Acceptable method for "crawling for bass"?

[supervij]

In an attempt to find a good spot for my new sub (see sig for gear), I planned on doing the "crawling for bass" thing. I put my sub on the couch where I usually sit and put some music on while I sat in one of the three spots I've selected for the sub. Problem was that with the bass-y music that I do have (which isn't much), it's hard for me to really tell what sounds smooth or whatever. So here's what I did, and you can tell me if it's silly or not:

I played the sub test tone from my receiver instead. And in each of the three potential spots, I sat with my SLP meter and watched the needle for variation in needle movement. I figure it would make sense to pick the spot that showed the least needle movement, or in other words, the least variation in bass levels. I moved the sub to that new spot, and am looking forward to doing some listening tests to determine if I like it or not.

Izzat nuts? Theoretically sound?

cheers,
supervij

 

[MidnightSensi]

Yeah, you can by ear pick a few spots that you think sound the smoothest, and then run sine sweep test tones and see what yields the flattest response.

Next step requires a friend:
Once you find the best spot, put the subwoofer there and then reverse the positive and negative leads to your loudspeakers. Play a sine wave test tone at the crossover frequency...so if you have your crossover set at 80Hz, play a 80Hz test tone. Now have a friend move the phase knob on the back of your subwoofer until you hear the LEAST amount of bass at the listening position. Then turn it off, put the leads back on the speakers correctly, and now you have your subwoofer phase set correctly to blend with your speakers.

The reason you reverse the leads is because it is easier to hear the 'least' bass versus when you hear the most. You hear the least because when they are at 180 degree they are cancelling eachother.

 

[supervij]

Thanks for the suggestion, Sensi! I just left my phase control on 0 degrees cos YPAO said that it's fine . . . any idea where can I find an 80 Hz sine wave test tone?

cheers,
supervij

 

[MidnightSensi]

Thanks for the suggestion, Sensi! I just left my phase control on 0 degrees cos YPAO said that it's fine . . . any idea where can I find an 80 Hz sine wave test tone?

cheers,
supervij

YPAO may set that for you if you run its auto-eq.

I use the Stereophile Test CDs, but any most test CD will have sine sweeps.

I may be a bit old school since I'm not huge on the Audysseys and auto-eqs.

 

[supervij]

Again, many thanks! I'll look into those test CDs.

cheers,
supervij