Acoustic problem, or reciever setting?

[Rasmus]

Hey guys, need some input about the photos below : ) I know its a very bad room for good acoustics, but is it anything I can do about it? The room is kind of dead, its a small apartment and even when im playing pretty loud i cant here it when i go outside my apartment door. None of my neighbours have been complaning.

The problem I have is wierd bass respons. When i put all my speakers at small and the crossover to 50 hz for the Front L&R and 80 hz for Center & Surround i loose almost all of the bass in music. For movies it sounds OK but when i put my front L&R to LARGE i get much better bass response for both music and movies, but i've read everywhere that this is not a optimal setting. Especially when you have a budget reciever as i have.
It almost feels like my reciever doesnt send the low freq to the subwoofer when i use SMALL setting on the front L&R, regarding of wich soundfield i use.


Any thoughts?

I'm a total noob at home theater so please be patient And sorry about the mess i my room, but who has time to clean these days?

Reciever: Sony STR DH 550
Front: Yamaha NS 555
Center (below the TV): Yamaha NS-C444
Surround: Yamaha NS-333
Sub (next to the right front): Sony SA-CS9

 

[TheWarrior]

Hi!

Thanks for the thorough description and pics!

Simply put, your towers have more useful bass output than your sub. The sad reality of subwoofers is that you need a big magnet, with its own amp, in a sturdy box, which equals an expensive piece of equipment. Look at Internet Direct companies like SVS, HSU, Rhythmik, to get an idea of good value. However not nearly as cheap!

 

[KEW]

Most likely, what he ^ said!
However, lets just cover some basic tests just in case:
1) Have you verified that the sub is, indeed, playing? Both with a movie (with a LFE signal - the 1 in 5.1) and also when listening to simple stereo?
2) Try flipping the phase switch on the back of the sub to see if it makes a difference.
3) How did you go about setting the volume knob on the back of the sub and (if the receiver is controlling the bass) did you turn the crossover to the highest setting (200Hz).

 

[Rasmus]

Hi!

Thanks for the thorough description and pics!

Simply put, your towers have more useful bass output than your sub. The sad reality of subwoofers is that you need a big magnet, with its own amp, in a sturdy box, which equals an expensive piece of equipment. Look at Internet Direct companies like SVS, HSU, Rhythmik, to get an idea of good value. However not nearly as cheap!

Thanks! And I thought 10" was pretty big haha, what a waste of money that was apparantly : )

Most likely, what he ^ said!
However, lets just cover some basic tests just in case:
1) Have you verified that the sub is, indeed, playing? Both with a movie (with a LFE signal - the 1 in 5.1) and also when listening to simple stereo?
2) Try flipping the phase switch on the back of the sub to see if it makes a difference.
3) How did you go about setting the volume knob on the back of the sub and (if the receiver is controlling the bass) did you turn the crossover to the highest setting (200Hz).

1) Yes, it plays during both of the contents : )

2) I've tried that for a short while about a month ago, couldnt tell a difference then so i put i back to Normal. But i will try again tonight : )

3) 200hz for the crossover, the volume knob at about 60-70 % but anything less then that will dramatically lower the bass response : (

 

[fuzz092888]

That thing is just a little midbass unit. Specs on Sony website say 28-200hz but don't even specify how many db down it is at 28hz. It's no wonder that it sounds worse when you set the crossover to 50hz. You're probably setting it at the edge or below the "subs" useful range. Ditch the sub, save up for a real one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rasmus]

That thing is just a little midbass unit. Specs on Sony website say 28-200hz but don't even specify how many db down it is at 28hz. It's no wonder that it sounds worse when you set the crossover to 50hz. You're probably setting it at the edge or below the "subs" useful range. Ditch the sub, save up for a real one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ahh ok thanks! It makes sense even to me ; ) How about my reciever? I know its a crappy one but I havnt heard any distortion, maybe because my room is pretty small and a dont have to crank it but I've read that my speakers require a good amount of power. Does my reciever meet those demands properly spec-wise?


I should mention that I got the 5.1 set + reciever for 6100 sek (swedish), about 714 $ which I think is a pretty good deal, so i have some money to spent on a decent sub. Suggestions? : )

 

[TheWarrior]

Ahh ok thanks! It makes sense even to me ; ) How about my reciever? I know its a crappy one but I havnt heard any distortion, maybe because my room is pretty small and a dont have to crank it but I've read that my speakers require a good amount of power. Does my reciever meet those demands properly spec-wise?


