Disappointment with BFD setup (1 Viewer)

[RichardHOS]

:frowning:

Got the shiny new BFD, hooked it into the system, burned some test tones to CD for an initial rough setup and get used to how the BFD works, broke out the RatShack SPL meter, again for rough setup and experimentation, set initial approximate input/output gains, popped in the test CD, started track one, and almost immediately was extremely disappointed...

Everything in my room rattled like mad, and within just a few seconds I got a knock on the door - my first knock on the door from the nice people upstairs.

Looks like sub calibration is going to take some good timing and a few packs of chewing gum.

I didn't think my poor tiny little FSR-10 would bother pictures or people very much. Good thing the 8 AV-15's will go into the new house (under construction) which for a while will have no immediate neighbors. :b

 

[Brian Henchey]

Hey Richard,

Make sure that you've got your volume *much* lower than your average listening volume in DD/DTS. For instance, I watch movies at -25, but work with the BFD at -45--those sine tones can be murder on your sub's voice coil! Try to let them play just long enough to get the SPL reading, then hit "pause" and wait a couple seconds before moving onto the next track.

Don't get discouraged. With the BFD, patience is the name of the game. Play with it for a weekend by setting some filters, then think about it for a couple days, set some more, etc. Eventually, you'll be able to come up with a plan of attack for *your* room that won't take too long to setup and verify.

For some reason, 40hz is my magic frequency--even at a lowered volume, stuff just starts rattling and buzzing like crazy.

Hope this helps,
Brian

 

[Bill Polley]

Also, remember that the Rat shack meter does not read a flat zero across the board. You must use correction figures. If you adjust so that the meter always reads "0", you will be running 20db hot at the lower limits of your sub.

look here:

http://www.danmarx.org/audioinnovation/rsmeter.html

 

[RichardHOS]

I downloaded the excel spreadsheet with the RatShack correction figures, but I'll only use the SPL meter for getting use to the BFD. I have some quality gear I use for occasional recording (including ECM8000, dbx preamp and ADC, M-Audio DiO 2496 soundcard) that I'll use when I get serious about it.

Actually, I probably won't even bother setting up the mic and ETF/TrueRTA for my current sub. I'll move at Christmas and implement a serious system overhaul, so my goal for now is just to get familiar with the BFD.

I think I'll have to do my playing at lunch or on the weekends when the neighbors aren't home. Those long sustained tones even bother me.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

RHOS- Stick with it. It does take a little bit of time to get the BFD "tuned in" right. The process gets much faster using a PC with ETF rather than CD test tones. I know, I've done it successfully both ways.

 

[RichardHOS]

I'm just ticked that I have a new toy and won't be able to really play with it for... I don't know, several days I guess.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Unfortunately, I found the BFD to be a device that you actually have to read the manual to use it. But it's not a half bad read though either!