Need some help with setup.

[thompsbp]

Hey folks,

So I am looking to get some help setting up my 2.1 system properly. I have read a bunch of guides, watched a ton of videos, and even spent hours with AI and so far haven't found what I am looking for. I was hoping someone here might be able to point me to a good write up on how to properly set up a 2.1 system (preferably at a desk) using REW.

My equipment:
Home built C-Note speakers.
WIIM Amp Pro (optical from my pc)
RSL Speedwoofer 10E (Bass management on with crossover set to 80hz, and sub in LFE mode)
UMIK 1 measurement mic.

So what's the problem?
My sound system on my work pc is an AudioEngine HD3 set of powered bookshelf speakers and the AudioEngine S6 "sub". I have the bass reduction switch on the HD3s set to on and the volume on the sub set to around 10 o'clock.

This little system will just kick you in the chest. I absolutely feel kick drums in my chest. The bass feels powerful but the mids are pretty muddy compared with the c-notes. Vocals just sound muffled and far away.
But when I go over to my C-note/RSL setup I don't get any chest thump. I get lots of shake the windows bass but almost nothing in that kickdrum range.

So I want to figure out how to properly get this system set up. From everything I have read the RSL should be able to kick me in the chest but I apparently don't have it set up correctly. So I was hoping to find a guide on how to do this properly based on REW measurements.

Thanks

 

[staticV3]

RSL Speedwoofer 10E (Bass management on with crossover set to 80hz, and sub in LFE mode)

I hope it's the WiiM that you've set to 80Hz as the RSL should be set to Bypass.

Chest kick is usually 60-80Hz, so could well be an issue with room modes or phase mismatch between sub and mains.

For now, I'd eliminate variables by disconnecting the C-notes and disabling the crossovers of both the WiiM and RSL, basically let the Sub play full-range and solo.

Play some tracks that you know have nice chest kick on your other system and see if the 10E kicks good now.

Yes you'll only hear bass, but the 10E alone extends to >200Hz so the chest kick should be there even without Mains.

If there's still nothing, then I'd suspect that your room with the current position of sub and MLP has a big suckout in the relevant frequency range (measurements will confirm), in which case the solution is to move the sub and/or the MLP (use REW Room Sim for guidance).

Once you get a good response out of your sub, reconnect the C-Notes and play with phase, level, delay, and crossover in the WiiM Home App until the two integrate nicely.

The last part takes patience and ideally a measurement mic with REW.

 

[thompsbp]

I hope it's the WiiM that you've set to 80Hz as the RSL should be set to Bypass.

Chest kick is usually 60-80Hz, so could well be an issue with room modes or phase mismatch between sub and mains.

For now, I'd eliminate variables by disconnecting the C-notes and disabling the crossovers of both the WiiM and RSL, basically let the Sub play full-range and solo.

Play some tracks that you know have nice chest kick on your other system and see if the 10E kicks good now.

Yes you'll only hear bass, but the 10E alone extends to >200Hz so the chest kick should be there even without Mains.

If there's still nothing, then I'd suspect that your room with the current position of sub and MLP has a big suckout in the relevant frequency range (measurements will confirm), in which case the solution is to move the sub and/or the MLP (use REW Room Sim for guidance).

Once you get a good response out of your sub, reconnect the C-Notes and play with phase, level, delay, and crossover in the WiiM Home App until the two integrate nicely.

The last part takes patience and ideally a measurement mic with REW.

Thank you for the detailed reply. I will try that with the sub this weekend. Got wrapped up in work stuff the past few nights.

Yes the wiim amp is handling the crossover and the sub is set to bypass/lfe. When I first set the system up I borrowed a measurement mic from a friend and I do remember there being a pretty big drop in 80-100hz region. Unfortunately I only had a few days with the mic before needing to return it. So I never got to find out if it was a cancellation or a placement issue. Although I suspect placement. I have the Cnotes just sitting on my desk and the sub underneath my desk offset to my right. I may have been too close to it or something.

 

[thompsbp]

So I spent the day taking measurements and playing with things. Still not really getting any chest thump out of the system but I'm not sure I did the alignment wrong. I have attached my measurements here in the hopes that someone might be able to take a look.

The wiim was already applying a 2.33 ms delay on the sub when the measurements were taken. thats why i reversed the polarity on the alignment tool to arrive at a final delay of 0.31ms on the sub and turned the phase to 180.

Overall its sounds better but I just cant seem to get rid of that hole starting at 80hz (the crossover) and going to 144hz. (see the screenshot attached, its the final whole system measurement.)

 

[thompsbp]

Think my measurements were too big. Trying again after removing some of the superfluous ones.