I should mention that I got the 5.1 set + reciever for 6100 sek (swedish), about 714 $ which I think is a pretty good deal, so i have some money to spent on a decent sub. Suggestions? : )

Your receiver should be fine until you want a full speaker upgrade. Go get that sub!

 

[Rasmus]

Your receiver should be fine until you want a full speaker upgrade. Go get that sub!

What specs am i looking for? : ) Yamaha NS-SW700 looks nice but it has impendence 5, my reciever only do as low as 6?

 

[fmw]

I agree with the criticisms of your subwoofer above. But I also think you can help your acoustics by putting the home theater against the wall with the windows and moving your listening position accordingly. That will provide more equal side wall reflections and put some space behind the listening position. I'm almost positive you would improve the sound doing that.

 

[PENG]

When you said you tried 200Hx XO you meant in the receiver or the sub? Just want to make sure you tried a higher XO setting at the receiver, say 100 Hz, and turn the XO at the sub to maximum and see it that helps. If not, leave it like that, i.e. 100Hz at receiver, max at sub and start moving the sub until the bass gets louder. At the end of the day, as others have pointed out, you need a better sub.

 

[KEW]

2) I've tried that for a short while about a month ago, couldnt tell a difference then so i put i back to Normal. But i will try again tonight : )

Yep - new sub is in order.
It was a long shot, but if you couldn't tell a huge difference in the phase position (which I never have), that is not really your problem!

I am a little surprised that the 6.5" woofers on your speakers outperform your 10" sub, but size is not the only consideration!

 

[Rasmus]

When you said you tried 200Hx XO you meant in the receiver or the sub? Just want to make sure you tried a higher XO setting at the receiver, say 100 Hz, and turn the XO at the sub to maximum and see it that helps. If not, leave it like that, i.e. 100Hz at receiver, max at sub and start moving the sub until the bass gets louder. At the end of the day, as others have pointed out, you need a better sub.

Yes i meant that the crossover knob on the subwoofer is at 200 hz. I dont have a setting in my reciever to control the crossover for the sub :/

 

[Rasmus]

Yep - new sub is in order.
It was a long shot, but if you couldn't tell a huge difference in the phase position (which I never have), that is not really your problem!

I am a little surprised that the 6.5" woofers on your speakers outperform your 10" sub, but size is not the only consideration!

Yeah me too haha, the ns-555 is rated down to 30 hz according to specs and they are handeling those freqs better than the sub haha -.-

 

[TheWarrior]

It's not the size that counts, it's the ability to propagate sound waves! Sometimes more is better.

Sometimes I'd like to hear an 18" sub and know what it can do...

 

[fuzz092888]

It's not the size that counts, it's the ability to propagate sound waves! Sometimes more is better.

Sometimes I'd like to hear an 18" sub and know what it can do...

Too bad you weren't closer, I've got 4

 

[PENG]

Yes i meant that the crossover knob on the subwoofer is at 200 hz. I dont have a setting in my reciever to control the crossover for the sub :/

No, on the receiver, I would say any receivers, you don't have subwoofer crossover settings as such but you need to set the crossovers of your front, centre and surround speakers. According to page 122 of the STR-DH550's manual you can set the crossovers for speakers that are set to small. If you have not done that yet, you should try to set them all to 80 Hz or higher. By doing so, the receiver will pass the frequencies below the crossover point to the sub. If they were set to 50 Hz, the sub will be missing a lot of bass.

The one at the sub can be left at 200 Hz.

 

[Rasmus]

It seems like my room benefits from multiple bass sources so how much will the sound improve if a get a decent sub? And what is in fact a decent one, spec wise? : )

 

[Rasmus]

No, on the receiver, I would say any receivers, you don't have subwoofer crossover settings as such but you need to set the crossovers of your front, centre and surround speakers. According to page 122 of the STR-DH550's manual you can set the crossovers for speakers that are set to small. If you have not done that yet, you should try to set them all to 80 Hz or higher. By doing so, the receiver will pass the frequencies below the crossover point to the sub. If they were set to 50 Hz, the sub will be missing a lot of bass.

The one at the sub can be left at 200 Hz.

I have tried different crossovers for the fronts but no matter what crossover i use i get aweful, if any, bass response when set to small. Only when I set the fronts as large i get a decent respons. Surround and center is always set to small 80hz : )

 

[TheWarrior]

Too bad you weren't closer, I've got 4

Me thinks I've got a whole lot of people to go visit in DC region....

 

[KEW]

Me thinks I've got a whole lot of people to go visit in DC region....

Can I go?
Road Trip!