After thinking my sub was doing a pretty good job in my HT for the past 5 years, I finally decided to pick up a Berhinger Feedback Destroyer and EQ it. The sub is Paradigm's entry level PDR-10 powered 10" sub. For years I thought it sounded good but it was lacking a little in the low end dept. Little did I know I was in for a surprise. I made a disc with 1/6 octave test tones and ran it to chart my sub's response.
I don't know what frequency the white noise calibration on the Video Essentials DVD is but it would be interesting to know. I calibrated my sub to 85dB using VE but the only place in my readings where the noise was audible and the sub was close to 85dB was 125Hz. (All my dB readings are raw numbers before the Rat Shack meter adjustments are calculated in.) With the receiver's volume set at reference level (speakers at 75dB and sub at 85dB), a 22Hz tone read at an unhealthy sounding 92dB and quickly rolled off to an even more unhealthy sounding 67dB by the time it reached 16Hz. The specs for the PDR-10 list the low frequency extension @ 27Hz. My reading at 28Hz was 92dB. At 31.5 Hz, I was getting a reading of 97dB before hitting 110dB @ 63Hz and finally topping out at 112dB @ 71Hz. This was followed by a quick roll off down to 63dB @ 143Hz. After a few hours working with the BFD, my sub now reads 66dB @ 16Hz and climbs up to a peak of 93dB @ 36Hz, followed by a slow trickle to 67Hz @ 143dB. I'm going to work more with it this Saturday but I don't think it's going to get much better than that.
I used to think I was getting good sub response and fair low-end but the truth is most of what I was hearing and thinking was the low end of the LFE spectrum was actually between 45 and 80Hz. When watching movies I never listened at reference level (usually about 5-8dB below reference) and if there was some really low bass, it was either inaudible or my sub made a lot of flutter noise trying to produce the low frequencies and sounded like it had asthma.
After EQing my sub I've decided two things.
1. The BFD is one of the best upgrade investments I've made to my HT.
2. I need a better sub!!!
I don't know what frequency the white noise calibration on the Video Essentials DVD is but it would be interesting to know. I calibrated my sub to 85dB using VE but the only place in my readings where the noise was audible and the sub was close to 85dB was 125Hz. (All my dB readings are raw numbers before the Rat Shack meter adjustments are calculated in.) With the receiver's volume set at reference level (speakers at 75dB and sub at 85dB), a 22Hz tone read at an unhealthy sounding 92dB and quickly rolled off to an even more unhealthy sounding 67dB by the time it reached 16Hz. The specs for the PDR-10 list the low frequency extension @ 27Hz. My reading at 28Hz was 92dB. At 31.5 Hz, I was getting a reading of 97dB before hitting 110dB @ 63Hz and finally topping out at 112dB @ 71Hz. This was followed by a quick roll off down to 63dB @ 143Hz. After a few hours working with the BFD, my sub now reads 66dB @ 16Hz and climbs up to a peak of 93dB @ 36Hz, followed by a slow trickle to 67Hz @ 143dB. I'm going to work more with it this Saturday but I don't think it's going to get much better than that.
I used to think I was getting good sub response and fair low-end but the truth is most of what I was hearing and thinking was the low end of the LFE spectrum was actually between 45 and 80Hz. When watching movies I never listened at reference level (usually about 5-8dB below reference) and if there was some really low bass, it was either inaudible or my sub made a lot of flutter noise trying to produce the low frequencies and sounded like it had asthma.
After EQing my sub I've decided two things.
1. The BFD is one of the best upgrade investments I've made to my HT.
2. I need a better sub!!!
