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Why the fuss with subwoofer specs and brands?

bodhi

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Start perhaps with definition of "25%"....then we can see if you're simply insufficient.
I ment the volume knob behind the sub. And no, I'm not at all even experienced hobbyist when it comes to speakers. But anyways, this is what I got turning the volume way up, crossover at max. The highest measurement can be discarded: I'm not an expert but it had some weird noise that shouldn't be there.

I think the reviewer I mentioned had a smaller room because these results seem worse. These are 2,25m from the listening position.

But I now agree that the dual 9"s wouldn't do it for movies in a larger room or at louder volume. Might be enough for many situations.
rew3.jpg


Sparechange:
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Chrispy

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I think this might be a very significant detail. In my case, the room is 11m2 (120 sq ft).
Well it's more volume but that is smaller than any of mine, but not by much in two cases but I still use larger subs in those rooms, too :)
 

Chrispy

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That's what my ex-wife always told me. She wasn't as emotional about inches though, that's why we had some good times also.

Are you perhaps compensating something with your subs? Remember, size doesn't really matter.
LOL
 

Sancus

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To properly test sub output you need to do repeated sweeps with gradually increasing volume in REW, without messing with subwoofer settings. Because that's how it would work with real-world content.

Subwoofers usually start to show significant compression well before they reach their hypothetical "maximum volume". I would generally consider 100dB at the listening position from 20hz+ to be a real-world minimum that would give a good experience for all types of music at reasonable levels(75-80dB avg). You can reduce this accordingly if you know you only listen to low dynamic range music.

For HT the minimum to meet spec is actually 109-115dB+(depending which standard you're following, room size, and whether you care about bass management summing). Very few HTs actually meet THX/Atmos subwoofer requirements with no compression even if they're using fairly large subwoofers. Mine certainly does not.

That's why people need many huge subs, they're trying to actually reach spec with an unchanged frequency response. It's hard.
 
OP
jsilvela

jsilvela

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So, received a 10" sub yesterday, which I intend to use together with the 8". Lot of homework ahead.
But yesterday I auditioned the 10" on its own, without taking REW readings yet.
I noticed a difference right away.

Yep, I'm getting what you guys are saying about 10" being possibly the bare minimum, and perhaps not even. Perhaps 12" being the minimum.
What can I say, 1 month ago I did not want to consider that.
I was young, I was naïve.

The thing is, while the advice to get min 10", preferably 12" makes sense, a lot of people getting their first sub are not looking to reach a specific reference level, be that THX or 105dB at 20Hz for pipe organ.
The 8" gave me very little in the way of *extension*, but putting my mains on bass management and having the 8" made a definite clear improvement.
 
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jsilvela

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Well it's more volume but that is smaller than any of mine, but not by much in two cases but I still use larger subs in those rooms, too :)
So, for me, the dimensions have changed recently.
My living room is non rectangular. It has a bit of a T shape going on. I had my system oriented across the "-" direction.
There, the dimensions are roughly 13.44 m^2 (144 sq.ft.) and 33m^3 (1163ft^3).

But after doing REW sweeps and lots of tests, I have reoriented my system across the "|" direction.
The dimensions there are bigger: 19m^2 (203sqft) or 46m^3 (1635ft^3).

The sound improvements of this new direction are palpable. My biggest sound improvement to date cost 0 money... or maybe 99eur for the UMIK-1.

I lived 8 years in the US (Seattle / NYC), and sometimes I see things not translating well.
One is of course the easy availability and pricing of SVS/Rhythmik etc.
Another is about house dimensions. In Europe the room dimensions are typically smaller.
In the US it's not uncommon for people in the suburbs to have a large basement, and I see some at ASR build themselves a man-cave or a real home theater with 2 rows of seats looking at a big screen.
I have not ever seen that in Spain. When we say "my home theater" we mean "I have a big-ass 55-inch TV panel in my living room".
 
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FeddyLost

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The sound improvements of this new direction are palpable. My biggest sound improvement to date cost 0 money
Exactly.
Repositioning of an existing system sometimes offer much more than any hardware exchanges ...
Only one exclusion is a free backyard of a decent size converted into a hi-fi court.
But then you'll most probably need a PA capable system.
 
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jsilvela

jsilvela

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Exactly.
Repositioning of an existing system sometimes offer much more than any hardware exchanges ...
Only one exclusion is a free backyard of a decent size converted into a hi-fi court.
But then you'll most probably need a PA capable system.
Nobody asked me about sound improvements being "palpable". :confused:
I guess you don't want to hear about the new things I perceived in Diana Krall's voice.
Nor about the increased imaging, which I now measure in megapixels.
 

rcstevensonaz

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I guess you don't want to hear about the new things I perceived in Diana Krall's voice.
Nor about the increased imaging, which I now measure in megapixels.
Brilliant! I think a megapixel measure should be included in future tests of stereo equipment to represent the stereo imaging quality of the speaker or equipment .
 
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