Subwoofer suggestion to Integrate w/ Meyer HD-1's

Stearnsn,

The sub integrates well but ultra LF bass is always a mess because of any room. In my case I needed a PEQ to tame bass room modes (room modes not just from the sub but from the mains also). This is not ideal but it is practical (idealy it is better to plaster every square foot of the room wall spaces with massive bass traps rather than EQ down the modal bumps in the main signal with notch filters). I do have four monster sized corner traps and they do work to create a larger sweetspot with more even bass around the room and better clarity in the lower mid but they are pretty much ineffective below 60 Hz (biggest benefit seems to be 100 to 1000 Hz but I haven't confirmed this with precise measurements).

Specifically I run the sub up to 90 Hz and the speakers full range and then use a PEQ to EQ ONLY the sub to get a reasonably flat room response - in all honesty it is still far from ruler flat! It is probably the best compromise as the primary signal from the speakers being nearly full range leads to some good room bass modes whilst the sub more more than helps fill in any nulls due to its different position from the mains. This setup leaves me with copious bass (way too much) which then allows me to apply notch filtering to the sub wherever there are room modal peaks.

It is easiest to start out with way too much bass and then tame room modes. If you lack bass and have a problem with nulls then you are stuck with moving the main speakers around for the best compromise (as you can't boost nulls - a null being a null means it ain't there at the listening position!).

Thanks! Do you use your ears to adjust the EQ or do you use some sort of analyzer?

I bought a couple of organ music CD's and these do go pretty low. I bought a JL Audio F113 though to help out with the LFE channel in my home theater and I hope it adds to the music party too.

Thanks! Do you use your ears to adjust the EQ or do you use some sort of analyzer?

Both.

I use a plot of pure test tones witha Ratshack meter to get "reasonably" flat (+/- 5 db in room) and then I use music to fine tune overall bass. Spanish Harlem by Rebecca Pigeon is a good track for testing mid bass...all the bass notes should sound even and equally loud.

After this a variety of music will generally tell you if you have it right....some stuff will remain too bass heavy (like Hip Hop and some "atmospheric" style jazz) whilst some stuff my remain a little bass anemic (like much rock from the 60's). Once you have it right then the majority of music (all genres) will sound good. They key to bass is even bass notes on the bass guitar or double bass....all too often, even in demo systems I have heard emphasis on certain notes due to room modes that should not be there. The emphasis can be both pleasing and impressive (room modes can easily add 10 db or more to some bass notes) but often it ain't what the artist intended when playing the riff!

There is an enormous amount of detail in the bass - most peope have no idea that this exists as they never bother to get big box speakers and massive sub and they don't bother to deal with room modes and acoustics. A lot of this is WAF related. I was one of these people for many years, typical 6 1/2" woofers was my standard fare, and I thought I had a perfect system until I got some even bigger box speakers...15" sub and 12" main woofers (I was shocked that bass was so wildly different on each track and I didn't know it). For me there is NO truth in the statement that big woofers are slow...only big cheap poorly constructed woofers are slow.

Try Elephunk Let's get it started" or Rolling Stones Jump Back CD "Beast of Burden" and "Miss You" or Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Woman" from Bob Ludwigs recent remaster "Hot Rocks" or Keb Mo "Better Man" or Dirty Dozen Brass Band "Cissy Strut".....bass is wonderful - so much timbres to enjoy ....there is an entire world of music down there in the last couple of octaves...but you don't clearly hear much of the last two octaves with a wee 6 1/2" woofer (most WAF friendly audiophile designs), as it pumps out lots of harmonic an IM distortion that cloud everything, notes may be there but timbre and detail usually gets lost/muddled.

I ended up with a JL Audio F113. It seems like a pretty good match...