HELP Trouble Setting Up My New PC-Ultra!

[sgtpepper9]

My PC-Ultra finally came in today and I am having a difficult time setting it up to work properly. You can see what equipment I have in my sig. It just seems like I should be getting more out of my sub than I am. I have my mains set to Large and the Sub set to Plus. The Avia II disc that I got with it has not been very helpful. I tried watching some of the recommended bass demos on the SVS site but it always seemed like I was missing something on the low end. Explosions haven't been causing the house to rumble... I can't even feel the bass. I know this is probably a difficult question to answer but any advice pointing in the right direction would be helpful. Am I wrong to think that these bass demos should be rattling the walls? It really seems that I have not calibrated it correctly... Thanks for the help...

 

[sgtpepper9]

I turned the gain up quite a bit, a little more than halfway and it has made a big difference. However, in the owner's manual it says to put the gain no higher than 1/3... What gives?

 

[MinusTheBear]

See if setting you speakers to small makes any difference, what is the SW gain on your receiver, what is your crossover set at? Have you tried calibrating your system with the receivers automatic calibration system and/or with an spl metre or neither?

 

[mike c]

post pictures first before we help

seriously though, try these first:
set the subwoofer channel level to 0db
set mains to small
set crossover to 80hz
indeed put the ultra in 1/3 level in gain, turn it up to 1/2 if necessary

 

[sgtpepper9]

So even though I have tower floorstanding speakers, they should still be set to small? Do you want pics of the room or of just the sub?

 

[MinusTheBear]

So even though I have tower floorstanding speakers, they should still be set to small? Do you want pics of the room or of just the sub?

Set them to small, see if this helps. Someone could give a more detailed explanation on this but setting your speakers to small has nothing to do with the size of the speakers themselves.

 

[Warpdrv]

Personally that thing looks like a huge garbage can, so I think you should just throw it away... But first... Where do you live again...?

Seriously though...
With the settings adjustments that others have given you here, that should easily wake up the beast...

I give him 10 mins, before his jaw hits the floor and then someone resuscitates him, he'll then be back posting afterwards..

 

[sgtpepper9]

SW gain in the receiver is at 0db. Crossover is at 80 Hz. What do yall need pictures of to help?

 

[sgtpepper9]

Mike,
In regards to setting the sub to 0db, the mains are also at 0db. Does that matter?

 

[MDS]

Did you do any calibration? I've never had any room where leaving the mains set to 0 resulted in balancing all the channels.

 

[sgtpepper9]

Yeah I did, but I manually changed the L/R levels back to 0 db... woops. I didn't understand why it was all the way down to -9 db. That alone has made a huge difference.

Here are the pics:
http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/esau44/new setup/

 

[mike c]

do you have an SPL meter?

 

[sgtpepper9]

Yes I have an SPL meter. I did not think the Avia disk was helpful at all. Maybe I just didn't know what I was doing...

 

[mike c]

where are you sitting, by the remotes?

i'm thinking it's subwoofer location related. is there loud bass at the other locations?

 

[Adam]

When I got my PC-Ultra, I was actually patient and calibrated everything before letting it rip. I was very, very impressed once I got it set up. It sounds like you've gone through that now, but if not...do that first. Get all of the channel levels set with the SPL meter.

I don't know if the Avia disc has it, but I recommend running through a sweep of frequencies and checking out the response (with the SPL meter) at your listening position. You can download a sweep, but I bought a disc from AV123 for $5 and it worked great. It really helped me to set up the tune of the sub (10Hz, 15Hz, or 20Hz), the PEQ, and the room size calibration switch. I was able to get a fairly flat response by adjusting those three items.

I agree with Warp. Unless you got a bad unit, you will be quite pleased once you get it dialed in!

Adam

 

[sgtpepper9]

I'm sitting to the right of the remotes in the picture. It didn't sound drastically different at other seating locations.

 

[sgtpepper9]

Ever since putting the L/R channels back to what they were automatically calibrated at, -9db, it has made a world of difference.

 

[sgtpepper9]

After measuring the SPL at different locations it seems that my seat is a few dBs lower than the yellow and green chair...

 

[Adam]

Forgot to mention in my previous post...cute calico kitty!

 

[mike c]

your mains are at -9db right now?

my ultras btw are at 1/2 gain.