Greg_Hammond

Subwoofer advice needed.

I finally have my home theatre put together, and I have been enjoying myself immensely! One area of disappointment is my current subwoofer - it is an older Mirage PS-10, that I have owned for 8+ years. It provided plenty of bass for my former HT, but my new room seems to present more of a challenge for the sub.

My room is 20x14x8 feet, and is mostly carpet over concrete, and drywall over thin metal studs over concrete block, with the exception of the front wall that is drywall on wooden studs. The ceiling is drywall on wooden joists.

Everything in the HT is brand-new electronic wise, with the exception of the subwoofer: Polk RTi10 Fronts, CSi3 Center, RTi4 Surrounds, and RTi4 Backs, driven by a Yamaha RX-V2500 receiver in a 7.1 configuration.

I ran the YPAO auto-configuration on my receiver, and it set my subwoofer at -7.5 dB @ 90 Hz crossover, which tells me that the sub must be "loud" enough to satisfy the reference volume requirement for the room.

I feel like I'm lacking the "punch" I want in the room. I suspect this is because of the concrete floor. The sub has been moved around the room a bit, from the center, to the side, and finally it's in the corner of the room right now.


Will moving to a larger or different subwoofer help my situation? I'm not looking for boomy, but I want to get that "chest thumping bass" that accompanies the car crashes, tornado destruction, and explosions I see on the big screen.

Raised wooden flooring isn't really an option at the moment.

Ideas?

Greg Hammond

Charlie Campisi

First off, welcome to the forum bro!
Secondly, you will buy a new sub. It's what HT enthusiasts do. But before you do, you should try retuning your current sub. Aside from moving it around, turn that bad boy up a bit! If you find you can't get the volume/impact you want, then you will be shopping with a better idea of what you need based on where your existing sub failed. Even when you get the correct sub for your room (and maybe you already have it) you have to "season to taste." When your sub can't match up to the rest of the system when it is, to quote Spinal Tap, "turned up to 11" then you should buy a new sub. But don't go shopping before you've convinced yourself that your existing sub is not up to the task. The auto config is nice, but it can't know what your ears like. When you do go to buy a new sub, audition a few including what your local brick and mortar stores have to offer, and then the SVS or HSU's in your price range. Good luck!

John Garcia

What's the price range?


Loud and LOW are two different things, as are "thump" and truly clean, articulate bass. Nearly all decent subs will get loud, but not all of them sound good while they're doing it.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

Charlie Campisi

I agree with you 100% John, but shouldn't he try adjusting his own sub first rather than relying on the receiver to tell him how it should sound?