Same subs, new setup - all the bass is gone - HELP Please!

[Isak Öhrlund]

Hi,

Early 2019 I bought two "XTZ Sub 10.17 Edge" subwoofers, connected them to my Denon X2300W, measured the in-room response in REW using a UMIK-1 and was very happy with the results. I got plenty of output. 70-85 dB from 16-200 Hz when set to output 75 dB using pink noise in REW, see image below.

Here I am, three years later in a new house, same subwoofers, new AVR (Denon X4500H) and a miniDSP 2x4HD in between them. Now, I just measured the in-room response for the first time, and the low-end bass is completely gone (see image below).

Yes, the new room is bigger, and it has some openings, so I expect the output to be lower. But this? So I measured the subwoofers near field, and I got the same results: the low-end is completely gone, just like in the graph above. I've checked the miniDSP plugin and all filters etc. are bypassed. The crossover in the AVR is jacked up to 250 Hz, Audyssey is turned off. I've made sure that each of the subs are outputting 75 dB at the MLP when playing pink noise in REW. So what the heck is going on? Is there a setting I've missed? Is there something wrong in the signal path?

This is my measurement setup: laptop with UMIK-1 (USB) & REW --> AVR via HDMI (AUX 1 on the front) --> sub out 1 --> miniDSP 2x4HD ---> subs

Please help.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What are your mains? It looks like the sweep was done in “direct” with subs off.

 

[Pogre]

Yeah, that second one doesn't even look like your subs are on. Did you run a calibration again? Speakers set to small? Double check that you have the correct inputs/outputs assigned in the mini?

 

[lovinthehd]

How did you determine placement of the subs in the new room?

 

[Isak Öhrlund]

Mains are disconnected. Both subs are playing. Audyssey is off. Subs in the two front corners of the room (no option). But as said, I did a measurement of the sub directly, and it gave the same result. It is like the signal doesn't contain the low frequencies.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Do they play with content?

 

[Isak Öhrlund]

Not sure what you mean. They play when I'm listening to music / movies, yes.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Not sure what you mean. They play when I'm listening to music / movies, yes.

Yes that’s what I meant. So if they work with content, that’s good. What is the sound mode set to? Ie: stereo, direct DSU etc?
When sweeping I mean.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Mains are disconnected. Both subs are playing. Audyssey is off. Subs in the two front corners of the room (no option). But as said, I did a measurement of the sub directly, and it gave the same result. It is like the signal doesn't contain the low frequencies.

Oh! Good point. What is the sweep range? I usually sweep from 10-200hz.

 

[Pogre]

Not sure what you mean. They play when I'm listening to music / movies, yes.

He means do you have deep bass with regular movies and music, or does it sound like it's missing there too? Is it just during sweeps that your bass is missing?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

He means do you have deep bass with regular movies and music, or does it sound like it's missing there too? Is it just during sweeps that your bass is missing?

Exactly. It might be in direct mode. OR, the XO isn’t set to bypass in the minidsp. Ben there, dumm that! Can be frustrating.

 

[Pogre]

Exactly. It might be in direct mode. OR, the XO isn’t set to bypass in the minidsp. Ben there, dumm that! Can be frustrating.

What's weird is his mains are disconnected and it looks like he's still getting something. Almost like there's a filter or something...

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What's weird is his mains are disconnected and it looks like he's still getting something. Almost like there's a filter or something...

Another good point there’s sound from 80-200. Hmmm

 

[Pogre]

Another good point there’s sound from 80-200. Hmmm

It does look like I would expect for the main speakers with an 80 hz crossover if the subs were disconnected/turned off and the speakers set to small.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

It does look like I would expect for the main speakers with an 80 hz crossover if the subs were turned off and the speakers set to small.

Right?!?! I’m sure it’s something small.

 

[Pogre]

You didn't happen to cross wires and connect your mains preouts to the subs' inputs..? Unlikely, but you did just move stuff right?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

You didn't happen to cross wires and connect your mains preouts to the subs' inputs..? Unlikely, but you did just move stuff right?

Haha. This reminds me of another dumm Fukk move I did. I was tending to the snake pit(yes cable management) and reversed my LR preouts. I was watching something that had a car pan from left to right to off screen right. Well the sound images in the opposite direction. I was like wtf??? Then laughed hysterically at myself. Dumas…

 

[Isak Öhrlund]

10-200 hz sweep. I have felt that I'm missing bass with content, but I have no idea whether that's just in my head or not. I thought that might be because I may have had a bit wonky response since I have not calibrated them properly, but not like this! The minidsp is connected to the sub out in the AVR for sure. I will start some serious troubleshooting and disconnect the minidsp, try another HDMI in, another laptop..

 

[Eppie]

10-200 hz sweep. I have felt that I'm missing bass with content, but I have no idea whether that's just in my head or not. I thought that might be because I may have had a bit wonky response since I have not calibrated them properly, but not like this! The minidsp is connected to the sub out in the AVR for sure. I will start some serious troubleshooting and disconnect the minidsp, try another HDMI in, another laptop..

I was going to suggest taking out the miniDSP. Your source should not matter in this case (which HDMI port or laptop). With the miniDSP removed the issue should be either in the Denon speaker setup menu, or in the REW settings.

If you play songs from this Subwoofer Candy thread through Youtube on your latop, you should be able to tell whether the laptop is sending deep bass and whether the subs are enabled in the speaker setup. There is very deep bass there that your main speakers will not likely reproduce.

 

[Pogre]

Haha. This reminds me of another dumm Fukk move I did. I was tending to the snake pit(yes cable management) and reversed my LR preouts. I was watching something that had a car pan from left to right to off screen right. Well the sound images in the opposite direction. I was like wtf??? Then laughed hysterically at myself. Dumas…

I'll bet every one of us has dumfukked at least one something like that. Where do you think all the troubleshooting ideas come from?!