With my new Hsu 3.3 I have been watching movies like its my freakin job. Ranging from oldies like the Godfather all the way to Children of Men and Master and Commander. Anyways, tonight I watched LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring. I have heard you guys talk about it, but always as a side note to WOTW\Nemo\Black Hawk Down\The Haunting. But let me tell you. The movie, the whole way through, is constant sub workout. Sometimes it is so intense that you dont even notice it till a quiet part and you think "...wow my brain isn't jarring in my head anymore--that's strange". Impressive to say the least.

One part in particular that is mentioned is when the ring is cut from Sauron's hand and falls to the ground. I am not sure just how deep that note is, but I would wager way below 18hz, maybe 13-15hz. It was actually one of the most unimpressive scenes in terms of bass response. I do not have the turbo and the 3.3 is in output mode, and it is in a nearfield arangment. While I did feel vibration through the couch it was not exactly heart-stopping.

The Mines of Moria scene--now THAT was something. The cave troll and the demon were just incredible. The sub was really great becuase it blended so well. It was very loud, but yet it it did not draw attention to itself. It wasnt like *boom* and you automatically thought "well, sub is doing its job". It blended marvelously into the soundtrack and added just a constant barrage of bass. The thing that I constantly was amazing about was even though the sub was beating its heart out at mid-bass reproduction, there were still wall shaking notes inter-mixed (yet totally clear) when something like footstep fell or a body hit the floor.

While I am sure I am missing the super, rattle the windows bass through my combination of no tubo, output mode, nearfield, I have almost given those causes up for naught. Anyways I am going to be changing rooms in the next month or two and I am very excited to see if I cant coax those extra few dbs of sub 20hz material out with a far field arangment--then I will be REALLY set. Im sure my neighbors will be sharpening their swords to come after me! :p

Sounds like you had fun! That is a great movie for sound and it does keep coming at you.

I just finished U-571 and it was my first time watching it. That is another one that keeps the sub going throughout the entire movie. I have a SVS 20-39+ in a smallish room and it was awesome!!! The final time the charges kept hitting the sub (Navy one, not sound one) I kept moving back and forth in my seat with the crew. It was so realistic! I had to call a friend (who is at work right now...hehehe) after watching and tell him about it.

I'm sure all my neighbors hate me right now since we are so close together here in Japan.

One thing that I really liked about the movie was that the sub, even at a higher volume than I usually have it, blended with the speakers very nicely. There was a lot of very deep bass, but the big effect was the stuff that hits you full in the face and chest.

I was thinking to have a LOTR marathon with some friends on Friday. Just have to kick the rest of the family out of the house to do it.

Here is a link to the LOTR Ring Scene (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9116815&highlight=ring#post9116815)

Fun stuff... (thanks to Scott for the original posting).

By the way, the sweep after the ring is cut from Sauron's finger is not that deep. It ends around 55hz. When his finger hits the ground it is around 22hz.

Sounds like you had fun! That is a great movie for sound and it does keep coming at you.

I just finished U-571 and it was my first time watching it. That is another one that keeps the sub going throughout the entire movie. I have a SVS 20-39+ in a smallish room and it was awesome!!! The final time the charges kept hitting the sub (Navy one, not sound one) I kept moving back and forth in my seat with the crew. It was so realistic! I had to call a friend (who is at work right now...hehehe) after watching and tell him about it.

I'm sure all my neighbors hate me right now since we are so close together here in Japan.

One thing that I really liked about the movie was that the sub, even at a higher volume than I usually have it, blended with the speakers very nicely. There was a lot of very deep bass, but the big effect was the stuff that hits you full in the face and chest.

I was thinking to have a LOTR marathon with some friends on Friday. Just have to kick the rest of the family out of the house to do it.

Poor neighbors, everytime you turn the sub on they must think it's another earthquake!

I watched War of the Worlds on my home theatre with my new Outlaw LFM-1 plus for the first time. I'm completely blown away. I haven't seen any other movie with bass this awesome (haven't seen LOTR on my home theatre yet). I have a huge living room that opens into three different rooms, and still my LFM-1 plus pumps out insane levels of bass. I'm pretty impressed by the soundtrack, even though it's a lossy DTS soundtrack (I'm spoiled by uncompressed/lossless on Blu-Ray). I can't even imagine how great this movie would sound on a lossless or uncompressed format.

Poor neighbors, everytime you turn the sub on they must think it's another earthquake!

Nice thing about Japan is the neighbors won't complain. :D Actually, the only neighbor I have that is close is my landlord. She gambles all night and sleeps all day, and I don't think she will wake for anything.

After watching U-571 I noticed my front speaker that is closest to my sub moved about 6" up....damn hardwood floors! With the x-ls sitting on it's stand, it's a lot of weight to move though.

So the LOTR marathon is set for Friday and will start at 9am. My landlord will probably still be drunk at that time, so no worries.

Nice thing about Japan is the neighbors won't complain. :D Actually, the only neighbor I have that is close is my landlord. She gambles all night and sleeps all day, and I don't think she will wake for anything.

After watching U-571 I noticed my front speaker that is closest to my sub moved about 6" up....damn hardwood floors! With the x-ls sitting on it's stand, it's a lot of weight to move though.

So the LOTR marathon is set for Friday and will start at 9am. My landlord will probably still be drunk at that time, so no worries.

