Help with my PB1-ISD!! (1 Viewer)

[Quinn]

Hello all,

I received my new SVS today and ran a quick calibration. I have listened to the pod race from SW1 and have to say the amount of low end bass is unreal. The low end grumble is vastly superior to my old sub. However, I am longing for more of a kick in the gut/chest feeling. I figured I would experience more. Does this scene tend to lack what I am looking for or am I missing something? Also, this unit is upstairs and my wife is none to pleased how it vibrates everything upstairs! Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Quinn

 

[Quinn]

I just put in scene 25 from Finding Nemo (Darla!). I really didn't hear a ton of bass, yet everything on the walls sounded like they wanted to come down. As if it was way too much bass. Although I felt the bass, it wasn't a kick to the chest. It was just massive vibration. Help??!!

Also, when listening to the "THX" theme at the start of SW1 and the portion where the little robot with the can comes before the cows rumble through, there is NO sub up until the cows come through. Then it is entirely too much vibration and no clear hit of bass.

Clearly I am doing something wrong. I just don't know what. Yes, it is positioned in a corner. However, I don't think anything on my walls will survive and I am not getting the clean hit of bass I thought I would.

Sorry for the confusion in my complaint, I just hope someone can help me out.

Thanks again.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Welcome to the insomniac's club.

You mentioned a "quick calibration." If you have the Radio Shack SPL meter, ensure that you keep in mind that for this meter, the low frequency trackings are slightly off and you'll need to reference the correction table at the SVS Web site.

If you suspect something is wrong, you'll more than likely resolve the issue via a proper calibration. Also, it appears that you've done some work with trying the sub placement by corner-loading the sub.


I'm not sure you'll fully get away from this issue. Most of us with properly calibrated subs tend to disturb others in other rooms, unless the room we are using the sub in has been properly insulated acoustically.

However, I do have one thing you could check. Regarding your receiver, where is the crossover set to? Also, which main and center speakers are you using? This will tell us a bit more in regards to the crossover point that should be using.

I kind of suspect the crossover might be set a bit high - sending too much bass to the sub.

Just my .02, but without some more details it's hard to pinpoint the true issues.

 

[Charles Gurganus]

Quinn, the phase position can make a difference as well. Also, make sure you have the right frequency selected for the port setup you are using. With poor eyesight and reading some of those controls upside down in low light, it is easy to have something off like using the wrong port/frequency combination......

 

[Sheldon C]

Yeah, I have resigned myself to the fact that my sub will never give me that hit in the chest feeling. I think you would have to have a boomy sub that has the eq pumped way up in the 70 hz region.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Quinn,

I sent a note containing the below to you:

You are using a Dolby Digital receiver? Are you using a single fiber optic, or RCA cable to hook up the audio? This sounds like a setup issue. Things to check right away.

1.) Subwoofer’s Crossover knob is “Disabled”.

2.) Receiver’s setup menu has ALL speakers set to “Small”. Crossover to 80Hz if adjustable.

3.) Look to see (some do some don’t) if your receiver has an option for sending “LFE to Mains + Sub”. You do NOT want this. LFE to Sub only.

4.) See if your receiver has a “LFE Trim” or anything else that might be a “peak limiter”. Turn it off or to its highest (lease effective) level. Turn off “Midnight Mode” or “Compression” (it will have one, they are called different things).

5.) Look at ALL the menu options of your DVD player. Your digital audio output MUST be set to “BITSTREAM”, not “PCM”. Make sure you don’t have any dynamic range compression switched on in the player.

6.) Try another location for the sub. Subs are very VERY placement dependent. You could be sitting in a spot where you are getting lots and I mean LOTS of cancellation.

7.) Make sure you are using ONLY “Dolby Digital” as your playback mode for now. No “THX Movie Mode” or similar “sound field processing” scheme.

9.) AFTER all the above is checked (only change one thing at a time unless you find something clearly wrong) try adjusting phase in one hash mark increments. Usually phase has little effect unless you are running your mains as large, or have another subwoofer.

10.) Give the sub some time, mostly for your ears to adjust. If you didn’t have a sub you are perhaps still getting used to how it should sound (if nothing is wrong with setup). And don’t forget sound can change WILDLY depending on the source you are playing. Do not hesitate to vary the subwoofer level control. It should be up around ½ to 1/3 of its range, the receiver’s subwoofer level control should be about in its first 1/3 of ITS range. Beg, borrow or steal Avia and recalibrate (DVE is questionable and receiver test tones frequently aren’t much better). Finally, look over this page for something else I might have missed:

http://www.svsubwoofers.com/faq.htm#meter

Drop us a line if none of these things seem to help much.

Ron

 

[Quinn]

I am running Paradigm Titans as my mains and CC-170 as the center. I have left the crossover on the sub alone as the SVS guide stated this will not have any effect since the receiver is sending the LFE to the sub only. I do not know where the crossover is set in the receiver as it is a receiver leftover from my old Kenwood HT in a box (VR-507 I believe). I have tried phase all the way down and set to 180 as well. No difference that I could tell.

Ron, I am using a fiber optic from the DVD to receiver and the DVD is set as you suggest.

 

[Mike SJ]

...

