PSW 440 pro placement help

shweetpickens

Hi guys, this is my first post as I am new to the forum. I just completed my brand new surround setup with polk RTI A3 fronts, CSI3 center, TL3 blackstone rears, and a psw440 8" sub. All of this replaced an old bose acoustimass setup.

I am surprised that I am not hearing more bass from my sub or notice it when I turn the sub off/on during music listening. Obviously there was a larger contrast when I did this with the bose and its tiny front drivers vs my present 6.5inch bookshelf drivers, but I still expected more.

I started the sub in the front corner where the bose used to be and played with all of the phase and crossover settings. Then I moved it to the side wall next to my couch arm and it seems slightly better. I hear good bass on the back wall and back corner, but it drastically trails off when I move my head forward about 3 feet to where it is over the couch. I do not want to move the couch since the apartment living room, although larger, is not huge.

Am I doomed to not hear loud output since the couch is not ON a wall? It is about 3 feet from any wall almost but not quite in the center of the room. Any help would be much appreciated. I would play with more sub positions but am unsure it will matter if my head is not near a wall.....

shweetpickens

Also, the three fronts and center are set to large and I have already ran the yamaha ypao setup. I do not like the sound I hear when I set everything to small and let the sub do all the work. This is probably due to the fact that I am not hearing all of what the sub is playing....

mdaudioguy

Welcome! Bass can be like that. Low frequency sound waves are physically longer, and therefore prone to naturally occurring null spots, depending on placement and room dimensions. It gets increasing difficult to place a single sub in a room and have it sound good in multiple seating positions.

You may want to try the "sub crawl" method. Place the sub in your listening position (seriously, on the couch), and play a track with steady bass. Then, crawl around your room, and locate the place(s) with the best sounding bass. That will be an optimal location for your sub. If you create a map of your room, you can even move the sub to other seating locations and repeat the process. Look for places where the "good" zones overlap. It's a crude, but effective process, and you'll learn a lot about your room. Another option is to buy a second sub to even things out.

Also, keep playing with crossovers, small/large settings, and the "double" bass option. You'll find an optimal solution eventually. Some rooms just take more effort to get it right.

shweetpickens

Thanks for the reply. Im starting to think the only way to fix this is to move my couch closer to the wall...

Willow

Perhaps we the 8" is too small for your room. What size is the room?
As per THX, the ideal settings are small and xover at 80. How is the sub connected to your avr?
Next, what are your dials on the back of the sub set to?

shweetpickens

Not sure of the room size but its an above average sized apartment. I cannot turn the bass up all the way as it will be too loud for my neighbors. The bass gets plenty loud in certain corners or the room. I guess I have never experienced any home stereo system that has great bass in the middle of a room...

Crossed over at 150. Tried it lower and it doesn't sound better. Technically it's getting double crossed over since the receiver crosses over at 100 so that's why I have it so high. I've tried setting my bookshelves to small but all it does is decrease the bass output my ears can hear. Bass just plain sounds better when my fronts are set to large

Willow

is it hooked up with a subwoofer cable or speaker cables? so plugged in the LFE or via speaker cables.

shweetpickens

Oh sorry yea its plugged into lfe from the sub out

shweetpickens

RCA sub cable. Single

shweetpickens

shweetpickens

Tried to give a visual of my room. Sorry for poor pic. Sub used to be in corner next to right bookshelf speaker as pictured but seems to sound better next to couch currently although it tons better. Sounds great standing behind couch lol

shweetpickens

Although NOT tons better

Willow

I'd really try again in that same corner, front right. With mains set to small and xover at 80. Judging by the remote you have a Yamaha... I'd run the YPAO again, ensuring they stick to small and maybe bump up the sub a couple notches. When running the calibration, set your sub level to 3/4 the way up. Live with it for a day and see. Also seeing you live in an app, you wouldn't want too much bass. do you have the sub on "on" or "auto"?

Willow

I'm saying all this because back in the day I went from Bose to rti4s and 10" polk sub and there was plenty of bass. (sure not all that I wanted but at the time we were in a condo)

shweetpickens

Great thanks. Yea ill try that. I went from Bose am15 to my current setup and its much better. I'll run it like you said and see if I can't get better results again. Sub is set to auto. Yes it's a Yamaha a1040 running everything

Willow

You might also want to try the sub in the front left, I know it's not idea, but you may have to move everything down a tad, unless the sub fits under that end table/ speaker stand. During your calibration, you did ensure to allow a sub, correct?

shweetpickens

Yes sir

Willow

ok good, just making sure. Sometimes we get excited and connect things or don't fully do it right the first time because we just want to see/ hear it.
Also got me thinking, when you say you're not getting enough bass, what are you listening to? movie/ tv or music? and what setting do you have your yammy on?
For music if you listen in 2ch and have the mains set to large it might not be sending any info to your sub.
Perhaps the source you were listening/viewing didn't have lots of bass.

shweetpickens

I generally test the bass with music although 70% of the actual listening is video games and movies. Overall I am happy with my new system and the bass doesn't sound bad.. I just expected more of a difference when I listed to something and play with the sub's off/on switch. I realize part of the reason I don't hear a dramatic diff is because I went from tiny satellites to larger bookshelf speakers.

At the end of the day though, the bass is GREAT....in certain corners....and is about half volume when I move my head toward the couch.

I'm certain the sub is on because I can feel it with my fingers. As far as I know having the fronts set to LARGE doesn't turn the sub off.... It is lit up on the receiver display and vibrates my fingers when I touch it.

The sub volume is at 30 out of 40 on the sub itself. The volume on the receiver is essentially neutral or 0. I like the "bass" tone control at 1.5 out of 6. I can get more volume out of the sub when I increase the sub level, but I don't since it makes the bass so loud in the corners that I'm sure my neighbors will hear it...

With my old bose setup I could certainly hear the sub in the corner, but I won't say it was louder than the current one and I know I never paid much attention to whether or not it was louder in a corner. I also know that turning it off made a huge difference since the tiny satellites produce no bass. So maybe I should just be happy with what I have...

Willow

Maybe you're not hearing over inflated loose bass that came from your Bose. You're hearing more controlled bass. Another thing to keep in mind is that the bass from bose also included the mids. The satellite speakers have zero mids. Did you try the left hand side of your room, I know not ideal in terms of placement....

shweetpickens

Yea that's true. I'll try it soon when I get a chance to move everything around. I'll keep ya posted on any difference