klipsch sw-350 among other things

[stormageddon]

Hi all
I have a pair of audioengine a5 speakers and a Klipsch sw-350 sub. I love the speakers but am thinking of changing out the sub for something different my reason is this.

I understand room placement has a lot to do with how a sub can preform but having tried multiple placements in the room and a different room altogether but where ever I place it it sounds dirty to me. The speakers can produce a nice punch of a bass drum cleanly and I purchased the sub to augment this for parties and general music listening. However I can't get it to produce a clean beat or anything else (the bass line on the Red Hot Chilli Peppers snow for example) sounds like a complete mess.

So my question is two fold is this a room placement/crossover setting/level issue and am I just stupid? Or did I just get a bad sub and should I look to replace it?

If replacement is the way to go $300-350 would be about my price range and I'm only going to listen to music. I would like it to play nice with my audioengines and it being loud and tight is a must.
With respect to these things I was looking at some older marked down models such as the polk psw505.

So what does everyone think? Thanks!

 

[agarwalro]

Within reason the Klipsch sub will some low end rumble. I suspect that your settings might be causing a null at the listening position.

room placement/crossover setting/level

Can you provide more details for how you've got things set up?

 

[stormageddon]

I have two rooms that I move my setup in between first is in my kitchen 8foot ceilings the room is 12 feet by 8.5 feet with a 1.5 foot counter top running the length of the long wall. There is a fridge on the wall opposite of the counter and the audioengines sit on top of that. currently the sub is sitting next to the fridge on the floor.

The other set up is in an all concrete basement with unfinished 7ft ceilings the room is 22x27 feet. Here the sub is used for parties and I'm wondering if it isn't big enough for that area

Are these good enough descriptions?

 

[Audiomaster]

Although this is an old post, it's such a common question. First, a sub is not a cure for every bass problem if the size and output aren't used in the correct location. Secondly and most important, the setting for subwoofer should correspond to the low end of your speaker to cross over cleanly. It you follow the typical reply they say 80-120hz which is totally wrong. A subwoofer produces subsonic output and 80 Hz is absolutely the highest it will work properly. I own this one and so does my son and both work very well. If you're using it in the kitchen, try using a throw rug to sit it on and move it close to the corner. When you have music on, set the volume to where you just feel the effects of the sub and no higher. Turning the volume too high will distort the sound (muddy). There is probably no good place in a basement for an 8" sub, and turning it up will only make it sound awful. In this location, maybe a 12" sub with 200+ rms is probably the minimum. So maybe you have the wrong sub for your situation.