Need help and questions adding second subwoofer

[trusaleen1]

Hello, I purchased a PC-2000 SVS subwoofer to be paired with my SVS PB NSD-12 and have a few questions in regards to setup. The PB-NSD12 is placed in the front left corner of the room. The new PC-2000 is placed at the right rear corner of the room. (Placement is mainly due to space in the room).

My AVR is a Yamaha V683, it has two subwoofer pre-outs (1,2) but the receiver does NOT independently set each subwoofer, it's really one with a parallel duplicate second outlet. I’ll be running a 5.2.2 system. All speakers are set to small, crossed at 80hz. Here are the speakers I'm using

Center Channel- Chane A2.4
L/R Towers- Infinity Primus 252 tower speakers
Surrounds- NHT SubZero 2.1
Atmos- SVS Prime Elevation

Here are the questions I have with regards to setup:

• Distance- how should I calculate the distance for the subs, YPAO has previously calculated distance for the PB-NSD12 at 11.8 feet from the listening position. The new PC-2000 is closer to my seating position in the rear corner. (It’s a fairly small square room).
• YPAO Rerun- do I need to rerun YPAO (automatic set-up), even though it’s a parallel output? Or should I should use my IPhone SPL meter app Decibel X db. (I realize this isn’t 100% accurate) so they are the same DB, I like to run it a little hot, so would 78db or 80db work?
• Gain level- Currently the gain level on the PB-NSD12 sub itself is set at 2 o’clock. In the receiver set up, the gain is at -5.5 (negative 5.5). What should the gain be on the new PC-2000, I believe the PC-2000 is a little more powerful.
• Port Location- The port on the NSD in the front, while the PC-2000 is in the rear, does the PC-2000 need to be pulled away a little further from the wall and/or should it be angled to the corner due to the port? (Right now it's about 6 inches out, not angled to the corner.)
• Phase- will I need to adjust the phase since I have a sub upfront and and one behind.
• YPAO EQ calculation of NSD12- I've attached a photo of the EQ that YPAO set when I had a single subwoofer with the NSD PB-12 up front. I'm assuming the other subwoofer would have a different curve based on the different placement? How do I get around this?

 

[shadyJ]

Regarding distance and YPAO, I would still use the farther sub as the calibration point.

If you want to take advantage of YPAO, I would rerun it if you are adding a new sub (personally I wouldn't use YPAO at all).

As for gain level, you should try to level match the subs. Use your SPL meter app and adjust them so that they have roughly the same output at your listening position, and then run YPAO if you must.

The port doesn't need much room from nearby surfaces. Six inches is plenty of room for the port.

If you run YPAO with the other sub on, it will make a new curve. The new curve should factor in both subs, so it should still be addressing the existing acoustic problems with your PB12-NSD.

If you really want a good bass response, YPAO is not the way to do it. I would get a UMIK-1 and a MiniDSP. Here is a much superior route to getting a better bass response. I would try to avoid using YPAO.

 

[trusaleen1]

Regarding distance and YPAO, I would still use the farther sub as the calibration point.

If you want to take advantage of YPAO, I would rerun it if you are adding a new sub (personally I wouldn't use YPAO at all).

As for gain level, you should try to level match the subs. Use your SPL meter app and adjust them so that they have roughly the same output at your listening position, and then run YPAO if you must.

The port doesn't need much room from nearby surfaces. Six inches is plenty of room for the port.

If you run YPAO with the other sub on, it will make a new curve. The new curve should factor in both subs, so it should still be addressing the existing acoustic problems with your PB12-NSD.

If you really want a good bass response, YPAO is not the way to do it. I would get a UMIK-1 and a MiniDSP. Here is a much superior route to getting a better bass response. I would try to avoid using YPAO.

Thank you so much for the reply and info, I will definitely look into the UMIK-1 and the MiniDSP, I think there is a regular one and an HD MiniDSP, do you know which one would work? I'll review the link you sent, is setup pretty straight forward?

It's interesting that you recommend not using YPAO, I've heard that YPAO is really bad at bass management and just recently read about people not using it. So I believe using the through setting turns off the EQ.

 

[shadyJ]

Thank you so much for the reply and info, I will definitely look into the UMIK-1 and the MiniDSP, I think there is a regular one and an HD MiniDSP, do you know which one would work? I'll review the link you sent, is setup pretty straight forward?

It's interesting that you recommend not using YPAO, I've heard that YPAO is really bad at bass management and just recently read about people not using it. So I believe using the through setting turns off the EQ.

If you are new to all this, then there is a bit of a learning curve, but thankfully there are a lot of tutorials out there that can help you. I don't think you need the HD miniDSP, the regular one should do just fine.

 

[Kleinst]

I didn’t think I could figure it out, but with this tutorial, I was able to configure my subs with a nice outcome. Still learning but no regrets in the investment

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

The learning curve is steep for sure. I usually recommend the HD. It has higher output voltage. It also has more filters and an IR remote capability etc.
scroll down to the comparison chart.

miniDSP 2x4 HD

MiniDSP 2x4 HD, a USB DAC+DSP in a low cost package powered by a powerful Sharc 400MHz floating point DSP. The upgraded on-board 400 MHz Analog Devices SHARC processor also ena-bles substantial processing upgrades previously available only on more ex-pensive platforms, such as 96 kHz internal...

www.minidsp.com

 

[lovinthehd]

The learning curve is steep for sure. I usually recommend the HD. It has higher output voltage. It also has more filters and an IR remote capability etc.
scroll down to the comparison chart.

miniDSP 2x4 HD

MiniDSP 2x4 HD, a USB DAC+DSP in a low cost package powered by a powerful Sharc 400MHz floating point DSP. The upgraded on-board 400 MHz Analog Devices SHARC processor also ena-bles substantial processing upgrades previously available only on more ex-pensive platforms, such as 96 kHz internal...

www.minidsp.com

My general experience with commercial subs with plate amps is that the output on the basic unbalanced model is fine at .9V....for a pro amp that needs 1.4V, not so much. Depends somewhat also on the delays needed, the HD is superior there as well.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

My general experience with commercial subs with plate amps is that the output on the basic unbalanced model is fine at .9V....for a pro amp that needs 1.4V, not so much. Depends somewhat also on the delays needed, the HD is superior there as well.

Yeah. The regular version can be fine for a lot of applications. But for 200 bucks, meh. Just do it. Lol. I think the extra might be worth it just to scroll through presets.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Plus PE has coupons frequently. I got my HD for 180.

 

[lovinthehd]

Plus PE has coupons frequently. I got my HD for 180.

Didn't even know you could buy thru PE....always bought mine direct from miniDSP.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Didn't even know you could buy thru PE....always bought mine direct from miniDSP.

Yep. Sure do. Have to say though, I called with a tech question, and I knew more already than the dumm shiit on the phone. In fairness, they do have a zillion part numbers in their system, but still...
Anyways, I’m gonna get the remote soon. I’d like to have some presets for on the fly adjustments. Something I actually like about the pioneer AVR in my bedroom.

 

[trusaleen1]

thanks for all the feedback guys