VTF-3 MK 5 for music

[PG55]

That's more like it. Yes, moving your sub seems to have helped before correction. Running room correction more carefully seems to have helped too. The 2 curves are going to look somewhat similar because your room is what's causing that big dip and Audyssey does its best to correct it and make that line flat. From what I see now it did a decent job of it too. I see over a 5 dB improvement in that dip with Audyssey on now!

Yes! Phew this is great fun but man moving an 85 pound sub around gets old .

Thanks for your assistance. It sounds much better also!

 

[Pogre]

Another thing, I don't know if you did or not, but anytime you make a change like moving the sub or repositioning the speakers you should run room correction again before measuring again. It's tedious and doing all 8 makes it moreso, but it's worth the extra effort to take your time and closely follow the pattern on the screen. The more accurate the measurements are the more accurate the correction will be. Make sure it's nice and quiet too.

 

[ryanosaur]

Agree with Pogre! That looks much better.
Keep in mind, when you come across bad room modes, placement is your best weapon. You cannot boost your way out of a null or suckout! Boosting a signal is effectively all digital, and the fastest way to introduce distortion and likely clipping to a signal.
Conversely, if you have peaks to either side of a suckout, you can attenuate those to help smooth the change. This will not introduce distortions to the signal. Using the graph you just showed, you can pull 32Hz down by 1.5-2dB and minimize that peak. A little tailoring in the XT32 App and you can almost get that smoothed out pretty nicely.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Is that a Yamaha custom for an avatar?

 

[shadyJ]

Yes! Phew this is great fun but man moving an 85 pound sub around gets old .

Thanks for your assistance. It sounds much better also!

For what that sub can do, it is actually very light if you can believe it, and that is one of the reasons why I like it so much. Most of the other subs in its performance class are over 100 lbs., some of them way over. This is one of the reasons why I give high marks to lighter weight subs, because in order to find the best spot for them, it takes a lot of moving them around, but that turns into a tiring chore when the sub gets really heavy. This is a very unappreciated attribute of some subs, because most people don't take placement seriously, but placement is a HUGE determinant of the sound quality of bass in-room. A lot of people think they can buy their way into good quality bass by getting some sub that gets a lot of internet hype. The truth is that you could get better bass sound from middling subs than expensive subs by just taking the effort to find optimal placement as opposed to buying a fancy expensive subwoofer and plopping it down in the most convenient spot never to be moved again. So you are doing it the right way, but what you are doing may not be possible with some gigantic multi-thousand dollar behemoth of a subwoofer that could well yield much worse sound despite having much better anechoic performance since it's far more difficult to get it into the best spot if you aren't already aware of the best placements in your room.

 

[PG55]

For what that sub can do, it is actually very light if you can believe it, and that is one of the reasons why I like it so much. Most of the other subs in its performance class are over 100 lbs., some of them way over. This is one of the reasons why I give high marks to lighter weight subs, because in order to find the best spot for them, it takes a lot of moving them around, but that turns into a tiring chore when the sub gets really heavy. This is a very unappreciated attribute of some subs, because most people don't take placement seriously, but placement is a HUGE determinant of the sound quality of bass in-room. A lot of people think they can buy their way into good quality bass by getting some sub that gets a lot of internet hype. The truth is that you could get better bass sound from middling subs than expensive subs by just taking the effort to find optimal placement as opposed to buying a fancy expensive subwoofer and plopping it down in the most convenient spot never to be moved again. So you are doing it the right way, but what you are doing may not be possible with some gigantic multi-thousand dollar behemoth of a subwoofer that could well yield much worse sound despite having much better anechoic performance since it's far more difficult to get it into the best spot if you aren't already aware of the best placements in your room.

Good points! If anybody has any doubt about how important placement is I will send them my REW sweeps. Since some of this is difficult to hear to my untrained ear it was quite an eye opener to see the different frequency bands in the different placements. As I posted there were some nasty spots .

 

[PG55]

Is that a Yamaha custom for an avatar?

I wish!! It is an Avatar. I was actually looking for an older Gretsch kit with the big bass drum. I had one many years ago handed down from my father when I used to play. Miss those days! WAF and kids...

 

[PG55]

I wish!! It is an Avatar. I was actually looking for an older Gretsch kit with the big bass drum. I had one many years ago handed down from my father when I used to play. Miss those days! WAF and kids...

Sorry misread your post-Yes it is a Yamaha custom Avatar. I thought you asked if I it was a Yamaha custom or an Avatar.

 

[Pogre]

Good points! If anybody has any doubt about how important placement is I will send them my REW sweeps. Since some of this is difficult to hear to my untrained ear it was quite an eye opener to see the different frequency bands in the different placements. As I posted there were some nasty spots .

I think it's difficult to hear even with a trained ear. Bass frequencies are goofy.

 

[PG55]

I am going to run REW sweeps on my center channel and mains this weekend. Any suggestions on the sequence. Do I pair the center channel with the sub? Run center solo? Same question with the mains? Solo or together or one at a time with the Sub?

