I was so surprised when you quoted the orchestra example. I used to wait for my son's school band practice I never realised till date that all the drummers are right side of the conductor. It makes sense....
I can't thank you enough for suggesting that the subwoofer be placed on the right side. It's been on the left for seven years, just due to my living room configuration. What an incredible difference, just with that minor change. Something always felt wrong and now I feel more relaxed even. Again thank you!! John M
You sir, are the most precise, easiest to follow, Audio instructor I have stumbled upon. I have a library of your instructional's. In my bookmarks. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Your advice has perked up my system. I will compensate a bit.
Hahaha I love the first letter because I’m from MA and we have a lot of towns with awkward spelling and silent letters etc. you did well though! Also, thanks for the info!
That’s pretty good advice. However, an advantage to test tones and digital signal processing is that it compensates for both speaker anomalies and room interactions. What Paul refers to is only adjusting the subwoofer to the main speakers and has very little to do with adjusting the sub and speakers to the room. After decades of being into audio I finally purchased a sub and a MiniDSP 2x4HD processor. Using Room Equalizer Wizard (REW) freeware, I’m astounded by how great my system sounds. There was a steep learning curve to using the software but it was well worth the trouble!
I did the sub in the listening position thing when I set up my system a number of years ago, it does work very well. Then to get a starting point to tune it, I set the sub low pass filter to a setting higher than I would normally use, like 200Hz, then boost the sub volume till I can begin to hear it, then lower the crossover frequency till the sound from the sub blends in to the sound from the mains, this is my starting point, I will then listen to the music I typically listen to plus a few of my favorite songs for testing, then make an adjustment and re-listen to a few songs in-between changes. If you set it up right, none of the speakers should standout. And if you picked components that have good synergy, it should be able to reproduce any genre of music equally well, I've listened to systems that do really well with genre, but fall flat or gets muddy with another.
Thank you so much for not making me confuse during listening like other RU-vidrs, they want to talk about subwoofers but after a minute they become confuse and start thinking while talking on what topic they were talking 😂.
Great site. Just getting back into audio after 50 years. I remember my fathers 78 rpm records with Nipper of "His masters voice" on the RCA labels. I've got to get Nipper!. Your advice on subs and other content is really helping me to transition from analog to digital. Thanks again!
my spkrs are superzeros, i lusted after them since the 80's and at last got'em. my sub is cheap, 8 inches down-firing cone; i first placed it against the front wall which clearly increased its apparent efficiency but sounded boomy at moderate sound levels. then placed it besides the right spkr, the three of them one third distance from the front wall; now the bass seems to come from the spkrs, the sub is nowhere to be heard, its sound level dialed at the "10:30" position, that's all i need. i'm into midfi (not wealthy) since 1980 and had never had my sub blending with my spkrs like this. thanks, Paul!
Hi Paul as usual is the glass half-full or is the glass half empty😊 you remind me of my grandfather with Alzheimer's thanks Paul and have a great day I absolutely made no sense out of anything you said thanks Paul😊😊
vonclod123 That’s right: the ears have it! Even if you use sophisticated electronics to tailor the sound to acceptable numerical levels, if it doesn’t sound good to your ears, how long are you going to be able stand it without messing with the setup? That said, technology can point out a problem that you just can’t pin down with just listening.
Nice Paul, I agree totally, a subwoofer is so critical to a great sound system, but placement has to right, with doing the subwoofer set up, subwoofer placed in prime listening position, then walk around listening for sweat spot in room to set sub up at, I also recommend you do this at different heights, on your hands and knees, crouching and then standing up right, as it might be a better response at different heights too, another trick whilst doing this, if your ears have trouble listening for bass, try a big empty plastic soft drink bottle or the likes, the larger the bottle opening the better, like that of a gatorade bottle, if you gently hold empty bottle in hand nearer to top of bottle, whilst walking around to find sweat spot, you'll find the bottle will get real excited in a sweat spot, it will vibrate more, allowing you to feel it as well as hear it, it's a little thing I discovered, whilst setting up my subs, I had a bottle of coke I was drinking at the time, so I experimented with different bottle's, finding a larger opening the best and good size bottle around 2ltr is good.
I made my own sub woofer. I got one with two voice coils. My amp has four outputs so I used a set of those. I ended up puting the voice coils out of phase... sure solved a lot of problems.
Hello there and fast forward almost 3 years. Actually, its a tossup on either left or right for orchestral music. The reason is because the percussion section is to the left, which is where the timpani and bass drum is - especially the bass drum. On the right, with cellos, bass, and tuba you can get away with lower mids or upper bass; so on a decent system your speakers can handle that by themselves. Organ music - you should definitely have 2 subs. Thanks for your videos.
