Subwoofer what should I be Listining for?

[acstech]

When placing and setting up my sub what should I be listing for? Prior to using a spl meter and my test tones (I will be receiving my Avia disk tomorrow) I had my sub turned up much higher then I have it know and it seemed like it was very boomy and I was hearing bass when I shouldn’t especially while watching cable. After setting my sub with the meter it definitely sounds a lot cleaner but I don't get the rumple I used to during movies. I watched The Island last night and while the bass sounded very clean I never had any rumble. Do I need to turn the volume up on my receiver close to where I had it when I calibrated my system? I have three kids so watching movies at night I can’t crank up the system or my wife will shoot me. I know part of my problem is the sub itself and when I purchase a svs sub it will be a whole new world. I assume when I upgrade my sub I will get both the rumble and clean bass I am looking for. I think my biggest problem is I am just not sure what it should sound like if it is setup correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this subject. I have read many articles on setting up subs but none really talk about what kind of sound you should be looking for. Thank you for your help.

 

[ScottMayo]

When placing and setting up my sub what should I be listing for? Prior to using a spl meter and my test tones (I will be receiving my Avia disk tomorrow) I had my sub turned up much higher then I have it know and it seemed like it was very boomy and I was hearing bass when I shouldn’t especially while watching cable. After setting my sub with the meter it definitely sounds a lot cleaner but I don't get the rumple I used to during movies. I watched The Island last night and while the bass sounded very clean I never had any rumble. Do I need to turn the volume up on my receiver close to where I had it when I calibrated my system? I have three kids so watching movies at night I can’t crank up the system or my wife will shoot me. I know part of my problem is the sub itself and when I purchase a svs sub it will be a whole new world. I assume when I upgrade my sub I will get both the rumble and clean bass I am looking for. I think my biggest problem is I am just not sure what it should sound like if it is setup correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this subject. I have read many articles on setting up subs but none really talk about what kind of sound you should be looking for. Thank you for your help.

You should be listening for the belief that there are no speakers in the room, just life-like sound.

And since that's not very helpful... the sign of a good setup is that you are never sure if the sub is on. If it's really obvious that the sub is on, it's drawing attention to itself and that's not it's job. It's either turned up too high or it's placed wrong.

This tends to be counter-intuitive. You pay x$ for a good sub and you want to *hear* it; it's human nature.

Of course, that's all true for music but less true for movies... sometimes you want a movie to shake the house. If it's well placed, it can get loud without getting boomy.

 

[mfabien]

Yes, when you get a new SVS sub it will be a new world. However both with the present and your future sub, the choice of Gain setting is relevant with:

- The placement of the sub
- The size of the room and room materials (re: reverberation)
- The crossover setting in the receiver and the ability of Front speakers to handle low and medium frequencies
- In the case of music, the kind of instrument used for low frequency (case in point, Clayton uses a huge double bass instrument in Diana Krall's "Live in Paris" and I must reduce my Gain setting by 1/4).

Bottom line, Gain settings remains a personal taste and you should try several Gain positions and determine what is best for different kind of listening. But placement is very important and the crawling method is recommended.

 

[acstech]

Thank you

One of the problems I have is I have an odd shaped room it is 10X27 with 8' ceilings. It originally was the porch which on converted into a family room. It was built very well and you can not tell except the shape of the room. One of the walls has 3 big windows and the other wall is an inside wall to one of my kids room. I can't put it on my kid’s wall and if I put it in the corner on the other wall the windows rattle. I placed it between the TV. and the right speaker. I will continue to mess with it and drive my wife nuts. She thinks I am crazy for spending so much time trying to get it right. I figure if you are going to do it do it right and if it comes down to a choice between my home theater and my wife my home theater has a good shot at winning that war. Thank god she doesn’t read this stuff or I would be in trouble. Thank you for your help.

 

[Pyrrho]

When placing and setting up my sub what should I be listing for? Prior to using a spl meter and my test tones (I will be receiving my Avia disk tomorrow) I had my sub turned up much higher then I have it know and it seemed like it was very boomy and I was hearing bass when I shouldn’t especially while watching cable. After setting my sub with the meter it definitely sounds a lot cleaner but I don't get the rumple I used to during movies. I watched The Island last night and while the bass sounded very clean I never had any rumble. Do I need to turn the volume up on my receiver close to where I had it when I calibrated my system? I have three kids so watching movies at night I can’t crank up the system or my wife will shoot me. I know part of my problem is the sub itself and when I purchase a svs sub it will be a whole new world. I assume when I upgrade my sub I will get both the rumble and clean bass I am looking for. I think my biggest problem is I am just not sure what it should sound like if it is setup correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this subject. I have read many articles on setting up subs but none really talk about what kind of sound you should be looking for. Thank you for your help.

Well, let's see....you turned the bass down, and now you have less bass. What do you expect? With a better sub, properly adjusted, you will have deeper bass if it is in the soundtrack, but the upper bass will be roughly the same. Now, many people prefer having their subwoofer adjusted higher than what would give them a flat frequency response, and if you wish to do that, then that is fine. I personally like having a sub set for a flat frequency response, as I do not like a boomy sound, but many people obviously do like a boomy sound, and they are free to set their systems as they please.

If you wanted, you could set it somewhere in between where you have it now and where it was. I wouldn't, but you are obviously missing loud booms in your soundtracks, and the way to get that is to turn up the subwoofer.

Do you want the sound as close to what was intended as possible, or do you want more bass? Answer that question, and you will have the answer to how you should set your subwoofer.

 

[westcott]

This is one instance where I would suggest to someone to trust the articles that explain proper sub and speaker placement.

Until someone hears low frequencies the way they are supposed to be heard, one really has no reference to judge what is right and what is wrong.

It takes time to get used to hearing proper bass management and speaker placement. All to often, speakers are way to close to walls or corners, too much gain, and an overall bad sound caused by too much bass. Lower quality subwoofers generate a geat deal of distortion\noise but do not truly represent what a system should sound like.

Go through the articles in this link and you should be well on your way to learning what good sound really is.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/index.php

P.S. A better sub will definately improve your experience by going lower and generating more spl. I know you may be on a budget but some of the servo feedback subwoofers with passive radiators are truly some of the cleanest sounding bass I have ever heard. No chuffing from ports and a great reduction in distortion from the servo amplifier with position feedback.

 

[acstech]

Thank you

I think I am real close to having what I think sounds good. I am going to visit some of the local stereo stores near me and listen to some of the better subs to see what they sound like. I am becoming addicted to tying to make it as perfect has I can. I want my movies and music to sound the way they where intended to sound and that is what I am working towards. I can't wait to get my svs 20-39 and HK AVR 635 then I get to go through this all over. Thank you for your help the people on the forum have really helped me out.