 

[Pogre]

I just focus on my main speakers because to me, music is my main focus. I don't really see much to be gained from doing each and every speaker...

 

[ryanosaur]

I largely agree with @Pogre but would also like to know what that center is doing acoustically. Much less concerned about the others (Surrounds, Rears, etc).
Really depends on your priorities, though. Much like apogee, I’m a music first guy and have only played with my Subs and Mains. I just use my Audyssey “Before” results to see how the others look and if there is a glaring problem I need to work on.

 

[KEW]

I am kicked back enjoying Aja as if it's the 1st time! Crystal clear bass tracks. Thanks for the tips!

Late to the party, but thank you for being willing and interested/enthusiastic enough to ask the right questions and then listen to the answer(s)!
I was not involved in this one, but I think I can speak for the vast majority here when I say it makes our day to read a post like this! We are sharing a passion.

 

[Reckel]

I know I’m late to the game on this but using eq2 with both ports open makes a big difference? Does it still sound good for movies running it that way? I have 3 vtf3-mk5s and currently they’re running eq1 with the 4in port open. I haven’t been able to play much with my stuff since maybe December

 

[Pogre]

I know I’m late to the game on this but using eq2 with both ports open makes a big difference? Does it still sound good for movies running it that way? I have 3 vtf3-mk5s and currently they’re running eq1 with the 4in port open. I haven’t been able to play much with my stuff since maybe December

Well... I can't do much more to show you the differences than I already have. Short of the multiple charts and explanations in the last 2 pages it's not a whole lot of effort to try it out for yourself, right? Give it a shot, use music you're familiar with, listen carefully and see which you prefer. Let us know what you think.

I think it sounds great for movies. If I know I'm watching or listening something with a lot of super deep bass in it I might flip to eq 1 and plug the port but that's not very often. There isn't a ton of content with super deep bass like that.

 

[ryanosaur]

It will sound just fine for movies.
All you are really doing is changing slightly the extension and output levels... as the extension goes deeper, the output drops slightly with an earlier, but more gentle roll off.
You may be able to hear/feel the difference more using some Electronica with strong LF and Infrasonic content. I suspect in most HT applications, unless you know very well what is in the LFE channel, you might not even catch the difference.

I use different Subs, but keep mine in extended mode because I do listen to music with deep content somewhat frequently. It does not effect my enjoyment of other music in anyway. Acoustic Jazz, Orchestral, Rock, Hip Hop... all sound equally good as do the times I need my Subs to plumb the depths.

 

[Reckel]

Well... I can't do much more to show you the differences than I already have. Short of the multiple charts and explanations in the last 2 pages it's not a whole lot of effort to try it out for yourself, right? Give it a shot, use music you're familiar with, listen carefully and see which you prefer. Let us know what you think.

I think it sounds great for movies. If I know I'm watching or listening something with a lot of super deep bass in it I might flip to eq 1 and plug the port but that's not very often. There isn't a ton of content with super deep bass like that.

For sure I’ll be trying it especially since I just got a new avr too. I just haven’t had a lot of time to play around for the last 8 or 9 months

 

[Reckel]

I’ll definitely let you guys know. I’m hoping to get the avr set up on my next set of days off which will be Tuesday Wednesday

 

[VMPS-TIII]

I think it sounds great for movies. If I know I'm watching or listening something with a lot of super deep bass in it I might flip to eq 1 and plug the port but that's not very often. There isn't a ton of content with super deep bass like that.

I totally agree, put on a nice bass rift, switch the HSU to EQ2 and bend over and remove the plug(s). You can hear a big difference. I use it this way for music and movies.. No need to ever change it. EQ1 isn't something I would consider for long term use.

 

[djdanko1]

EQ2, both ports open and HSU sings! That's my HSU VTF-3 MK5 setup too.

Okay, well first DV is killing your bass.

EQ 1 with 1 port open is the deepest extension mode, but you lose some energy in the audible part of the spectrum to make up for it. I've done a lot of experimenting with my VTF-3s and much prefer the additional headroom you get from EQ2 with both ports open. EQ 1 with 1 port open makes my bass sound anemic and weak, imo.

Try this, turn DV off. It's a compression thing and filters a lot of stuff out. Also make sure LFC Containment is off. Leave DEQ on and experiment with the different RLO settings. Check out these charts, I saved them for an occasion just like this!

View attachment 38258View attachment 38259

Everything should be pretty clearly labeled. You can see in the 2nd chart, EQ 2 with both ports open, has more energy in the audible range, which is still lower than most music goes. The top chart, EQ 1 with 1 port open, has deeper extension with more energy in the subsonic frequencies. There's very little music that even goes that deep, and those are the frequencies you can't even hear ("sub" sonic)!

Also note the effects of DEQ and the different RLO settings. I think between your sub port/EQ setting and turning DV off it should damn near be night and day difference.

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but this is some of the better conversations I've read on this topic. Just curious what q setting you use with eq2 both ports open?