Dialing in a sub? All I do, after what I believe is the proper placement, is turn volume to 1/2, turn the crossover to maximum ( because the crossover is handed by the AVR. Also, I’m sure to set the phase to zero if sub is in front, Done! Never had an issue. Then again, this is for dedicated home theater. I refuse to use any sort of sub in a dedicated 2 channel audio system. Subs belong in home theater or in the trunk of a car, period. Once again, if your 2 channel speakers such so bad in bass that you need to "Dr" it with a sub, you bought the wrong set of 2 channel speakers to begin with and they should be replaced Pronto. All my opinion, some may object lol....
Open Letter To REL, SVS, Hsu, etc., et al
Why don’t you include a cd that will actually enable your customers to properly set up their purchase from you? Telling me to choose something with ‘low bass content’ and put it on repeat is pathetic at best. There are very specific and very limited numbers of tones needed to dial in a sub. One of the above companies tells me to use track 4 from ‘Sneakers’, a 29 year old movie, as an aid in dialing in a sub. Maybe in 70 years the track will be in the public domain and they can just rip it for free to whatever medium is current in 2091.
Test tones, as far as I know, aren’t copyrighted, and would cost very little to put on a cd. 50 blank cd’s cost 15.00 retail. Include one with tones and instructions in the box. Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz, etc., etc., would also qualify as a place to put your sub setup tones, along with detailed voice instructions.
I know many people now use automated setups in their AVR’s, but I’d bet many reading this on Audiogon don’t- most two channel systems are behind the times in this regard.
Or am I missing something?
Test tones, as far as I know, aren’t copyrighted, and would cost very little to put on a cd. 50 blank cd’s cost 15.00 retail. Include one with tones and instructions in the box. Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz, etc., etc., would also qualify as a place to put your sub setup tones, along with detailed voice instructions.
I know many people now use automated setups in their AVR’s, but I’d bet many reading this on Audiogon don’t- most two channel systems are behind the times in this regard.
Or am I missing something?
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- 47 posts total
My only comment about test tones is that they help you quickly realize where you have peaks and valleys....as the tone progresses from 20hz to 150hz you will hear where bass becomes obvious, where there are dropout and where there are peaks. Then you can try moving the sub to different locations (if you have that flexibility) to see how things deteriorate...or improve. In the end though, final tweaking has to be based on how the sub blends with the mains and how it sounds playing music. |
IMO there are at least 2 good reasons to use a sub(s) in a high quality 2 channel system. First, many otherwise excellent loudspeakers don't produce deep bass all that well. Second, for soundstage/imaging, the optimal placement of main loudspeakers often is not the same as the optimal placement for bass response. Sure, trial and error is one way to get it right. For those of us who prefer to be a little more systematic, without spending too much time on set-up, I agree a test-tone collection might be helpful. Although, tones are pretty easy to find on the Internet. https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencychecklow.php You can also generate tones/sweeps with REW. |
Agree- the more basic tools the better at least to get a start and reference point, especially as like you say they're soooo cheap to make, take up hardly any space, far easier to use than faff about with computers or seek out earth-shatteringly dull/ unmusical tracks just for a repetitive bass line. Does anybody use electronic piano/ keyboard through the stereo? Playing a chromatic over the whole instrument it's immediately obvious where the resonances/ dips are. The piano sound quality on a pro keyboard is astounding and you've also got all the other instrument synths and sound effects at the press of a key without having to play track snooker. Just found the velodyne and hsuresearch sites but surprised there's little else obviously out there. Hi-fi choice did a free system tune -up disc with Isotek years ago that does tone sweeps (pure and 'noisy'), imaging etc- just seen similar for sale for £30!!!! Also sure you used to get sound demo CD/ DVDs with PC soundcards, AV amps with some interesting things on them (loved the surround sound flying bee one), bit of a novelty but a bit of fun and still loads of potentially useful tracks. |
- 47 posts total