I run the Y splitter from the amp to the first sub and again speaker wires to the second sub and oh my lord, bass is sweet. I never need to turn the sub volume more than 25%. There is so much bass or power out of there amp compared to pre amp.
Subs with high level inputs are awesome for music especially if u using small front speakers u get to control how much u sent to yur fronts and u get awesome full range response no tricky lfe
Good advice... But not for subwoofers almost as big as a fridge. Well... still applies, but it's a pain to move. Also you can't not see the sub, however I have it tuned pretty well and flat and it sounds great to my ears.
This is a little confusing, considering most new mainstream receivers, have LFE outputs for subs, And that signal is determined by your main and surround speaker crossover settings. Most newer subs don't even have the speaker tap connections. But I do agree with the parts about sound preference, and the sub sounding like low range extensions of the main speakers.
He's talking about music listening and all half way decent subs for music have speaker level connections. LFE is designed for home theater, which is a whole different ball game.
I agree 100%, Im big fun of subwoofers to, goood subwoofer is whnen you can not locate the box with your ears, first I setup my main speakers-satelites for bass, than turn on my powered sub and setup how laud will be. Sub give much more wider bass with much low freq. in the room.
I have a set up at my brother barbershop a 3 speaker system a cheap small Pyle amp 2 fluance signature bookshelf on stands a bic america pl 200 sub a Bluetooth reciever with built in DAC upscaller plays like a boss everyone hears it always ask is it that thing playing like dat its pretty awesome.am goin from amp to sub high inputs the sub high outputs to speakers crossover on sub set to in sending 80 hertz to the speakers cheap but awesome as hell 2.1 system
@@rankinh71 it have a dac chip in the bluetooth reciever i have a an audio engine bluetooth reciever with a dac in it also both recievers have rca and optical outs
I have found the single most effective improvement for a sub is time alignment. Subs tend to react slower therefore sound in the crossover region is not solidly staged. In my case - a small "project studio" using small Neumann monitors and a 10" KRK sub - I measured the time response of both monitors and sub and found the sub was slower by about 12ms. Making this correction in the active crossover creates a more integrated bass and more solid staging. Naturally, it's worth reviewing crossover settings after making the alignment.
@@johnpoo1662 what's the chance that my muddy Polk subwoofer from 2010 has a way to auto-adjust its frequency response in relation to the room? Why is that better than adjusting it at the receiver, the 31 band EQ, or an even more detailed output EQ on the HTPC? yeah, I don't get it. 'seems like rubbish to me.
@@JustinCrediblename just a guess but i would think the digital Eq on your receiver would have more bands and be more accurate. In the end correct placement of the sub in relation to the listening area is the no1 priority (subwoofer crawl). Then start EQing.
Good day I have connected 1 subwoofer in 2 amplifiers and on each amp connected a set of bookshelves on 1 channel and another set on 2 channels for each of the amps. Am I going to break anything.
Watchin the end credit there, looks like your in Arizona. Is this True??? 👍🏼. Thanks for advice bud. I am about set up my 1st surround sound system. Klipsch HD-300 speakers ($15 buckarooneez) and polk audio PSW12 subwoofer (snagged it for $20buckaroonees) . I think i got a pretty good deal on this set up. I have Monster cable speaker wires and some banana plugs (not sure i will use the banbans) but they are there if i needem. Got the wires n plugs for $15. Oh and i got this Sony str-HD720 Amp $40 (not bad of deal). All this was a spur of a moment snag n grab set up. Saw the deal and just went for it. Klipsch HD-300 (5 speakers) $15 Polk Audio PSW12 $20 Spk wires n banplugs $15 Sony Str-HD720 $40 Total $90 Not bad for a Oldskoo setup. Have no idea how i got into talkin bout my set up, haha. Wasnt in the playbook comin in. Haha but there it is. Thnks for all the advice bud. Wish u,PS audio Team & everyone reading contined success😉👍🏼
Great vid Paul. Like all folks looking at these videos, we are music lovers and lovers of high end sound delivery. I have some older stereo equipment in my LR. NAD 1300 Preamp, NAD 2600 AMP, connected to KEF 103 mid tower speakers, all 35 years old. I just recently considered addi g a SW. The NAD does not have sw preouts. So, the quick question is: do I connect speaker wires from the same two speaker connections on the AMP to the high level speaker terminals on the SW ? I presume one would not splice into the speaker wires ( i used Monster cables for the original speaker connections)? Thx fir your advise or any responses from others. Stay well all.
Can the sub be tied into the center channel? My denon has no high power sub out, but I could run the center out to the sub and then the sub out to the center channel.
