Speaker Tweaking (1 Viewer)

[wiredhernandez]

Well I completed my new speaker installation a couple of days ago as all Athena in wall/ceiling. With complimentary center and subwoofer. I am absolutely pleased with the the mid and high quality I am receiving from the front AS-IW6 speakers and AS-C1.2 center. I have been making adjustments to my receiver for speaker distances and such. I am kinda on the fence regarding ym subwoofer AS-P4100. I suppose that all my speakers are not broken in yet but I will listen to bassy sounds and tune OK .. Then another song or two and doesnt sound so great. Never owned a seprate sub before and I think it kind of annoying to have to manually adjust the volume on the speaker.

So .. without going into specifics regarding 5.1 surround which isnt as great as I had hoped ... Sounds pretty good with receiver in direct mode. Does this just mean that I need to keep tuning or break in .. Or is my Kenwood receiver or subwoofer just not that great?

 

[Greg Gable]

You just are not going to get the sound of a good bookshelf or tower using in-walls or inceilings unless you spend a lot of money. That being said; a good sub will make a lot of difference here. Provide the size of your room and budget and we can guide you to the proper sub. Once you get a good sub then calibrate it with a test disc and SPL meter and you never have to touch it again.

 

[wiredhernandez]

Thanks for the response. Understanding that "good sound" is relative. I am very happy with the aethena performance. I have tweaked the AS-P4100 to match my wall speakers and it sounds pretty good. What I do have an issue with is that I am running the sub volume ~5-6 on a 0-10 range.

Some songs with really low bass tones will make the sub buzz (it is the sub nothing around). ie Cake - Take it all away.

Sometimes it just doesnt sound right when listening to music at a lower volume level (bass sounds little broken) if I increase the stereo volume it sounds great.

There are alot of hex screwes but I dont think I should have to hand crank anything to fix buzz. Also one of the feet is defective (looks malformed from the factory) .. Point is .. I am unsure as to just RMA for physical defect or return the sub as this is my only issue with new setup. (max budget for sub 500 if I have to return -pref used and nice)


Last question. I listed to music via my roku soundbridge M2000 into my receiver. I would like to leave my amp volume alone at say level 10 and use the volume on my Roku. Sounds good loud but when I start getting past 25 on receiver I start hearing a low hiss through speakers (when no audio) and dont like that. Is that noise from receiver and would I benefit from upgrading that too.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[JeremyErwin]

Are you using spdif/toslink?

 

[wiredhernandez]

I am connecting the Roku via RCA which I suppose is spdif rather than optical. (Lack of multiple optical inputs on receiver.) I may play with the settings and max the soundbridge volume and remap the receiver volume so that is used exclusively. If I was reading that info right I should not be affected by the bit trimming? I hope sticking with receiver vol will be good fix for the hiss... Thanks for the info Jeremy.

 

[LanceJ]

This most probably has to do with the fact that human ears are less sensitive to low bass - and upper treble - at lower volume levels vs. higher volume levels. So calibrating a sub, no matter how accurately it is done, will have no effect on this physiological condition unless you always listen to your system at the same volume level it was calibrated at.

This exact scenario is why I've complained about the lack of loudness systems on most receivers the past decade: this useful system automatically & progessively boosts bass as volume is reduced (really cheap versions, like on some $100 home minisystems & cheap car decks, don't do it progressively though, giving all loudness buttons a bad rep :frowning. While purist audiophiles may complain about loudness systems causing music to be corrupted because of their potential for added distortion (ignoring the fact it appears in tiny/inaudible quantities), if you can't hear all the frequencies at their proper levels all the time, that condition is definitely a corruption of the music.

For more on this, do a search on "Fletcher/Munson Curve".

BTW: I see a lot of new speakers with loose mounting hardware, probably because of ultra-fast-paced & stressful work environments where workers cannot always perform their jobs in the best manner.

 

[wiredhernandez]

OK.. so I have been tweaking bass settings etc and I think I am just not satisfied with the AS-P4100 and will probably return it unless there I just run across some major tweak find this weekend.

I have been looking at the SVS PB10-NSD which has great reviews and I would squeeze out in my budget. Only issue .. My wife hates looking at the existing sub and there is no other good place to put it. Is there any sub which is in the same price range with a wood finish to help mask appearance? I have checked HSU / SVS but for wood its ~700+ rather than sub 500 ..

Asking alot I know but on the off chance.. Thanks