Shaking down the house?

[Exit]

For the first time in a year and a half all my family was out of the house, except me. I use these times to crank up the audio system using music mostly. I finally got to hear my PB12+2 for the first time at a decent volume level. I have been waiting to do this since January 2008 when I bought it. It was an investment for the future (4 years) when my kids are out of the house after college (hopefully). I didn’t think it would take a year plus to have the house to myself and crank it up.

I watched Star Wars III and I was surprised how much improvement the subwoofer made. At first I had the subwoofer set a little high because there was bass almost continuously, such as when people were walking down a corridor. That was annoying so I throttled it back a little so there was not continuous bass. Explosions and battle scenes roared to life, however there was no shaking of objects or pressurization that I could feel.

I tried different crossover points in the receiver until it sounded right. I ended up with a crossover point of 100 Hz. I had the subwoofer set to the 20 Hz mode.

My question is this. The sub produced low bass, but it did not rattle the house, such as shaking objects on the fireplace mantle, as others have reported for this subwoofer. To get this effect should I lower the subwoofer tuning point to 16 Hz or should 20 Hz tuning do the job? Does Star Wars III have low enough bass to cause rattling the walls? The volume was less than a theater and the voices were about conversation level. I think I have got a lot of headroom with the sub and the rest of the system (speakers and amp). Should I have simply turned the system volume up higher? I have got an open floor plan with about 8,000 cubic feet volume to pressurize. Is the room volume too big to get these effects with a PB12+2?

I have got an RS SPL meter and a BFD equalizer which I set up for a previous subwoofer and which I plan to use on this sub, next chance I get the house to myself again. (Nobody in the house can stand to hear the test tones.). Measuring SPL readings and setting up the BFD takes me awhile, even with the internet guides and graphing spreadsheets, so I have to wait until I have several hours time span to tune it more precisely for the room.

Overall I think the PB12+2 does a pretty good job in my room right out of the box but I will probably use the BFD and put in a house curve to see if that does the trick.

 

[GlocksRock]

Sounds like your listening area may be a bit large to really shake things with that sub. But it is an amazing sub capable of a lot of output, have you tried moving the sub to a different location to see if there is any difference?

 

[Exit]

Sounds like your listening area may be a bit large to really shake things with that sub. But it is an amazing sub capable of a lot of output, have you tried moving the sub to a different location to see if there is any difference?

No, I am pretty much stuck with a space on the front wall next to the mains and TV. The room layout and the size of the sub limit alternatives plus I don't like a sub next to the seating area. The front wall is just big enough for a 61" TV, mains, and subwoofer. After that there are open spaces and the front left corner has a door while the right side opens into a dining room.

 

[GlocksRock]

I know what you mean, I am pretty limited myself as to where I can put mine. I guess you can always turn the sub up some more... as long as you aren't bottoming it out you should be ok.

 

[sholling]

It sound like you have the volume too low to be feeling the effects, especially from across the room. At theater level volumes mine does a seriously good job of shaking the house and scaring the dog, and my two adjoining rooms are pretty close to that size. However with an open plan you're probably getting close to pushing its limits. But for now I'd start with a working with placement and speaker balance and go from there. BTW it makes an excellent end table next to the couch. That's where mine is.

I'm a bit confused by you're settings. Using the port plugs trades a bit a volume for a bit more depth, but one plug for 20hz should be fine. How far are the ports from a back wall? That's going to make a huge difference. In my smaller space I had to move those ports 2' from a back wall to reduce the bass. You might want to experiment with corner placement and the ports 12" or so from a facing wall. There are people here that know a lot more than I do about this than I do so I'll leave the nuances to them.

The other setting that confuses me is the crossover point. I would expect to use 100hz if I were using tiny bookshelf speakers but not for anything else. My receiver allows me to set each each pair separately. My towers are good down to 35hz and my center, surrounds and back speakers are all good to go down to 80hz, so I cross over my mains at 40hz and my others at 80hz.

Bottom line I think you have several hours of fun experimentation ahead to get things where you want them.

 

[lsiberian]

For the first time in a year and a half all my family was out of the house, except me. I use these times to crank up the audio system using music mostly. I finally got to hear my PB12+2 for the first time at a decent volume level. I have been waiting to do this since January 2008 when I bought it. It was an investment for the future (4 years) when my kids are out of the house after college (hopefully). I didn’t think it would take a year plus to have the house to myself and crank it up.

I watched Star Wars III and I was surprised how much improvement the subwoofer made. At first I had the subwoofer set a little high because there was bass almost continuously, such as when people were walking down a corridor. That was annoying so I throttled it back a little so there was not continuous bass. Explosions and battle scenes roared to life, however there was no shaking of objects or pressurization that I could feel.

I tried different crossover points in the receiver until it sounded right. I ended up with a crossover point of 100 Hz. I had the subwoofer set to the 20 Hz mode.

My question is this. The sub produced low bass, but it did not rattle the house, such as shaking objects on the fireplace mantle, as others have reported for this subwoofer. To get this effect should I lower the subwoofer tuning point to 16 Hz or should 20 Hz tuning do the job? Does Star Wars III have low enough bass to cause rattling the walls? The volume was less than a theater and the voices were about conversation level. I think I have got a lot of headroom with the sub and the rest of the system (speakers and amp). Should I have simply turned the system volume up higher? I have got an open floor plan with about 8,000 cubic feet volume to pressurize. Is the room volume too big to get these effects with a PB12+2?

I have got an RS SPL meter and a BFD equalizer which I set up for a previous subwoofer and which I plan to use on this sub, next chance I get the house to myself again. (Nobody in the house can stand to hear the test tones.). Measuring SPL readings and setting up the BFD takes me awhile, even with the internet guides and graphing spreadsheets, so I have to wait until I have several hours time span to tune it more precisely for the room.

Overall I think the PB12+2 does a pretty good job in my room right out of the box but I will probably use the BFD and put in a house curve to see if that does the trick.

Sounds like a room size deal.

A couple of Audiopulse builds could shake the room potentially.

 

[jostenmeat]

Exit, you may consider the addition of transducers. Some people hate them, some people think that no HT is complete without them.

Some dedicated theaters provide little to no shake, because concrete is hard to move! Instances like these may benefit from a transducer. YMMV.