Sub EQ

[Cory Cooper]

Hey All,

Just curious about sub EQ. I did the sub crawl and found the best location form my Ultra Sub 12. I never ran Emo-Q, but did a manual setup using a Radio Shack SPL meter and the Rivas Audio Test CD 2 tones calibrated for that meter. Crossover from mains at 70Hz with 24dB slope. Sub phase is set at 0°. The room is rectangular with mains, center, and sub on same plane. It is a small-ish room, less than 200 ft². Speakers are across the front wall (short) and listening position is along back wall (short).

I know you can't totally eliminate room modes via EQ, but it definitely smoothed out the low end and made the sub blend very smoothly with the mains. Acoustic treatment is a much better approach, but I can't justify the cost at this time. I also understand that when you EQ to a listening position, it actually changes the response in the rest of the room, usually for the worse.

The Manual EQ 1 settings on my UMC-1 for the sub are as follows:

22Hz +1
29Hz -3
35Hz -8
44Hz -9
56Hz -4
72Hz +1

Do these settings look way out of whack, or are they in line with what yours are? I know I should try running Emo-Q sometime to see what it measures, but haven't to this point.

Thanks for any input,

C

[Topend]

The settings look fine to me, they are room dependent so will be different for each person.

I like how there is only 1 or 2 dB on the boosted settings, you are not risking distortion.

Dave.

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks Dave,

Yeah, I made sure to not boost anything if possible, and only +1 if at all. Anything more could consume power and create the chance for distortion.

I have always heard that you cut to correct and boost for effect.

C

[Deleted]

22Hz +1
29Hz -3
35Hz -8
44Hz -9
56Hz -4
72Hz +1

Looks like you did a nice job of EQ'ing the sub. Pretty common to have a hump like that centered in the 30-50Hz range. I have had similar humps/peaks in that range before, although usually not that wide.

Probably sounded too bass heavy before and now nice, flat and defined?

A recheck should give you nice frequency response. I might have tried crossing at 80Hz.

Good job! ;D

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks chuckienut.

Yes, it took out all the boominess and smoothed it right out. Low end is much more even now and very defined. I think the ability to EQ the sub with the UMC-1 makes it sound much more musical. The Auralex SubDude HD helped out quite a bit as well.

I have been tweaking it off and on for several months now, and it seems I am just about to the perfect settings for this room. The better I get things tuned in, the more difference I hear in recording quality and frequency response over my entire music collection. It is kind of startling to hear how differently music was mastered by decade and genre. A very well recorded track sounds amazing and a large amount sounds flat, narrow, and over-compressed.

Thanks for the comments,

C

[Deleted]

I agree on the Auralex sub risers. I have the Gramma. I hesitated buying one for some time as I usually am very suspicious of that type of product. It really does tighten up the bass. Well worth the $50!

It's amazing what one can do with the RS meter and a CD like the Rives Test CD and a little time and some patience.

[Cory Cooper]

I have two GRAMMAs. I had used one previously with my Velodyne sub, but it got moved to a different system. I ordered the SubDude HD and used ("stole" it from the other system) the GRAMMA until it arrived. I can't recommend them enough for home theater, studio monitors, and instrument amp/speaker cabinets.

Yes, the results of taking the time to tune an audio system are amazing. I have been at it for months, like I stated previously. In addition, moving speakers even an inch can really impact soundstage imaging and overall tonality.

C

[xki]

Feb 14, 2013 12:28:24 GMT -5 Cory Cooper said:

Do these settings look way out of whack, or are they in line with what yours are? I know I should try running EMO-Q sometime to see what it measures, but haven't to this point.

Not at all! These look fine. Mine are set:
29Hz 1
35Hz 1
44Hz 0
56Hz -2
72Hz -2

I have a really nasty room mode at about 65Hz so the dip took care of that. EmoQ was not even close for the sub. I believe that's not EmoQ's fault. It's mine. I have the subs next to the mains which is most likely not the best placement but it works. WAF comes into play as well as kids under 10.

Through trial and error, I have the x-over at 65 and the slope at 12. I tried and tried to get the 80Hz x-over to sound good and it just sucked. The La Salas are so good at 50-80 that letting my low end subs try to match them was futile. Now, there is no point where you can tell where the mains fall off and the subs take over. As far as I can tell, having the subs and mains reproducing the 50-65 range at the same time has no negatives. 24db slopes just didn't the blend to be smooth.

This image is from a few months ago and shows all warts: