5803 and I am constantly amazed at the (ht) sound quality (responsiveness and accuracy)...which, in my humble opinion, is what Paradigm is really made for. Keep tinkering and repositioning, and I'm sure you'll eventually be impressed. The servo15 is an awesome beast!

 

[rollinrocker]

Lee,

Have you used an spl meter to set your levels? I had the same problem with my subs (not a servo 15), bass was overbearing and muddy. Setting levels properly, everything cleared and tightened up, revealing details i was missing before.

 

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks for the input guys.

I did some fiddling today. I hooked the system up to an older model Yorkville powered mixer. (I'm also a keyboardist with several bands.) This is only good for stereo CDs but I couldn't believe the difference! I used two mono channel strips for the L/R in from the CD player and the monitor send to the X-30 Paradigm processor for the Servo 15. The Servo 15 sure knows what to do with the spectrum if you give it half a chance. My conclusion: the Sony amp I'm using is crap. Its bass re-direction circuitry is poorly designed and probably ment for the $399.00 HT in a box type of system you would use in a den or small living room. Since I'm using Altec VOTT drivers, it's time to purchase a decent amp for large home theatre.

Thanks again guys and I'll keep you posted as to the progress. Any other VOTT users out there?..........Lee