YPAO picks best sub spot?

[supervij]

I recently decided to try to find a better spot for my subwoofer. I have four possible spots for it, all with high WAF. But I don't have a Rives CD or similar. So I used YPAO on them.

For each spot, I noted the YPAO-recommended decibel levels for the mains and for the subwoofer. The first two had the sub 12 dB lower than the mains, the third spot was 9 dB lower, and the last spot was 8 dB lower than the mains. I've taken this to mean that that last spot has the best (smoothest) bass response. Would I be correct in that assumption?

cheers,
supervij

 

[Seth=L]

Assuming the YPAO is completely accurate, yes.

My experiance with YPAO has been that it isn't extremely reliable and has a very difficult time with subwoofers. If you don't move anything and run the test multiple times it is likely it will render different results each time.

You best alternative to the auto-setup would be using a dB meter or perhaps, go crawling for bass.

 

[MDS]

YPAO is just trying to match the level of the sub and the other speakers so they are roughly equal (just as you would do if you calibrate manually) so you cannot conclude anything from the subwoofer level numbers - just like I cannot tell you that +3 dB is the right level for your front speakers because that is what mine are set to.

What I conclude from those numbers is that the sub location where the sub level was set to -8 dB is further away from the location of the mic than the sub location where the level was set to -12 dB.

 

[Tomorrow]

After manually level matching my two Hsu's (with mike, Avia disc, and spl meter) YPAO did a great job of eq'ing them with the speaker system, but I had huge peaks and dips in the FR. I began playing with the phase settings on the subs. It turns out they were in opposite corners, about equally distant from the primary listening site...so setting one sub to "0" and the other to "180" smoothed it all out. Magic! I had a really flat FR across the subs' range.

I double and triple checked everything, including YPAO, and the system sounds better than ever. There are some minor issues with YPAO, but I couldn't live without it. I really trust most of its settings.

I believe that you're getting phasing problems with each new location you put the subs in because you're bass is exciting different room modes. Thus, you'll likely be getting different dips or standing waves at your listening place. Ergo...the change in YPAO dB settings.

 

[supervij]

Tomorrow, that last paragraph of yours is bang on what I was trying to say, but didn't quite get out. Each of those four spots are within a foot or so of each other in terms of distance from them to the microphone, so I didn't think those distances would explain the difference of 4 dB. I was thinking more along the lines of room modes, standing waves, etc. happening differently with each new spot. That's why I wondered if it might help to provide a smoother bass response.

Here's the funny thing about my experience with YPAO. When my mains were back in their original position (22 degrees), I had varying results with YPAO: sometimes it would tell me the centre speaker was large when it wasn't; I'd get difference dB for speakers from one YPAO to another; it was all nuts.

But the other day when I moved the mains to their new position of 25 degrees, YPAO matches up every time. And I've run six or seven of them since moving the mains. It says the centre should be small, and I get identical dB readings for all the speakers each time I run it. It still says my crossover should be 120 Hz, of course, THAT hasn't changed! So strangely enough, Seth, I'm not too down on YPAO anymore!

cheers,
supervij