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Subwoofer Help

#1
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6/17/08 at 11:27am
  • Joined: March 2007
  • Post Count: 11
I have purchased a new SVS PB-10 Subwoofer for my home theater system.
I am currently having some problems getting the subwoofer to sound the way one would expect. Booming bass etc.
My current setup is:
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-1016
Front: Cerwin Vega VS-120
Center: Klipsch SC .5
Rear: PSB Alpha A/V

My room is 10.5 feet wide by 21 long
Carpet and underlay ontop of concrete.
I have the sub beside my TV facing forward with the mains in the corners of the room.
My sofa is about 15 feet away from the TV in the center of the room.

The problem I am having is that I can feel like bass durring movies etc but it does not have that booming sound it to.
It is more booming if you were to stand up then if you are sitting on the sofa.
I have gone through the MACC setup on the receiver as well as going through the manual and manually changing settings. All of this with no change.
I have tried moving the sub around from the corner of the room and along the inner wall of the house (it is a semi). All of this and I am still unable to get it to boom.

Can someone give some assistance on making this sound the way it should?
Or is it possible my room is just not theatre friendly?

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Diego
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#2
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6/17/08 at 11:47am
  • Joined: February 2007
  • Location: Calgary
  • Post Count: 264

Re: Subwoofer Help

A couple suggestions:

1) If your room allows for some flexibility in where the sub can be placed, you should find the spot that produces the best sounding bass, since the location of the sub and its interaction with the walls of the room will affect the bass you hear at your seat. To find the best place for the sub to go, put the sub where your seat is, put on some music or a movie scene with a lot of continuous bass, crawl along the walls where you might put the sub and listen for where the bass sounds louder or quieter. It might also sound cleaner or muddier in different spots. Pick the spot that sounded best to you and put the sub there if you can.
This will give you a good starting point for where the sub should go to minimize negative room interaction. From there you can make other changes.

2) Call SVS. Their customer service is one of the reasons they are loved on this forum so much. They will guide you through the whole process of calibrating your sub and figuring out the best set up for it. You might even end up talking with one of the owners of the company/designers of SVS subs.

If you have not already calibrated the sub, you might want to get a calibration DVD like Avia or Digital Video Essentials and a sound level meter to ensure that the sub is calibrated to the level of your other speakers. A properly calibrated sub should not stand out, but just seem to be an extension of the other speakers.
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#3
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6/17/08 at 12:45pm
  • Joined: June 2000
  • Location: Colorado
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Re: Subwoofer Help

Plus, a lot of the time when someone gets their first good sub, they are disappointed because it does NOT give "booming bass" as you describe it. Cheap, "one note" subs do that. A good sub, once set up properly will give what I think of as a "sonic massage", not boominess. Aside from that, properly setting up a sub can be difficult.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#4
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6/17/08 at 1:03pm
  • Joined: August 2000
  • Location: Southaven, MS
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Re: Subwoofer Help

I use a VSX-1014 and calibrate my system using MCACC as well. I have found that the sub is calibrated couple of db lower than I like it. This is confirmed when I also use Video Essentials and my SPL meter. I run my sub 3db hotter than the MCACC calibration.

Based your your comment of standing up and hearing "booming bass", your sitting position may be in a null. I used test tones and my Radio Shack SPL meter to graph the response of my sub and a 12 band parametric EQ to flatten the response. You may need to try a few other locations for the sub.

And John is 100% correct. A sub should not be boomy. In fact, it should not call attention to itself until needed. Newcomers to my system are usually startled on the first explosion during a movie. This is after going through a music demo.

-Robert
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#5
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6/17/08 at 2:37pm
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Re: Subwoofer Help

Just to second Robert, the fact the sub changes when you stand up does indicate a standing wave problem.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#6
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6/18/08 at 6:24am
  • Joined: March 2007
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Re: Subwoofer Help

Thanks for all of the great responces to my question.
I am going to play around with the sub placement this week and see what I can come up with.
I take it I would put the sub on the floor inplace of the sofa and crawl around? or would I put the sub on the sofa and crawl around?

Thanks again,
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#7
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6/18/08 at 8:25am
  • Joined: June 2000
  • Location: Colorado
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Re: Subwoofer Help

One thing to try first. Have you adjusted the phase? I think that sub has a phase adjustment. I would start with the sub more toward the front corner, though not equally distant from the two walls. So, say, 6 inches from the side wall and 18" from the front wall. Then adjust the phase 180 deg. See if that makes a noticeable difference.

EDIT: that sub does have a phase adjustment. Try the placement I recommended at both 0 and 180 deg phase. See if there is a noticeable difference between the two. The difference will be in certain low frequencies (not so much the lowest).

Also, you don't say how the system is configured. All speakers should be set to "Small" on the receiver. What crossover do you have set?


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#8
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6/18/08 at 10:36am
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Re: Subwoofer Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by DiegoD
I take it I would put the sub on the floor inplace of the sofa and crawl around? or would I put the sub on the sofa and crawl around?
The best way is to get the sub at ear level in your favorite seat and then crawl around with an SPL meter.

-Robert
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#9
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6/19/08 at 2:37pm
  • Joined: August 1999
  • Location: Katy, TX
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Re: Subwoofer Help
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiegoD
The problem I am having is that I can feel like bass durring movies etc but it does not have that booming sound it to.
It is more booming if you were to stand up then if you are sitting on the sofa.
This is actually a fairly common problem in rooms with "shoebox" dimensions like yours. Dead center of the room is a bass "dead zone," and bass levels increase as you move from that point towards any boundary. You can easily check it with a pink noise signal and SPL meter - you'll see the SPL level increase as you move from the room's center towards any boundary. That's why bass sounds stronger when you stand up - you're ears are closer to a boundary (the ceiling) than when sitting.

Probably not much you can do about it except turn up the sub so that it sounds right at the listening position. I would suggest downloading the free Room EQ Wizard software which will enable you to take a low frequency response reading of your room (much more accurate than crawling around on the floor ). Could be your sub could use some equalizing - most do.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
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