Help me decide a subwoofer for music only and high WAF

[DanielT]

Tip. Try this playlist. In the context of this thread, it has an interesting title:
(if you use Spotify that is)

SVS Subwoofer Test Tracks

SVS Subwoofer Test Tracks · Playlist · 82 songs · 1.9K likes

open.spotify.com

 

[StefanSweden]

Tip. Try this playlist. In the context of this thread, it has an interesting title:
(if you use Spotify that is)

SVS Subwoofer Test Tracks

SVS Subwoofer Test Tracks · Playlist · 82 songs · 1.9K likes

open.spotify.com

Just tried the first track... Wtf not sure my neighbour apprechiated that!

Thanks for the playlist.

 

[DanielT]

Just tried the first track... Wtf not sure my neighbour apprechiated that!

Thanks for the playlist.

Undeniably an important factor, neighbors, to consider in the selection and use of subwoofers.

A not-too-far-fetched guess: This person with his home theater system lives out in the countryside, far from the nearest neighbors. It looks more like a sound solution that would be suitable for a commercial movie theater.:

 

[MarkS]

Better for tuning are test tracks playing (1) a high-to-low tone sweep and (2) specific tones. In the sweep through the low bass, you should not hear a rise in volume at some specific tone. If you do, try to pin down its frequency with test tones, then try cutting it with the app. The problem is that (1) the ear is not very good at this and (2) the test tones are usually not finely spaced enough for this to work well.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Im hoping that I will be home alone sometime during the weekend to listen and adjust over a couple of hours. Its hard trying to listen when the kids are playing around the house

I guess I can get it to sound good enough, as of now, but if I know myself good enough I will eventually buy a mic and learn more about that.

Well there you go!

 

[Spkrdctr]

Just tried the first track... Wtf not sure my neighbour apprechiated that!

Thanks for the playlist.

You don't need the volume cranked up to hear the rising and lowering of volume on a sweep. That way your neighbors will not be too upset. Just don't crack the paint on their walls!

 

[DanielT]

A clarification The playlist I put in #161 was just to test how well the subwoofer can pump out bass. Much like you want to accelerate properly with a new car you bought. Test what the gadget you bought is capable of performing.

For fine-tuning of FR via EQ, sweep and measurement microphone apply.

 

[StefanSweden]

Update,

So I decided to move the sub to the other side of the sideboard away from the corner and wow what a difference in sound! Much tighter and cleaner. Did not realize how boomy it was in the corner! Sounds like a different sub.

and it happends that a friend of mine works with sound and is familiar with REW and has offerd to come by and help me messure my sound

 

[radix]

Update,

So I decided to move the sub to the other side of the sideboard away from the corner and wow what a difference in sound! Much tighter and cleaner. Did not realize how boomy it was in the corner! Sounds like a different sub.

and it happends that a friend of mine works with sound and is familiar with REW and has offerd to come by and help me messure my sound

Excellent. When I was doing my subs, I got a long RCA cord and just moved it around the living room a bunch and did 10-200 Hz sweeps in REW to see how it looked. You can also get wireless transceivers that work OK if you have something can can delay your mains (like a minidsp).

 

[Willem]

Update,

So I decided to move the sub to the other side of the sideboard away from the corner and wow what a difference in sound! Much tighter and cleaner. Did not realize how boomy it was in the corner! Sounds like a different sub.

and it happends that a friend of mine works with sound and is familiar with REW and has offerd to come by and help me messure my sound

I am not surprised that moving the sub reduced the boominess. Such corner locations are rarely feasible without serious dsp room eq. In any event, you should really measure the actual in-room response. Without that, you are groping in the dark. The beauty of this sub is precisely that you have a few filters to reduce the worst peaks (don't bother with the dips). The limitation of such filters is that they will reduce the peaks in only one listening location. I am afraid you will need more than one sub for a flat response over a wider listening area.
By the way, I fully understand that your wife insisted on the esthetics. Your interior exudes elegant Scandinavian style. For me the most attractive audio system is an invisible one. These days that is possible with electronics, but obviously not with speakers.

 

[StefanSweden]

I am not surprised that moving the sub reduced the boominess. Such corner locations are rarely feasible without serious dsp room eq. In any event, you should really measure the actual in-room response. Without that, you are groping in the dark. The beauty of this sub is precisely that you have a few filters to reduce the worst peaks (don't bother with the dips). The limitation of such filters is that they will reduce the peaks in only one listening location. I am afraid you will need more than one sub for a flat response over a wider listening area.
By the way, I fully understand that your wife insisted on the esthetics. Your interior exudes elegant Scandinavian style. For me the most attractive audio system is an invisible one. These days that is possible with electronics, but obviously not with speakers.

Sorry for late reply - I missed your post! And thank you for your kind words about our interior

I have not yet bought a mic to measure the in-room response, but thats next. It is still in the same place almost under the stair case and I suspect much "sound" disapears up to the second floor as the bass is way heavier up there compared to our living room. I will try to move it around and mess with the PEQ when I can actually see how it sounds ... that was a wierd sentence

 

[olieb]

when I can actually see how it sounds ...

For that it might not be necessary to by a mic. In low frequency many phone mics are pretty good. And you might find a spectrum analyser app that works with sufficient resolution.
I just did a quick and dirty test for the FR of an homepod with an old iphone7 in my kitchen.
1. A sweep with Umik (REW) Hanning window
2. The live view of periodic white noise (from generator in REW: 32k sequence and custom filtered BU2, 20-1000Hz) in iphone app "Audio Spectrum" from Pawel Krzywdzinski (you have to make an investment of 99ct) with Window set to 65536 and Hanning.
3. Then the overlay of both.

That should be close enough to get quite a good view of bass performance.
For Android there might be similar apps.
It's fun to see the FR change in real time when moving the phone around in the room. White noise above 1kHz gets rather nasty though.