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- Sep 10, 2019
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I believe I am having to make a trade-off in my system's performance and would like your input on whether it's a real trade-off or if I can have my cake and eat it too.
System: Revel F208 L/R, C208 center, M105 SL/SR, dual PSA 15V ported subs, Denon X4400, UMIK-1 and REW.
Room: ~4,000 cu ft largely rectangular.
Subwoofer placement: SW1 is behind MLP on the midpoint of the left wall. SW2 is in front of the MLP in the front corner against the right wall. Not ideal, but it's what the room allows.
Here's the situation: When I let Audyssey calibrate my two subs separately (using the Sub 1 and Sub 2 outputs), I get excellent imaging of low-frequency content (kick drums), but terrible frequency response (massive peak at 40hz then falls off rapidly below that).
When I level-match and set the delays of the subs manually to achieve as smooth an FR from 20-150hz as I can, then use a Y-splitter to make Audyssey treat them as one subwoofer, I get much better frequency response, but the imaging of low-end content is noticeably worse. In fact, I perceive an unevenness to the bass between my left and right sides (probably physical rather than auditory).
It seems that when I try to optimize for imaging at low frequencies, I compromise in-room frequency response. When I optimize for frequency response, I compromise the time alignment of the low frequencies. Changing the crossover from 40hz to 60hz to 80hz makes a difference, but seems to slide between one side of the compromise to the other.
What I think is going on is that when Audyssey can calibrate the subs independently, it can time align and level match them, but it makes no adjustments for frequency response; it simply aligns them and doesn't check how they behave in room when played together. When I manually match them and adjust delay to get a better frequency response via room averaging, I'm unable to time-align them.
Is this a real trade-off?
If so, what can I do to solve both problems?
System: Revel F208 L/R, C208 center, M105 SL/SR, dual PSA 15V ported subs, Denon X4400, UMIK-1 and REW.
Room: ~4,000 cu ft largely rectangular.
Subwoofer placement: SW1 is behind MLP on the midpoint of the left wall. SW2 is in front of the MLP in the front corner against the right wall. Not ideal, but it's what the room allows.
Here's the situation: When I let Audyssey calibrate my two subs separately (using the Sub 1 and Sub 2 outputs), I get excellent imaging of low-frequency content (kick drums), but terrible frequency response (massive peak at 40hz then falls off rapidly below that).
When I level-match and set the delays of the subs manually to achieve as smooth an FR from 20-150hz as I can, then use a Y-splitter to make Audyssey treat them as one subwoofer, I get much better frequency response, but the imaging of low-end content is noticeably worse. In fact, I perceive an unevenness to the bass between my left and right sides (probably physical rather than auditory).
It seems that when I try to optimize for imaging at low frequencies, I compromise in-room frequency response. When I optimize for frequency response, I compromise the time alignment of the low frequencies. Changing the crossover from 40hz to 60hz to 80hz makes a difference, but seems to slide between one side of the compromise to the other.
What I think is going on is that when Audyssey can calibrate the subs independently, it can time align and level match them, but it makes no adjustments for frequency response; it simply aligns them and doesn't check how they behave in room when played together. When I manually match them and adjust delay to get a better frequency response via room averaging, I'm unable to time-align them.
Is this a real trade-off?
If so, what can I do to solve both problems?
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