Subwoofer Setup Advice Needed

[TomT1949]

Hi.

I recently bought and set up a new Marantz receiver (SR-7013), and have run Audyssey to set things up.

My subwoofer is a Velodyne DD15 (I only have one sadly), which has a setup process using its included mic and software. It's been many years since I've dug into this process and I'm studying up to refresh my memory, but it involves connecting the sub to my receiver via composite audio/video so I can view and go thru the various menus etc. on my display to tweak the settings.

I'm wondering if this is at all necessary as Audyssey has run and set up the sub. I'm curious tho, because from my somewhat limited understanding of sub setup, the sub's response ranges can be tweaked using a mic and software, e.g. REW, and I'm wondering if I can use the Velodyne's menus and setup to accomplish the same thing as REW.

From what I understand, to really get a sub set up properly, something like REW is recommended. I don't have a mic to work with this, and would like to avoid having to buy one if I can get this done via the Velodyne's processes.

I currently have all my speakers set to small with a crossover at 80hz for all of them.

I hope this makes sense, and that someone might be willing to give me some advice on this.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Speakers:
Mains B&W 703 x 2
Center B&W HTM7
Surround Sides B&W DS7 x 2
Surround Rear B&W DM602 x 2

 

[lovinthehd]

Was the new avr the only change in system? Speakers and subs are still placed as they were before and the sub's eq was set for that? I'd just run Audyssey then to integrate. Many do add a few dB to sub level post-Audyssey to bring up the low end a bit.

Generally you might want to setup the sub as well as possible for both location and eq before running Audyssey, particularly if your sub has the onboard dsp to do so like yours, altho not familiar with what Velodyne used particularly for room setup. To measure with REW is one thing, to have gear it can implement suggested profiles with is another. I'd probably just stick with what the Velodyne has.

 

[Pogre]

Exactly. REW can let you know how close Audyssey got things but you'd need a something like a MiniDSP for fine tuning, which is more cost on top of the mic.

I'm not familiar with your sub either, but you might well benefit from a mic if it allows for some fine tuning. Audyssey made a valiant effort and did improve things in my room, but some sweeps with a Umik mic and REW allowed me to see there were still some opportunities. If your sub allows you to make some PEQ adjustments a graph can let you see where to best use it.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’ve always had best luck using EQ first, and then audyssey. Audyssey also recommends this as well. I don’t think you’ll be able to verify anything without rew so....
Without that I’d run the velo software and then Audyssey. Almost every report I’ve seen supports that so imo you’ll be good.

 

[TomT1949]

Was the new avr the only change in system? Speakers and subs are still placed as they were before and the sub's eq was set for that? I'd just run Audyssey then to integrate. Many do add a few dB to sub level post-Audyssey to bring up the low end a bit.

Generally you might want to setup the sub as well as possible for both location and eq before running Audyssey, particularly if your sub has the onboard dsp to do so like yours, altho not familiar with what Velodyne used particularly for room setup. To measure with REW is one thing, to have gear it can implement suggested profiles with is another. I'd probably just stick with what the Velodyne has.

Thanks for the feedback. The only equipment change was the receiver, but I did end up moving my sub a few feet (as an experiment) because it just wasn't sounding right. So after moving it, it did sound much better. Then I re-ran Audyssey. I don't understand Audyssey enough to know what eq changes it makes to the sub, tho.

The Velodyne setup can do eq for the sub, I'm attaching a few pictures for example. As I haven't really run the sub's set up process (still reading up on it), I want to make sure it doesn't work at cross purposes to Audyssey. It basically does a sweep (using it's mic and test tone), and then provides a way to adjust resulting curve.

Thanks again for the help

 

[TomT1949]

Exactly. REW can let you know how close Audyssey got things but you'd need a something like a MiniDSP for fine tuning, which is more cost on top of the mic.

I'm not familiar with your sub either, but you might well benefit from a mic if it allows for some fine tuning. Audyssey made a valiant effort and did improve things in my room, but some sweeps with a Umik mic and REW allowed me to see there were still some opportunities. If your sub allows you to make some PEQ adjustments a graph can let you see where to best use it.

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm attaching some pictures of the sub's setup menus.

 

[TomT1949]

I’ve always had best luck using EQ first, and then audyssey. Audyssey also recommends this as well. I don’t think you’ll be able to verify anything without rew so....
Without that I’d run the velo software and then Audyssey. Almost every report I’ve seen supports that so imo you’ll be good.

Thanks, sounds like it might be a good idea for me to run the sub setup software first, then re-run Audyssey... I've attached some pictures of the Velodyne's setup menus in a couple of the other posts in this thread.