Some of you guys don't go over to AVS much and I know John wanted to chime in on this one, so here goes...
Hi All,
I got a chance last week to try out a piece of great gear, a friend’s new DD15. While he’s away in Europe, I was able to take his new toy out of the box, plug it into my system and find out what you Velo guys don’t talk about all that much , except on the Support or EQ threads. I’m very interested in EQ, had seen the DD software demonstrated and started drooling about getting to try this guy.
First off, idiot proof packing, sub in plastic and cloth wrapping, accessory box w/ microphone, 25’ XLR cable, mic stand, 25’ L&R analog audio cable for EQ out connection, 25’ video cable for connection to TV or monitor, remote and easy to understand and comprehensive manual. The sub’s finish is superb White Maple veneer (I assume) it looks and feels like solid wood, but I guess that’s not likely. I expected it to be huge, but it really is a very compact package for a 15” sub. The grille is silver and very solid. It goes with absolutely nothing in my house , but I’ll forgive it, because it sounds wonderful. Weighs in at 100lbs and the entire presentation shouts class.
Last Friday night I was supposed to have time to myself to setup this puppy, but one of my son’s showed up with a friend wanting to watch a movie. I was on Pg 1 of the manual, so I went through the Quick Start steps. Self EQ, in my one possible placement option, let the software do it’s thing, did a quick SPL meter calibration and let her rip. I wasn’t close to flat, but my audience was impatient. It took me about 15 minutes.
Played a couple of Deadwing cuts, which sounded about the same (I have a decent sub), but very clean and with the EQ, I heard the mid bass and upper bass better.. The movie the kids wanted to see was Domino, not too bad, constant LFE and prevalent bass. I calibrated about 5dbs hot (where the music sounded best). Well that was just too much. Had to turn it down 3 times during the movie. Definitely a "Wow factor". Never sounded distorted or boomy, just needed to blend it better. It's an extremely powerful toy.
Next day, I started over… Played with it for 3 hours...2 of which were very frustrating because I neglected to hook up the EQ out to the receiver and could only activate Self/EQ. A friend finally clued me in. Once done, it was a snap to balance my mains and go to the Manual EQ stage. Self/EQ did a fairly decent job. Below 36 hz I have tremendous room gain, so basically the bottom 3 sliders were cut to -13 to flatten it out from 15-50. From 50-60hz there is a significant drop off. Fully boosted at 50 and 63, there still about a 7-8db valley. Looks like I have another room node at 100 and 200. Manually, I was able to even things out everywhere but the big nodes at 50 and 200 by adjusting the slider Q and phase. Right then it sounded very good. Extremely powerful, clean and accurate.
The sub is between my RF and entertainment center about 8" off the wall. My room is 18x14x7.5 with a 5' opening into the dining area/kitchen. The system is facing away from the opening into the longer dimension. The front soundstage is slightly corner loaded on the 9' wall to maximize our L shaped seating. The only other option I have would be to place the sub in one of the 3 other corners. Placing the mic more toward the corner of my seating, which is really were I sit mostly, took away most of the valley at 50hz, so I was able to get flat without the extreme boost in the 48-65hz. I also boosted 25-28hz and 31.5 slightly (still in the negative though).
The learning curve is not steep, the manual is very straight forward, had I not had a few “senior” moments, I would have been manually EQ’d (1st rev) in under 30 minutes (including reading the manual). The interface and remote are very user friendly.
Over the last few days, I’ve only done limited tweaking. I have changed placement slightly, moving it away from the wall about 8”. I have achieved +/- flatness and I’ve experimented with the pre-sets.
I’ve watched a couple movies and played just about all the musical content I could over these few hours. Without question this is a very musical subwoofer. Some content sounds the best I’ve ever heard it. With other content, I’m having to get used to what “flat” sounds like. I may prefer a contoured sound. That’s really one of the most powerful features of the DD software, you can EQ to taste. These are subjective impressions, but this sub easily hits spec to my ears from 15 – rolloff. It’s extremely powerful 1250w RMS amp is currently set at 20 gain, receiver at –9. It pressurizes the entire 7000 cubic feet of the front 3 rooms of my house. For movies and TV, I have inconsistent impressions. It all sounds great, but sometimes it seems I’m getting more impact others less. This I’m sure is due to having an EQ’d sub, what I'm used to and maybe something to do with the sub itself. I don’t think it’s designed for the “Oops, I think I just crapped myself response”…well maybe some of that. This is not a knock at all. I'm still new to this. I'm feeling like I'm going to hate packing up this guy and giving it back.
Pardon me for rambling on, this is a weeks worth of impression. I’ll throw up some pics if anybody wants them. I’ve invited some folks over to listen to several subs next weekend. I hope to get some pointers to what I should try with this temporary toy and what I should listen to and for with an EQ’d sub.
One thing for sure, an SMS or BFD is in my near future.