 

[Quinn]

I guess I get a bit caught up in all of the reviews, etc. and expect a "kick in the chest" (whether I should or not). As I said, in the Darla scene, it was very low rumble. However, this rumble wanted to knock everything off the walls (however, that is expected). My problem with that is I didn't "hear" alot of bass. Mostly felt it. I could hear everything in the room rattling. I assumed I would hear bass over everythign rattling.

I had a small 8in powered Kenwood that came in my HT in a box a few years ago. I could "hear" the bass from that more. I assume because it was boomy and could not go low.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Quinn,

I responded to your e-mail.

It's hard to cycle back and forth but I found what I think could be the issue.

Let me know in e-mail what you find if you don't mind.

Ron

 

[Mike SJ]

...

 

[John Tami]

Quinn...at those low freq's you much more feel then hear the bass. My walls/windows/cabinets/even foundation often shake in such scenes. (20-39PCi in a decent sized room) Many that have moved from a HTB Sub "miss" the sound that they were used too at first when they get a new SVS or HSU. Give it 2 weeks.....even try unplugging it for awhile then plug it back in. You'll start to notice it for sure. Try some good classical tracks (low Chello and Bass sound awesome on mine) and you hear bass that you never heard before....

 

[Todd_P]

Have you listened from other areas of the room or adjacent rooms? My room has a bass void near the center of the room where (I presume) the sound waves cancel out. If I step back a foot or two, bass is restored. Step back in the center and bass is nearly non-existent. If I stand in the corner of the room, the bass is almost unbearably loud.

 

[Quinn]

Well, I moved the sub into a different corner (only other one available, behind my RPTV) and it sounds a TON better. I can hear the bass better and it shakes the pictures, etc. on the wall less (although it doesn't give anything up on shaking the couch...but that I like!). From here, I need to order Avia and tweak it. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

 

[Ernesto_G+]

I also Crave the kick in the chest feeling when watching movies/music but all I get with my sub(pb2 plus) is walls shaking. Im hoping the reciever is the problem and buying the outlaw combo soon and hoping that will fix the problem. My sub sounds good with music im not too into but with rap(what I really like) the bass sounds flat. Also country grammer(nelly) I thought I would hear tons of bass with that song but Ill I heard Was flat bass. Maybe im just used to boomy bass but I miss that. Oh Last time I heard That Chest Kicking bass was at well the Movie theater and At a concert.

 

[Matt_Smi]

I know just what you mean, I used to have a Sony SAWM-40 and it put out bass that was much too boomy for HT use IMO, but for music (I listen to rap as well) I actually did not mind its boomy-ness, except when you turned up the volume too loud, then it fell on its face. My new sub an HSU STF-2 sounds much better for movies and does not get boomy at all, I also feel all the impacts, punches, explosions better. For movies the HSU’s gain is fine at around 10:30-11 o clock, but for rap music at moderate volume I like to turn the level on the sub up to around 1 o clock. I find that it sounds very good like this for rap music, it still gives me a nice much tighter and more defined “boom” than my old Sony. My STF-2 gives me bass that I can feel much more than the old Sony did, I would not say that I can necessarily feel it in my stomach like a fireworks show, but I can feel my pants move at times, and since the sub is right behind a chair in my room I get a nice feeling in my back esp. when listening to rap music. I know what you mean about flat though, but I find that it blends much better with my other speakers like this and sounds more natural than my Sony ever did. It is hard to adjust to flat non-boomy bass though, I was used to my car stereo (just one 10” with 150 watts) so it was hard for me to like the HSU, but now I like my HSU more and more and my car stereo less and less. Anyway I don’t know how long you have had your PB2 plus, but I would give it some time for you to adjust. Also some of my friends are not that impressed with my HSU (for music) and don’t think that it was that big of an upgrade over my Sony, but I guess that they just dont really care about SQ and only bass, they do agree that it goes much lower and sounds much tighter though. Anyway I don’t really care what they think since I am happy with it, esp. since I am selling my Sony for $100.

 

[WayneO]

Funny you mention that song because that one really pounds in my system(PB2+) compared to other songs and I run a flat calibration. Really sounds like it could be in a better spot whether you can move it or not.

 

[Jeffrey R]

Quinn, I hope you continue to figure out what may be causing your issue. I can vouch though that this is certainly not a general PB1 issue. My PB1-ISD performs as any other SVS does, and lives up to the SVS name.

In terms of the Darla scene, I'm not sure what to make of Quinn's description. I have played that scene for countless people in my apartment, and it always draws big grins and oohs and ahs. When you say you can feel it but not hear it, that makes it sound like one of those low test tones where your room shakes but you don't hear anything. As others who have heard the Darla scene can vouch, that is not the case, as you feel it, but you can certainly also hear it. If I had to describe it, it's a very loud "doing, doing, doing...". Comes through loud and clear on the PB1.

Anyway, hope you figure it out and come to really enjoy the SVS. Good luck.

 

[Sami Kallio]

I finally got all the (major) issues solved on my system and the sound is completely changed now. Playing that Darla scene again I can now hear what the fuss was all about. While it isn't a kick in the chest, you know/hear/feel there is a lot of deep bass in there the way air is moving. I think it is either your configuration, or it could be that you are expecting something else.

Sub is SVS as well, 16-46PCi.

 

[Matt_Smi]

Yes you should be able to feel and hear the Darla scene, the scene does rattle a lot of things in my room, but I can certainly still hear it. It really makes you feel like you are in that fish tank!