Different sub levels for movies and music?

PrazVT

So I've been quite averse to using my sub for music - I run the receiver on pure direct and let the A21 and RTi A7s do all the work. I've been reading up on bass management (awesome link that was posted in another thread) and managed to improve the bass response on my PSW-505 for 5.1 content.

The Denon 3311 has a dedicated 2 ch stereo menu, where you can set 2 channel or 2.1 channel (including crossover, levels, and bass mode).

I've noticed that if I set:
- bass mode: LFE (as opposed to LFE + main)
- speaker: small
- crossover: 60 Hz
- sub level: 2.5 (audyssey level for movies - which is perfect when I'm watching movies)
- (sub level on back is at midpoint)

The bass level is pretty low when playing music, from a volume perspective. I have to set the 2ch sub level up to +8 or more for music to sound right. But that bugs me b/c it's all subjective and not natural sounding.

My question - why is there such a difference b/t music and movies w/ the sub? Is it normal that for 2 ch content, one has to ratchet up the sub gain? My imagination?

Sub is positioned at an angle facing toward the listening area and is positioned about 6 inches to the left of the FL speaker.

Any suggestions, links, etc would be great! My cousin just ordered an Epik Legend for his new setup (which I posted about a while back - thx for the help there) so today I was reading up on bass management and whatnot. So started tinkering with the sub settings.

Thanks!

- Praz.

cnh

That's a bit 'reversed' from my experience? I find my sub likes to be at about 6+ on movies and backed down to 2 or 3+ on music. I'm using an Onkyo 805 though? And a Boston sub with specs just a tad 'lower' than the 505 (25hz low)!

But yes. I do find that sub levels for 'music' and 'movies' are often a little different in my experience.

cnh

PrazVT

Yeah I've seen claims of the situation both ways. It's a little perplexing to me. But since my Denon has the ability to have different sub / crossover settings for 2 ch music, I'd like to set it up in a logical way.

I guess I should pick up a sound meter and try some of the techniques for sub calibration / placement. I'm going to read up on all the bass management and the Audyssey features too - b/c there are a number of options in the receiver that I'm not entirely clear on.

I think Audyssey does a good job calibrating the sub for TV/movie watching (esp after fixing things last night) - but for music, it's just too low (unless I turn the volume up to the low 20s on the receiver).

The A7s in pure direct sound better than w/ the sub unless I ratchet up the LFE level to + 12.0.

samnor

agree with cnh. In my case, I also set the sub lower in volume for music otherwise the sub bass starts to dominate. My recommendation is to get one of those dvd's that put out 5.1 test noise sounds and calibrate using an spl meter. You may get quite different settings from what audyssey puts out. and that might be your sweet spot for both music and movies.

rubin

Remember, there is more L/F "SUBWOOFER" content in movies than in music. In 2 ch listening, I turn up the sub gain also because the subwoofer can't reproduce the lowest freq., that's just not present in most music. True subwoofers work best when there is a lot of L/F (movies).

The lack of it in music causes me to turn it up.