Hi there, I always enjoy your perspective on Hi Fi stuff. My situation is rather unique, so I was curious if you or any of your listeners had any good advice on what to do with my circa 1995 Plexus Sub woofer. The unit has (2) SEAS speakers. About 10 inches in diameter. It was originally designed to use a dedicated EQ which went in to the system between the pre amp then the amp, or in my case the tape loop. Remember those? Any way, I currently have the sub woofer hooked up to the "B" speaker terminals and the bookshelf speakers hooked up to the "A" speaker terminals. The EQ box has died and I can not find a technician I trust to fix it. I was wondering if I should simply use the "A" speaker terminals directly to the subwoofer then use the subwoofer out jacks to go to my bookshelf speakers.
Why would it be a problem to combine botch the left and the right channel in the subwoofer? Wouldn't it just play the low frequencies from both channels? How would everything get screwed up?
Thanks Paul..Im using Denon AVR...and want to go high level to my 2 svs sb2000...currently using low level lfe rca....how should I set up the base mgt in the denon spkr size, crossover, etc..when i switch over to high level?..Maybe just tell Denon "no sub or sub off"?????
You're set-up method is only feasible for big rooms with free standing speakers . In UK most hifi stand-mount speakers tail off around 50/60 hz so using single sub is not so discernible in terms of directionality . Plus presumably most people can afford a higher quality unit and cables if only buying a single sub. In my experience it takes a lot of experimentation to perfect sub set-up.
Too bad most (today) have a BoomBox attitude. I get NO joy from teeth rattling bass, yet it seems the future of audio is going down that path (glad I'm an old man.)
Hi Paul, I like checking out your videos cause they are pretty precise on the info.Now I have a question, I need orientation on how to connect a Pioneer Elite VSX-LX101 7.1 ch A/V receiver with Bose Redline single cubes and if possible with the powered Acoustimass 9 sub unit, which has a 8 pin din cable and from receiver end 2 RCA and one 3.5mm servo control, how do I connect all those cables.My Pioneer has 2 sub pre outs. I also have an Kenwood stereo control Amplifier KC-992, can I combine then all?.
I set my 2.1 up @60db for my mixing/tracking station. The mains are 112db max spl and the sub is 123db. The sub has many +/-db adjustments. With each component at 60db, should I attenuate -12db on the sub after db matching or before? Or am I completely off?
Love your channel, but have absolutely no way to make a connection between what your explaining , and what it looks like. Please use the physical items as you explain. It adds the clarity that is needed for understanding what the video is supposed to be about, thanks
I am planning a sub! (despite having been a bit anti - you have helped convince me, and yes I'm British!) The Main amp is to driven by a passive pre (all in planning stage) - I'm concerned about diluting the CD signal between sub and power. My solution is to use an old (but reasonable) DAC I have to drive the sub, while the CD continues to solely drive the power amp. Is there any obvious flaw to this plan?
My active sub doesn't have high input chanel so what will happen if i insist to put high input from my amplifier? Will it blow my sub in the long run? Im using car amplifier which is 4 chanel 300w rms per chanel 1200w peak, i think its too big so i abit worry. Or its better to use the left rear chanel from my head unit (reciever) output which is 18w rms 55w peak? Now im running the later, but the former seems to offer more potential hehe 😊
Paul I know rel has d high level output using speakon cable that's with their T line series it's really difficult choosing a sub so many brands would u also recommend Dali subs I'm going with a denon x3700h Dali oberon 5 n not sure d sub which will you recommend thanks
I have a 5.1.2 set up. A Denon avr and Arcam SA20 used together to run the home cinema and stereo. I have a sub with LFE and high end. So using LFE from AVR and getting bass for movies but when I go to my stereo, I have to unplug the LFE to get bass and it’s really loud so have to turn it down. Then back up and plug the LFE back in when I go back to movies. Is there a workaround for this?
i want to connect 2 tweeters & 2 mids, but when I do that on series or parallel it eats up a lot of energy & the sound level goes down, what do I do now?
Not sure your still responding but I have a Mcintosh ma9000 with focal 1028 I find I have to overuse the sub to make up for the lack of bass? Your thoughts?
Paul newer viewer here from MN. I have 3 THX systems and my favorite is Logitech 5.1 1000 watts. After 15 years of masterful home theater it is starting to power down when advertising codec changes through the optical input. I know it's my satellite provider but I am looking for advice for a family man who can't afford anything more than about $400. What are your favorite "budget brands" until the kids grow up?
Will the sub connected via speaker input, not distort when the amp's signal to the speakers will distort? I always choose the line level input to make sure of no distortion.
I have one 15 inch sub for my computer audio. My mains are JBL EON 612 for right and left. How to tap one of the mains for back round sub effect? Thanks I have a sub amp and crossover with inputs ready to go.
Which makes me ask whether or not height matters for subs. Usually it is said that in treble domain, height is of paramount importance (@ear level), but bass isn't directional, now is it sensitive to where it's emitted from, I wonder... never tried to raise my sub.
