need help with speaker placement and adjusting powered sub. (1 Viewer)

[fattkt77]

Hello I just got done spending close to $4300 replacing my old home theator system. I bought a yamaha HTR-6140 5.1 Receiver and Yamaha ipod dock,two yamaha NS-777 Towers and two Yamaha NS-555 towers(these are used for my computer room and are ran off cannel b on my receiver),two yamaha NS-333 bookshelf speakers,a Yamaha NS-C444 center speaker and a Infinity PS212 powered sub(400 wats RMS and 700 peak watts). Then I when out and bought a new Samsung 42'' Plasma Screen Tv,along with a new Phillips dvd player and all new phillips HDMI,and component cables. I bought some-what high end stuff,I know there better out there I just think that it should sound better than it does. I have the Yamaha NS-777's placed up front in my living room,the yamaha Ns-C444 center right up in front of the tv,my NS-333 bookshelfs placed at the back at ear level when standing,then my Infinity PS212 powered sub is place at the back wall on the left of me and the polk Audio Psw 12 place at the back wall to the right of me as well. My receiver has this mic that I can plug into it to adjust it to the room but it never sounds quite right. I have the sub level on the amp at 1 with my lfe crossover set at 110hz and the gain at a little over 3/4 on the Infintiy and the polk is set a little over half. The bass hits hard just doesnt seem to be as boomy or as clear as I want it to be :frowning: . Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Robert_J]

If you have listened to bloated, boomy bass for a long time, then quality bass will sound 'weak' for a better word. Most receivers do a good job of setting levels but I always check mine with a calibration DVD and an SPL meter.

If you do get the levels set properly, then it may be your sub/room interaction. You could have peaks and valleys in the sub's frequency response. To check that you can use test tones and a Radio Shack SPL meter or if you want to go more high tech, Room EQ Wizard software (I can't link to it so you have to use Google) will properly plot your low frequencies.

After my sub was set up, I had a 15db peak at 54hz. My low end was pathetic. After plotting the response and using a parametric EQ (~$100) to flatten the sub's response, I have great bass down to 17hz. Not boomy either. Just sweep over the room with low end energy bass.

If the option above doesn't work, then you just don't have a sub that is powerful enough for your expectations.

-Robert

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Tim.

Sub placement is kind of critical for good bass response so perhaps moving the sub will help.

Here is a technique:

- Disable all the speakers except the sub.
- Move the main couch/seat out of the way and put the sub in this location.
- Fire up a bass-heavy movie, turn off the TV and crank up the sub volume on the sub for this experiment.

Go to the corner with the 2 longest un-broken walls with a six-pack of your favorite beer.

Crawl along the longest wall and LISTEN. You will hear spots where the bass is boomy and rough. Other spots will be quieter, but smoother. Mark 2-3 spots where the bass is smooth with a bottle of beer.

When done - pick the most spousal acceptable spot and put the sub here. Re connect the speakers, put the chair/couch back, fire up the movie and open the beer.

Listen for a good 10 minutes and move to the other seats in the room. You may have to move the sub to the second or third position to get all seats to sound good. Drink the beer with each move.

Eventually you will find the best spot in the room for the sub (or be so drunk you wont care.

)

You should also use a laser pointer held to the side of all the other speakers to make sure you can see where they are pointing and that things are balanced.

Now - bring out the mic and let the receiver auto-calibrate.

If you still feel the smooth bass is lacking volume - feel free to up the volume on the sub a bit (it's your system and bass is fun).

Hope this helps.

 

[troy evans]

That's classic.

 

[fattkt77]

Well this friday I think Im going to Radio Shack,getting an SPL meter and then going on line and ordering a BFD Pro DSP1124p. I just down loaded..Room EQ Wizard to help me to. After that im going to get a 6 pack of my favorite beer (Land Shark) lol and moving the couch and recliner out of the room. One way or another im going to get the system sounding right or im just going to end up having spent a lot of money this week end and getting drunk doing so.

I have never used a BFD before does this unit stay hooked up to my system after I get the sub tuned and calibrated to the room or does it come off? Im just asking cause I dont know. Plus this dang thing is going to cost me about 100 bucks before all the cables and the new soundcard Im going to get for my computer to use it.

 

[fattkt77]

Well I couldnt get a behringer Feed Back destroyer in by the week end but I did do some research on cables for my sub.I found out that I could make some really nice RCA cable out of RG6 cable and some adapters that turned my normal cable coaxial into RCA'S. It made a world of difference in my subs!!!! There is now great clean bass that you can feel the the walls floors and your seat!!! It didnt cost me but 2.19 a piece for 4 adaptors and I already had the coaxial cable laying around from running cable out to the garage! I think it going to sound even better when I get the behringer feed back distroyer and the spl meter to get the subs completely calibrated!

 

[Robert_J]

Not only does the BFD stay in your system, mine stays on 24x7 because it has no remote power on/off. I don't want my wife to have to remember to manually turn it on ever time.

I also use RG-6 with the adapters for my sub cable. I have 45 feet of RG-6 between wall plates to get the sub signal from my receiver to my Behringer sub amp in the front of the room. The EP-2500 does a great job on DIY subs.

-Robert

 

[fattkt77]

I just wanna thank you and everyone one that has helped me,my system has never sounded so good.The cables and moving the subs around has really brought out some good sound quality sound. My next purchase after the behringer feed back destroyer is shielded speaker wire and banna connectors. I was in the basement and noticed that my front speaker wires are run under the metal duct work and by some electrical wire for my outlets. I did some research on that to and it said that will cause some humming in my speakers. Im run 105 watts rms to each front. I think I should be running a heavier gauge wire than 18 so im going to get 12 or 10 gauge. That way if I do decide to upgrade receivers that will already be taken care of.

 

[Robert_J]

Shielded speaker wire is a waste unless you can actually hear the 60hz hum with your system turned off. Upgrading from 18ga to 12ga will lower the resistance ever so slightly so that you may get an extra .5w of power to your speakers. If things are working fine now, don't change a thing. But if you insist then Monoprice is a great source of speaker wire. I just buy in bulk from Lowes and Home Depot.

-Robert