Listening to music just with Sub experiment

Ern Dog

Last night I tried an experiment to hear what my sub sounds like with all the other speakers off while listening to some bassy music. I did this by switching to 2 channel + sub, then unplugged the two fronts.

The first thing I noticed is how muddy my sub sounded. I had the crossover set for 80hz for the fronts and when I lowered it, I noticed a dramatic improvement. Muddiness instantly gone. It is important to note that I wasn't aware of the muddiness prior to isolating the sub.

The second thing I noticed was that I prefered the subs internal crossover rather than my AVR's. It seemed to do a better job, so now I've got my sub set to 65hz using its own internal filter. Bass sounds cleaner and punchier now.:D

Dennis Gardner

A good exercise for anyone to undertake. A sub should only handle the lowest stuff your speakers struggle doing. Crossing it too high is just as detrimental to good sound as crossing your mains too low, since deep bass on your mains can muddy the upper bass sometimes.

Glad you found clean bass...............

tecmo04

Question about part 2
did you set your speakers to large in the avr, then use the crossover settings on the back of your sub?

millerman 3732

tecmo04 wrote:

Question about part 2
did you set your speakers to large in the avr, then use the crossover settings on the back of your sub?

I would think that he would have to if not his sub would only receive every thing over 80hz from his avr. but if he didnt' I guess that would clear up any boomyness he had

Ern Dog

tecmo04 wrote:

Question about part 2
did you set your speakers to large in the avr, then use the crossover settings on the back of your sub?

Yes, speakers to Large and then crossover settings on the back of sub set to 60-65hz sounded the best to my ears.

Sherardp

i just did the same thing, setting mine to 60hz though and pulling it out from the wall a little.

tecmo04

just did it, wow. i had vocals coming through it cause in an article i read to turn off the crossover. well i turned it back on and cleared things up. Im still not sure how to change the crossover in the amp but i dont really care becuase the svs crossover is probably better. Great thinking and thanks for the help!

tonyb

Dennis Gardner wrote:

A good exercise for anyone to undertake. A sub should only handle the lowest stuff your speakers struggle doing. Crossing it too high is just as detrimental to good sound as crossing your mains too low, since deep bass on your mains can muddy the upper bass sometimes.

Glad you found clean bass...............

Spot on Dennis,this is probably one of the most common mistakes people make setting up there systems.

Ern Dog

tecmo04 wrote:

just did it, wow. i had vocals coming through it cause in an article i read to turn off the crossover. well i turned it back on and cleared things up. Im still not sure how to change the crossover in the amp but i dont really care becuase the svs crossover is probably better. Great thinking and thanks for the help!

Yeah, I had vocals coming through too- easy fix. I love sound improvements that are free. I've also removed the brass jumpers and replaced it with cable, but didn't notice an improvement. I have yet to experiment with bi-wiring.