Noob question about SVS Subwoofer "click" (1 Viewer)

[Leon C]

Pardon my ignorance, but I have a SVS PC-Plus 16-46
and when I play movies with lots of loud bass, I
occasstionally get a loud click during the high
volume scenes. Is this the sub bottoming out? Do
I possibly have it hooked up wrong? It's not
like I am running my stereo really loud or anything
and it only happens during really loud bass, but
it concerns me. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[TimRP]

Where is the SS filter set to? Do you have any of the ports pluged?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

That's bottoming it sounds like. Have you calibrated and how is it placed and what kind of volume are you listening at and what kind of room space are you in?

Have you tried moving around the room to see what the bass response is like? you may be sitting in a null or something.

 

[Dan Halchak]

Yes, if it sounds like metal on metal "clack" type of sound you are definitely bottoming out the sub. You might be running it too hot, or you need another one (or bigger/better)!!!

 

[Leon C]

I'm not plugging any of the ports. The room is far from ideal -- maybe 15 wide by 25 long with openings into hallways, the kitchen, and a bedroom. The SVS is in the
closest thing I have to a corner (by the fireplace and a chair) since I have lots of wierd angles. I ran the Avia and HT Essentials setups with an SPL meter and balanced the other speakers and did what I could to balance the SVS with it. In general I run the overall volume at what I would consider a mid-level. I don't try to shake the windows or anything like that. I'm away from home right now, so I am drawing a blank on what the SS filter is, so I can't say what it is set to. The click doesn't really sound entirely like metal on metal -- more like a pop or like a wood on wood crack/clack. Would moving the sub make a difference if it was bottoming out or do I just need to lower the volume of it? I have the volume for it dialed down pretty low too -- maybe half way.

 

[ross ish]

If the sub is not corner loaded and the sub is driven hard, there is a chance of it bottoming. I had several high powered subs on the side walls and they all have bottomed out under some demanding scenes. Even if calibrated, there are some dvd out there that are mixed exceptionally hot and will bottom the sub. There is no consistency from dvd mfg in bass level outputs, which is very unnerving. What would work fine for one dvd would bottom out the sub in another.

 

[TimMc]

"Would moving the sub make a difference if it was bottoming out"

Yes, you need to move it to my house, where I will be very glad to perform an exhaustive and time-consuming (say, about 3 years of) analysis on your sub. And, I will do all of this at no charge to you!

And yes, if I were a betting kinda guy I'd say you're hitting hot spots in certain DVDs, and as some have hinted you're probably running your sub a little hot to start with, so that combination can sometimes make even an SVS go "whack". They are excellent units, but since you typically don't actually "hear" those lowest frequencies as much as feel them then sometimes the positioning of the sub can actually contribute to your cranking it a little "hot".

The real bottom line is that you probably do need to go through the whole placement & calibration exercise and then you'll rarely hear that "whack" again. And I can pretty much guarantee that you'll never hear it if you do agree to move that beast to our house...

 

[Ned]

I offer similar services to Tim except it will only take me 2 years.

The SS control is this:



If it's set to 12 or 16 try 20. If it's at 20 you could even try 25 although that would be slicing off a fair bit of the extension the 16-46 is designed for.

 

[Leon C]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I doubt that I will be moving it beyond the reaches of the room, but will try the
rest of the suggestions.

 

[Ronneil Camara]

How come, my PCI 20-39 doesn't have that SS filter knob. What is it use for though?

And also, you guys mentioned ports. What is ports? Sorry, I'm still learning HT.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ned]

The SubSonic filter is only on the + units. If you set it to 20hz it applies a 12 or 18db/octave slope (not sure which db on the SVS amp) below 20hz to reduce the amount of signal it gets. Generally you set a subsonic filter just below the tune point of your sub. Below the tune frequency the excursion of the driver skews upwards VERY fast and it will bottom out fairly easily. Equalizers like the ART351 have a subsonic filter too.

 

[Joey_V]

neil,
these ss filters and multiple ports (holes on top) are only present in the + subs and the ultra subs... not in the pci.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Neil,

Joey and Ned both nailed it but I'd like to add that your PCi has both a port (one very wide flare 4" port on top, which allows the subwoofer to "breathe") AND a subsonic filter that is optimized for your 20-39PCi subwoofer.

It's just not adjustable for the customer. We come up with what we think is the perfect blend of "extension" (how deep your subwoofer plays) and "output" (how loud it goes) and leave it that way. It's sort of a "plug and play" approach to subwoofers, even though there are still other controls you can play with.

Variable tuning just changes those two things (extension and output) and once you set it, most people don't mess with it all that much.

Hope that helps some.

Ron