Has anyone done something like this?” 12 subwoofers in one system

[Alegon121221]

Good day, everyone.


I’d like to ask if anyone has done something similar, or if someone could give me some advice — whether there’s a way to improve what I’ve done, or if it’s already good as it is.





I have my own home theater setup based on the Marantz CINEMA 50 AV receiver, which also has a Dirac Live and Bass Control license installed. I’m using it as an 11-channel system, that is: 7.3.4. But I’ve taken it a step further and did the following:





I have 12 subwoofers:

• 4 KEF T2,
• 4 Harman Kardon TS-11,
• and 4 Harman Kardon HKTS-210.

I’ve placed these subs proportionally around the room, which is 12 square meters in size.


Using three MiniDSP 2x4 HD units, I grouped them into three “super-subwoofers”.





To connect and align all the subwoofers properly, I used the MSO (Multi-Sub Optimizer) software. I optimized all 12 subwoofers together as a single system in MSO, but when it came to Dirac in the receiver, I connected them via three separate outputs. So in Dirac, I have a right subwoofer, a left subwoofer, and a rear subwoofer.





MSO suggests using a single input with a splitter, but I chose to use separate inputs so that Bass Control could identify the position of each group and integrate them better into the system.





What do you think about this method?





As for speakers: I use seven KEF T301s for the main channels and four KEF T101s for Dolby Atmos.

Link more projects

 

[Berwhale]

This sort of thing? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/double-bass-array-dba.51919/

 

[Keith_W]

What do you think about this method?

Done properly, it could give excellent results. Curious to see some sweeps?

 

[Sokel]

Done properly, it could give excellent results. Curious to see some sweeps?

All twelve should have identical curves (and electronics behind them) though for DBA, that's one of the requirements.
People go as far as getting a bunch of woofers to chose which of them match closely.

If not, I don't even want to think the added complexity.

 

[Esprit]

which is 12 square meters in size.

12 subwoofer?

 

[Alegon121221]

12 сабвуфер?

Yes

 

[Alegon121221]

Что-то в этом роде? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/double-bass-array-dba.51919/

 

[Alegon121221]

almost like that,but I use swarm array method

 

[kyuu]

Maybe there's something I'm misunderstanding about this setup, but it seems to me like if you have already integrated the subwoofers together with MSO then you're only needing DLBC to integrate them together with the mains and should present them to Dirac as a single subwoofer. Do you have any measurements of the final results?

 

[Alegon121221]

May I continue writing in my native language?(Ukraine)

I assume that when I try to translate into English myself, I might make mistakes, which could result in my thoughts being misunderstood.

Я вже готую скріншоти по замірах,до і після,Rew,Dirac,Mso

 

[kyuu]

Unfortunately if you do so, very few if anyone here will be able to understand what you're posting. Also, I believe this site's official policy is that all posts must be in English. There are a number of good online translation tools if you're not confident in your English ability (we have numerous posters here who use translation tools for posting).

 

[Alegon121221]

All screen projects files

 

[Alegon121221]

Done properly, it could give excellent results. Curious to see some sweeps?

Done

 

[middlemarch]

Kudos to you, that's an amazing amount of work using MSO. I have 5 subs in my system, but I've found that going past four puts you well along the law of diminishing returns. With that many scattered all over the room I'm surprised you'd need any EQ once you time aligned them all.

 

[Oddball]

Did not have time to go over many graphs but can imagine that this will sound amazing when tuned in. So much low end power in such a room will produce amazing pressure and smooth response with likely low distortion. I had smaller room setups in the past and that was amazing - and something I can't replicate in a big open space even with three time the firepower.

I overcomplicated my HT (first one in the signature), which is a good and bad thing. Bad thing is that I spent too much time integrating and eventually gave up and called a professional calibrator to finish the job as I just got sick of spending my free time on endless tweaking. When he was done we reviewed so many graphs that I can't even remember the number and listened to some of alternatives to finally decide which one is the winner. Good thing is that I am now beyond any desire to upgrade any gear so this cured both my upgrade and tweak habits of the past.

First complication was to run LFE+Mains as I have 8 towers plus big center that reach down to 30-50hz at 95+dB with low distortion, so I wanted to use their output but also enforce low end with subs (4 of them) so that all bed channels are full range.

Second complication was to run LFE distribution to the same 8 towers (center was spared as busy enough) to further smooth overall bass response in their support range/SPL etc.

Third complication (and the easiest) to solve was to add a dedicated small sub to the center to reinforce the sub 100hz range, and gain a fine tuning tool to achieve preference over reference.

So after this tedious journey I am done tweaking and upgrading and enjoying my favourite movies and shows in peace. If someone mentions REW, sorry ditched all the files so I can't potentially start wondering if I did the right thing. Overall response from memory is pretty smooth in the low end to some +/- 1.5dB, phase and group delay are far from ideal but at the end not bad, waterfalls charts are great until 30hz but that's the room and that's good enough for me.