Those marathons are great. I think I have already had them about a half dozen times. I also occasionally just watch one movie in the series. My reference scene is actually in this movie. I use this scene to check calibration settings or make choices about upgrades because it is pretty simple to remember how it sounds. The scene is called Flight to the Ford** and the part I look at specifically is from 1:20:28 until 1:22:30 when the horse chase occurs. I have watched that over a hundred times! It's what infuluenced my new sub purchase of course. I will get a setup disk someday other than the THX optimizer, but I will still check that scene.

Ripcord! Glad to hear your enjoying your sub! Did you get all your issues worked out?

I too love the combination of LOTR and my HSU 3.3. The elephant stomp in "The Return of The King" brings a smile to my face everytime.

Ripcord! Glad to hear your enjoying your sub! Did you get all your issues worked out?

Yeah I did get alot of the problems worked out. Alot of it had to do with placement, and that is significantly better than it used to. The low bass impact (low 20s, high teens) are not quite what I want them to be, but that is probably due to placement and lack of turbo (which I cant believe, but I actually want now to REALLY dig deep). Overall I am quite happpy.

Did you ever get an SPL meter Ripcord?

Did you ever get an SPL meter Ripcord?


Yep I did, i dialed the sub and calibrated--taking into account the correction factors. The sub falls off around 20-22 at listening position. I talked to one of the techs at HSU And they said while nearfield is good for some tactile response (which it is, I could definately feel it through the couch it was beside) it isnt ideal for 20hz and below reproduction. With my new room in a month or two I will be able to corner load the sub in a corner away from the couch and away from any room openings--hopefully maximizing my really low response.

Yep I did, i dialed the sub and calibrated--taking into account the correction factors. The sub falls off around 20-22 at listening position. I talked to one of the techs at HSU And they said while nearfield is good for some tactile response (which it is, I could definately feel it through the couch it was beside) it isnt ideal for 20hz and below reproduction. With my new room in a month or two I will be able to corner load the sub in a corner away from the couch and away from any room openings--hopefully maximizing my really low response.I just switched to output mode and unplugged port. Sounds much better like this for me in nearfield.

I just switched to output mode and unplugged port. Sounds much better like this for me in nearfield.


Yeah that is what I am running in too

Yeah I did get alot of the problems worked out. Alot of it had to do with placement, and that is significantly better than it used to. The low bass impact (low 20s, high teens) are not quite what I want them to be, but that is probably due to placement and lack of turbo (which I cant believe, but I actually want now to REALLY dig deep). Overall I am quite happpy.

I've got the Turbo but am no longer using it on my 3.3. It only works in max extension mode thus the overall dynamics especially in the mid-bass are reduced compared to the amazing headroom available in max output mode. And contrary to popular belief, the Turbo does not extend the frequency response any deeper - it only allows a bit more output in the deep frequencies before port noise occurs (whether with or without Turbo the tuning in max extension mode is the same, approx. 18hz).

Experimenting with variations in corner placement will usually get you pretty solid response down to 16hz with the 3.3 in max extension mode, but in max output mode (22hz tune) the curve falls off rapidly below 20hz as it's designed to.

Did you try the turbo in max output mode? I don't have the turbo but Peter from HSU said that the turbo can be used in max output mode. Am I wrong?

I've got my Outlaw LFM-1Plus (an HSU relative) cranking and love it. My daughter has always been a hugh LOTR fan so that was one of the first DVD's in. The scene with the Balrock in the mines is awsome. I listened to the scene first with the sub off and then on. Besides the low frequency foot stomps the part where the Balrock rears up and roars is absolutely incredible with the sub. Previously, our cats would sometimes look up at this point but with the sub they both ran out of the room. I'll take that as a positive endorsement of the sub. So far my favorite scene in anything I've watched is the first battle in Master and Commander. My daughter had three of her college roomates over, none of which were particularly interested in watching the movie....until the cannon fire almost knocked them out of their seats....they were really into it after that. I'm interested in what some of you have said about the extension vs output mode (same feature as the HSU has). So far I've only run it in extension but tonight the plug comes out for some comparison.

I agree, I ran that same LOTR Mines of Moria scene today through my 3.3's in max output mode and the power of the bass was scary good :eek:

I think for folks in sealed medium sized rooms max extension mode has enough headroom, but in my large open space max output mode outperforms extension mode in sheer dynamics and muscle at important frequencies, even compared to the Turbo. On another forum Ilkka has recently conducted ground plane measurements on many subs and the output mode on the 3.3 exceeds extension mode w/Turbo in max SPL before the onset of 10% distortion by +2.7db at 20hz, +6.1db at 25hz (equivalent to having a second stacked sub at that frequency!), and +3.2db at 31.5hz (and +0.7db average from 40 to 80hz).

But max extension mode is still preferable if you want significant output from 16 to 19hz.

Did you try the turbo in max output mode? I don't have the turbo but Peter from HSU said that the turbo can be used in max output mode. Am I wrong?
I haven't tried it. Peter said running it that way will produce an overdamped response that starts rolling off earlier than it normally would in 18hz tune.

So far my favorite scene in anything I've watched is the first battle in Master and Commander. My daughter had three of her college roomates over, none of which were particularly interested in watching the movie....until the cannon fire almost knocked them out of their seats....they were really into it after that.

Girls just loooove those huge, boomy, vibrating subwoofers.