My Listening room

steveinaz

How's this proposed placement of an SVS 25-31 PC+ look?

Dr. Spec

That's sure where I'd start. Corner loaded and close to the front stage. Perfect for music applications.

Mess with the phase control as discussed in MP's thread and see if you can get a nice looking and relatively flat curve in the 30-100 Hz region with good transition to the mains.

Below 30 Hz, you will likely start seeing some room gain, but it will be too low to affect the SQ on nearly all music. If anything, it will enhance your perception of the really deep stuff because the human ear is less sensitive to really low frequencies. That's what a house curve is all about, really.

Because SVS tunes its subs to be flat ground plane, you almost always get a nice looking house curve as an added free benefit.

Are you still considering the 20-39PC+, or are you set on the 25-31PC+?

steveinaz

I just ordered the 25-31 PC Plus. I sent this off to SVS as well, Tom said my room and placement looked ideal.

I'll probably be bugging the hell out of you in about a week, thanks alot for you patience!

I'll be running a Monster interconnect from my Parasound HCA-1500A "looping outputs" to the subs line in jacks. What would good basic start-up settings be on the plate amp, given my main speakers are Athena towers? (35-20kHz +/-3dB)

Dr. Spec

Are you going to be running the Athena's on full range? Or does the pre/pro have a digital BM circuit?

Like with my 3803, I can go 40, 60, 80, 100, or 120 for the xo with the digital BM circuit.

The plate amp will have a 1st order fixed high pass at 100 Hz (IIRC), and a 2nd order variable low pass.

If the Athena's are being run full range, you really need to be able to run an FR sweep in the room to pick the best low pass setting on the SVS.

It's a shot in the dark, otherwise. With that said, 40 Hz for the SVS low pass might not be a bad starting point.

The phase control will be critical too, for blending with the mains, particularly if they will be allowed to play down deep on full range; cancellation and room modes could otherwise be problematic with three sources of deep bass up front.

steveinaz

My plan was to run the Athena's full range and use the SVS to dig the 20Hz-40Hz signals up. My system is entirely 2-channel. I'm a music 90% of time, movies 10% of the time kinda guy. I really want the sub optimized for music.

Does this help any?

Ceruleance

you'll need a crossover between the sub and the mains or else you will have overlapping frequency responses that produce a hump in your total FR. Unless somehow you dial it in so that the LPF on the PC+ exactly corresponds with the rolloff from your mains...

The PC+ should have a pair of high passed RCA outs. Run your signal from the anthem, through the PC+ and then into the parasound.

You're lucky you bought an active sub, otherwise you would have to buy an external crossover like I did.

Dr. Spec

Unless somehow you dial it in so that the LPF on the PC+ exactly corresponds with the rolloff from your mains...

Yes - he needs FR sweep capability. I could pick the optimum LPF setting in about 5 minutes with the test rig; it will take him much longer manually with test tones, but it can be done.

The high pass out from the SVS will be fixed at 100 Hz. I would avoid using the SVS plate amp as an xo - only use the LPF to prevent overlap with the mains.

It would be really nice if more two channel stuff had digital BM. You could of course get an ICBM and pick whatever xo you want like Ceruleance did.

In the end your ears will be all that matters, but if you are anal (like me), you'll spend the time to find the optimum LPF setting. Ditto for the calibration level. Just bring up the gain on the SVS until it blends well and fills in the bottom without being obtrusive.

steveinaz

Ok, will do. I had a feeling this was going to boil down to the 'ol ear method of dialing in. I am SERIOUSLY anal about my music, don't really care too much about movie sound, so I'll definitely fiddle with the various settings and see how it all pans out.

My goal here is to coax some that "gut rumbling" bass out of my system. The Athena's go pretty low, but just don't raise the hairs on the back of my neck like some previous speakers I've owned. Hopefully I took the right approach by ordering the SVS. The Athena's are notably "warm" in the mid-bass region, so I'm going to try to optimize for the lowest bass tones, while affecting the mid-band as little as possible.

The room I have now is twice the depth of my previous family room, and I think thats why my bass has "flattened-out" (for lack of a better word) since moving to the new house. I also had both speakers in corners, where now the right side is open to a foyer leading to the front door. From what I've read here, it looks like the combo of smaller room/corner reinforcement was really helping the Athena's show-off their bass capabilities....or maybe the room's capabilities?

Dr. Spec

Sure, a smaller room will have more room gain and it will occur sooner. The SVS should have no problems owning that room for music.

FYI, you can't go any lower than 40 Hz on the low pass with the SVS, so hopefully that's deep enough (should be). I doubt the Athena's will dig strong to much below 40 Hz at real world volumes in that size room. You just might get lucky!

steveinaz

The Athena's really sound "bass-shy" in there, I think the SVS will rock....if not there is always the 45 day return policy.

HBombToo

Originally posted by steveinaz
The Athena's really sound "bass-shy" in there, I think the SVS will rock....if not there is always the 45 day return policy.

I'll bet a six pack of Jenny that you will be very impressed. I have tried listening to my SACD and DVD-A stuff without my SVS and its just not the same.

HBomb