what is a bass hack and how do you properly implement it?

[lovinthehd]

Okay thought about doing another thread for this but I'm bored just do it here

Here goes you look on Amazon and stuff and see those ported car sub cabinets for dual 12 and 15's some of them the size of my rbh do like 80 to 150 bucks

Why couldn't you just buy those 2 badass home theater subwoofers and dsp and an amp and just let er rip?

Really stupid question but what the heck we ain't going anywhere right?

Are those big ported car cabinets not tuned deep enough or something

I know stupid right but why not ask?

Might be suited for some particular drivers for cars? Dunno, what t/s parameters do they match up to? A box is made to a particular driver's parameters much more than the other way around....altho it may matter in a car less?

 

[Pogre]

I'm tempted to go to one of his videos and light him up in the comment section once... lol

 

[TLS Guy]

It's subwoofer 101 he claims it provides better dynamics mainly and detail and tactile sensation I called SVS about it this morning

It sounds like he's taking an idea they propose and just pushing it a little more out there to the extreme

They told me generally recommending setting your trim on your avr at -7 to -5 then adjusting your subs volume level to calibration then of you want to run it a little hot you just turn up the subs

He's saying dial the trim back further use the subs volume more

But SVS pointed out if you overdo this then you risk not having much room to go down and up

He's saying if you do this a little more then what there saying it just allows you to use the subs amp more giving better sound without clipping the signal

That's about as much as I could understand out of it sounds interesting

There is only one way this could possible help. That is if the LFE outs have insufficient headroom. Knowing the poor quality of a lot of receivers that is certainly possible. This coupled with the tendency of many to want their subs far too loud may well be the issue.

The next issue is that plate amps in subs I think generally have peak limiters. So it could be that this method is activating those and people happen to prefer the peak limited bass, so you get a more even boom boom. Apart from this theory it seems like audiophoolery. But the way things are so poorly designed now, anything is possible.

When I think about it this may be why Audysssey tells you to set the gain on the subs half way, as they don't want the tests be in error due to the peak limiters being activated.

When I run levels it tells me to turn the subs down. Since I use amps with no gain control I can't, so run the test. It works out fine. I bet though with a commercial sub, that if you don't do that, then you stand a chance of getting erroneous results by activation of the peak limiter designed to reduce driver damage.

 

[Pogre]

I disagreed with a lot of his observations. He told me the Prime towers (not the Pinnacles) sound better than the Ultra bookshelves even with a subwoofer in the mix and using a crossover.

No, just no.

I started the conversation with him after watching one of his videos reviewing the Prime towers where he stated he prefers them over the Ultra BS. I said, "In my experience the Ultra bookshelves retain pretty much all of the goodness of the Ultra towers minus some bass extension. If you have a sub in the mix I'd go with the Ultra bookshelves over the Prime towers, no questions asked."

That's when he told me he has special bass needs and feels the Prime towers just have something the Ultra Bookshelf doesn't do for him. In his mind a tower is ALWAYS better than a bookshelf, regardless of price, quality or subwoofage. I stopped talking to him after that.

He has some funny ideas about ported vs sealed also. Something about having sensitivity to one over the other and he can't listen to it... I forget which he preferred, but it's all him being full of shit, lol.

 

[Danzilla31]

I started the conversation with him after watching one of his videos reviewing the Prime towers where he stated he prefers them over the Ultra BS. I said, "In my experience the Ultra bookshelves retain pretty much all of the goodness of the Ultra towers minus some bass extension. If you have a sub in the mix I'd go with the Ultra bookshelves over the Prime towers, no questions asked."

That's when he told me he has special bass needs and feels the Prime towers just have something the Ultra Bookshelf doesn't do for him. In his mind a tower is ALWAYS better than a bookshelf, regardless of price, quality or subwoofage. I stopped talking to him after that.

He has some funny ideas about ported vs sealed also. Something about having sensitivity to one over the other and he can't listen to it... I forget which he preferred, but it's all him being full of shit, lol.

I prefer towers too but not for the reasons he states but there is no way the prime tower outperforms the ultra bookshelf in fact some day after things calm down I'm going to redo my bedroom with an all ultra system I was really really impressed with those bookshelves

 

[KEW]

Man! Dan's not the only one bored around here! This thread was dead when i posted and now 85 posts in less than a day?
WTF!

 

[Pogre]

I prefer towers too but not for the reasons he states but there is no way the prime tower outperforms the ultra bookshelf in fact some day after things calm down I'm going to redo my bedroom with an all ultra system I was really really impressed with those bookshelves

Preferring towers is one thing, but if the choice is between entry level tower or higher end bookshelf I know what I'd do.

