Getting a smooth bass transition from speakers to sub.

[FuzzyReets]

Okay. I feel like I am missing somethiing in my theater setup. I'm not overly famiiliar with this stuff so bear with me. I have a paiir of 15" Pioneers speakers in the front, 7" Boston Acoustic HD7 speakers in the rear surround and an 8" Polk sub. I feel like there really should be a better transition from the speakers to the sub as far as bass goes. I feel like there is none in the big front speakers I have and the sub does all the work so there isnt' a good flow. Make sense?

I have my receiver set for 80 crossover, front speakers set to small, and bass only coming out of the sub. I did it this way based on information I read regarding all this but I'm starting to think maybe there is a better way. Does anyone have any advice about this or could point me in the right direction? I do have a radio sound meter but the only thing I really know how to use it for is to get the levels even. Thanks!

 

[AzN_plyR]

Did you try playing with the Phase setting on the subwoofer?

 

[j_garcia]

What receiver are you using? Does it have the ability to set it to bass=mains+sub(like Yamahas)? Since you have 15" mains and an 8" sub, I would have to say that is a pretty big mismatch and since Polk's subs aren't that great to begin with, you are pretty much limiting yourself with your system setup this way. I would set the mains to large and forget that sub for now. Your sub most likely doesn't have what it needs to keep up with the rest of your speakers.

 

[yepimonfire]

if your speakers have a response lower then 35hz, forget that sub, polks 8" sub cannot go lower then that and normally you dont need a response lower then that unless your listening to pipe organs. not to mention its always a bad idea to use a smaller bass driver then the mid-bass driver in your speakers. im sure that 8" sub has to push HARD to keep up with the mains and its never going to sound right. 8" subs, most of them anyways, are good for picking up the low end on smaller bookshelfs with 80hz, give or take a few hz, responses, they are no match for huge floorstanding speakers. what model are your speakers?

 

[FuzzyReets]

if your speakers have a response lower then 35hz, forget that sub, polks 8" sub cannot go lower then that and normally you dont need a response lower then that unless your listening to pipe organs. not to mention its always a bad idea to use a smaller bass driver then the mid-bass driver in your speakers. im sure that 8" sub has to push HARD to keep up with the mains and its never going to sound right. 8" subs, most of them anyways, are good for picking up the low end on smaller bookshelfs with 80hz, give or take a few hz, responses, they are no match for huge floorstanding speakers. what model are your speakers?

I have a pair of 15" Pioneer CSD-9900 w/ Dayton ST385-8 15" Series II Woofers installed in them which I put in about 5 months ago. I changed the bass out to sub+front with 80 crossover setting for now. I mean nothing really sounds bad. I'm just always trying to tweak things to be better. Eventually I will replace all these speakers with a set from somewhere.

What made me check into this all of a sudden was when I was watching K19 the other night, there was this one part at 26mins where the sub dives and my little sub started flubbing so for fun I turned it off to see how much bass was going to the front and pretty much nothing happened during that part so I started thinking maybe I can get a more gradual bass response if I included the fronts somehow. Anymore info much appreciated and thanks!

 

[yepimonfire]

those drivers have a frequency response down to 19hz, screw your sub.

 

[FuzzyReets]

those drivers have a frequency response down to 19hz, screw your sub.

So you're saying to completely ditch the sub? Those speakers can handle the bass better? Hmmm.... I don't know about that, but I don't know this technically either.. Can someone explain why this might work? Thanks.

 

[yepimonfire]

well put on some music and see how it sounds in 2ch mode, 19hz is lower then you can even hear and better then most subs can even dream of (unless you want to spend tons of money)

 

[yepimonfire]

is that cabinet a ported cabinet?

 

[FuzzyReets]

is that cabinet a ported cabinet?

It has a 2 inch port in the front. That's it.

 

[FuzzyReets]

well put on some music and see how it sounds in 2ch mode, 19hz is lower then you can even hear and better then most subs can even dream of (unless you want to spend tons of money)

Okay I will try that. Does putting it in 2 channel mode disregard the crossover setting? Also, if I was going to not use the sub, what would I do with the crossover considering I have Boston HD7s for rear? Don't want to destroy those. Thanks for your help.

 

[yepimonfire]

you may have an even lower response thanks to the port, i say no sub needed. set your fronts to large.

set your fronts to large and you backs to small, cross over at 80hz

 

[j_garcia]

I highly doubt these things will reach 19Hz. Not sure how you arrived at that number since those aren't even the original drivers in those boxes, and who knows if those boxes are properly sized for those drivers. They will most likely go as low or lower than that sub though.

In your speaker setup, set the mains to large and sub to none, rears set to small. That will redirect the bass from the other speakers to the mains. Leave it at 80Hz.

 

[FuzzyReets]

those drivers have a frequency response down to 19hz, screw your sub.

Also, where are you getting info like this? Are we talking about the Dayton's or the Pioneer boxes? Sorry if these are dumb questions, don't know much about this but very interesting in learning. I have the original service manual for the Pioneer's as well if that would provide any useful information.

 

[yepimonfire]

the driver has an out of box response down to 19hz, boxes only can increase the response, normally they won't hinder it, and to j_garcia even if you put the specs in a box calculator as the wrong box size you won't change the response more then a few hz.

what are the dimensions of the speaker?

 

[j_garcia]

the driver has an out of box response down to 19hz, boxes only can increase the response, normally they won't hinder it, and to j_garcia even if you put the specs in a box calculator as the wrong box size you won't change the response more then a few hz.

Sorry man, but the tuning of that box will greatly affect what that driver is capable of. The box is vented and tuned to a specific frequency. Even if it is capable of 19Hz, it isn't going to hit it in a random sized box tuned to an unknown frequency with a receiver powering it (unless the OP is really lucky and all those things happen to work together).

Fuzzy, please note, by setting your mains to large, you are going to strain your receiver quite a bit more because it will now have to power those drivers and handle those lower frequencies. If your receiver isn't up to the task, this might not be advisable.

 

[FuzzyReets]

the driver has an out of box response down to 19hz, boxes only can increase the response, normally they won't hinder it, and to j_garcia even if you put the specs in a box calculator as the wrong box size you won't change the response more then a few hz.

what are the dimensions of the speaker?

I got this info on the Dayton's

ST385-8 15" Series II Woofer
• Power handling: 300 watts RMS/425 watts max • VCdia: 2-1/2"
• Le: 4.4 mH • Impedance: 8 ohms • Re: 6.3 ohms • Frequency range:
19-1,000 Hz • Fs: 19 Hz • SPL: 90 dB 2.83V/1m • Vas: 9.64 cu. ft.
• Qms: 10.46 • Qes: .35 • Qts: .34 •

Does that help at all? You can go to here (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=295-130&vReviewShow=1&vReviewRand=3306588#reviews) and click on Go To Catalog Page. That's where I got that. Thanks again.

 

[yepimonfire]

not evenly.

 

[yepimonfire]

no what are the dimensions of the pioneer box

 

[FuzzyReets]

no what are the dimensions of the pioneer box

Manual states:

17-5/16W x 35-7/16H x 12-13/16D in