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sub set at 0 and only turned on 3/10 on sub, still at 85DB's, help (1 Viewer)

Dustin Wind

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
158
Ok,
If this is confusing i'm sorry.

I'm running a Kardon 325 and a velodyne 10". I really don't feel the bass is very good. It feels just like my old $200 Yamaha, anyways....

I have the sub set at 80HZ on the kardon receiver.

On the sub itself i have i set at "direct" and i turned the x-over all the way to 120HZ.

I have the phase at 0 instead of 180.

The subs volume is set at 0 on the receiver.
I only have the volume knob on the set at #3 out of 10 and on my Rad shack meter it reads 88DB's.
If i turn the volume knob all the way down to almost 0 then it can get it at the 80DB its suppose to be.

Whats going on? Shouldn't i be able to turn the sub up more than that? I'm afraid the "auto" feature may not come on because the volume is set so low.

Now my second problem also is the bass doesn't sound good and loud.
At 80DB i can hardley notice its there. I turned it up to 85-90DB and it sounds a little better....but it still sounds terrible.
Anyone know what i can do?

Thanks guys.
 

PaulT

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 28, 2002
Messages
932
What are you using as a source for your test signal and what type of signal?

What are the speaker settings on your receiver (small, large)?

Is your Meter set to 'C' weighted?

You should be getting some good bass from the Velo, it looks like your setting described above are fine. The volume on the sub should not affect the 'auto on', but the signal level coming from the receiver will - your 0 setting there should be a good start.
 

Gary G

Auditioning
Joined
Aug 23, 2003
Messages
9
i also have the velo 10"..and i have the same dilema as you...i ended up setting my reciever at 0..and put my sub volume at just below half...i tried Avia, and the recievers test tones...if i set the sub to match on avia i ended up turning the sub to 0 more or less...it sounds good the way i have it for movies...i just back down the sub for music
 

DavidVT

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 7, 2003
Messages
182
Did you try turning up the sub via the receiver?

What type of sound did you receive when you did this, reason I ask is because alot of folks run the sub 2-6db hot in their receiver set up.

Remember just because what most folks perceive as reference, even when properly calibrated, your personal tastes my lean more towards the lower frequencies as do mine.

I run my twin SVS at +3 in my receiver setup, all the other speakers at or around 0.
 

Bill_Wil

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 26, 2003
Messages
165
Dustin,
I have found, and I've also read, that calibrating the sub with an SPL meter can be difficult because the sub will give higher readings than the rest of the speakers even when its turned way down. I think the best thing to do with the sub is to adjust it as best you can by ear. One thing you might also want to try is moving the sub around to different locations to see if you can get the sound you like.
 

Dustin Wind

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
158
I use the new video essentials to calibrate.
C weight and slow read.


All speakers are set to small and 80HZ.

I have JBL N310II as the 2 front, N-center and N26 and N24's for the surround and back.

It just really doesn't sound that good....yes i have tried moving the sub and still the same results...no chest pounding bass.
 

Steve Schaffer

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 15, 1999
Messages
3,756
Real Name
Steve Schaffer
Dustin,

Few of us will admit it, but setting the sub to give the same meter readings as the other speakers usually just isn't enough bass, even though it's technically "correct".

I usually set mine at least 6db higher, sometimes as much as 10db. You can do this either with the sub level control on your receiver or with the volume knob on the sub. On some subs the auto-on feature won't work reliably if the level on the receiver is too low, so I set the level on the receiver such that the auto-on works reliably then use the volume knob on the sub for fine tuning.

I get the most effective results for most action films if the sub test tones give about a 6-10db higher reading than the regular speaker tones.
 

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