 

[ryanosaur]

Man! Dan's not the only one bored around here! This thread was dead when i posted and now 85 posts in less than a day?
WTF!

 

[TLS Guy]

Preferring towers is one thing, but if the choice is between entry level tower or higher end bookshelf I know what I'd do.

That is absolutely correct. The most important thing that makes a speaker listenable is a flat smooth mid band response on and off axis. If ti does not have that it is just a lousy speaker, period.

The problem and limitation of bookshelves is lack of power band response above sub range out to the full room half room transition. So unless they have a very expensive small driver with a very robust motor system then they have that tendency to sound thin, especially on the lower stings, especially cellos. The lower voices and lower brass also suffers particularly. On the other hand towers are often made cheaply with their cabinets not properly braced. Then coloration in this range becomes a problem. It is just a fact that making any speaker down to a price will leave you with a problem or two one way or another. Then it becomes a matter of how you prefer your poison. That is why different speakers proliferate, and continue to do so. Picking a speakers off the Internet therefore is high risk, as we all tolerate these poisons to a different degree.

I know you can order and return, but what a pain that is, particularly if you have to do it multiple times. If you think this is another plug to advocate designing and building your own, you are correct!

 

[Danzilla31]

That is absolutely correct. The most important thing that makes a speaker listenable is a flat smooth mid band response on and off axis. If ti does not have that it is just a lousy speaker, period.

The problem and limitation of bookshelves is lack of power band response above sub range out to the full room half room transition. So unless they have a very expensive small driver with a very robust motor system then they have that tendency to sound thin, especially on the lower stings, especially cellos. The lower voices and lower brass also suffers particularly. On the other hand towers are often made cheaply with their cabinets not properly braced. Then coloration in this range becomes a problem. It is just a fact that making any speaker down to a price will leave you with a problem or two one way or another. Then it becomes a matter of how you prefer your poison. That is why different speakers proliferate, and continue to do so. Picking a speakers off the Internet therefore is high risk, as we all tolerate these poisons to a different degree.

I know you can order and return, but what a pain that is, particularly if you have to do it multiple times. If you think this is another plug to advocate designing and building your own, you are correct!

Ordering and returning is a pain I can testify I went through several ordeals of that before I settled on the JBL studio 5 series when they were on sale it was a pain in the butt I can tell you

I'd love to build my own but I'm really terrible at woodworking and cabinetry I barely passed shop in high school it is what it is

I really wish I could build my own subs though

One of my drivers in my PB 4000 went bad there sending me the replacement driver which I plan on installing this weekend should be fun and give me something to do

But man this is the second issue I already had to replace an amp

I think or suspect because it's the same sub that I may just have a lemon the other works fine but taking amps out well I can know understand why people want all there amps outside the speaker enclosure

I'm probably going to go with RBH passive version just need to decide which one to go with I'd like them to match the performance of the SV-1212 PR I have in my back row but I don't know if I want to spend that amount for the NR passive version

Siiiigh if only you could just buy one of those prefinished ported car subwoofer cabinets drop 2 great home theater sub drivers in them and get great 20hz and below performance

But I know it's not that simple oh well it's fun to talk about it social isolation is a strange animal you don't realize how important people even strangers are till they are not there

This site and others like it are keeping me from climbimg the walls really glad this forum is here

 

[Danzilla31]

Man! Dan's not the only one bored around here! This thread was dead when i posted and now 85 posts in less than a day?
WTF!

If making fun of my port issue helps my fellow members get through isolation well then fire away.

I'll be your huckleberry

 

[ryanosaur]

Siiiigh if only you could just buy one of those prefinished ported car subwoofer cabinets drop 2 great home theater sub drivers in them and get great 20hz and below performance

But I know it's not that simple oh well it's fun to talk about it social isolation is a strange animal you don't realize how important people even strangers are till they are not there

This site and others like it are keeping me from climbimg the walls really glad this forum is here

There are people that will build cabinets. If you have a design you like, in the form of an existing kit, it is possible.

 

[Danzilla31]

There are people that will build cabinets. If you have a design you like, in the form of an existing kit, it is possible.

Do you have any links to people or places that can do that?

 

[ryanosaur]

Do you have any links to people or places that can do that?

Leland at Speaker Hardware is the guy Dennis signed up to do the BMR cabinets for the Meniscus Kit.

Here's the google link for the search I just did.

custom speaker cabinet builder - Google Search