Argghh!! I have an Energy S10.3. I am honestly, fed up with it. My room is 14x10x11 = 1540cu/f. My knees are more worn out from crawling all over the floor than my girlfriend's are from being owned by the doggystyle. :eek::D

Anyways, I spotted a corner in the room where I feel has the most bass. I put the sub there, with proper phase adjustment. It's an improvement, but it still isn't kicking my butt when I watch a movie.

Is there anything I can do with this sub or do I need an upgrade? If so, please recommend me one that won't break my bank. Would the SVS PB10 be sufficient or is it too similar to to the Energy?

Have you tried turning the subwoofer up? Maybe You blew it out watching all those action movies! :D

Have you tried turning the subwoofer up? Maybe You blew it out watching all those action movies! :D

I keep the sub at about 60% volume. If I raise it, it sounds bloated and unpleasant.

I dunno about the Energy but a PB10 would have alot of sound in that space. Especially for HT.

The Energy 10.3 is a very capable sub. It should produce over 100db spls from 25hz on up and over 80db spls around 20HZ in most rooms. The majority of movie LFE sound effects are well with in that range. Are you sure you calibrated it correctly? What are your receiver settings? Also see the link below and make sure you check everything.

http://www.robbroy.net/HT/SubwooferErrors.cfm


Ian

My Bic H100 rocks in my 1800 cu ft room. Sub volume is at 10 o clock.

Did you calibrate it with radioshack meter?

The Energy 10.3 is a very capable sub. It should produce over 100db spls from 25hz on up and over 80db spls around 20HZ in most rooms. The majority of movie LFE sound effects are well with in that range. Are you sure you calibrated it correctly? What are your receiver settings? Also see the link below and make sure you check everything.

http://www.robbroy.net/HT/SubwooferErrors.cfm


Ian

Receiver is set to -5 for Sub out, fronts are set at +3, surrounds at -1. +15 for Sub signal. 80hz cross, LFE normal. Sub is set at 0 phase, cross bypassed, volume 60%.

My Bic H100 rocks in my 1800 cu ft room. Sub volume is at 10 o clock.

Did you calibrate it with radioshack meter?

No, I let audessey handle it. It set it to -8.5, but I brought it to -5.

I don't know what else I can really do.

A PB10 will hit a bit harder down deep below 25 or so where the Energy leaves off but most of the time it should sound pretty similar unless you are playing movies with a lot of sub 25Hz sound effects. You aren't running your sub at extreme levels so it doesnt seem like you are running out of output capability.

Most of the time, if a sub doesn't sound good, it's the room's fault. You should try to measure out the response of your room with a sound meter.

But if you are really not satisfied with your sub, then getting a larger sub could still help but I have a feeling that it's not the sub's fault.

One thing you could try, place your sub in a nearfield configuration. That is, beside or behind your seating position. I used to think I needed to upgrade subs until I tried this. Now I get ALL the impact I could want.

No, I let audessey handle it. It set it to -8.5, but I brought it to -5.


I let the Audyssey calibrate my sub and I fould it set it way too low for my liking. I measured the output with my SMS1 and I found that I needed to bring it up from -6.5 to -2.0 for a realistic level with music. And then for movies to get added impact I set it to 0 dB, so that means I added 6dB to the Audyssey setting.

A PB10 will hit a bit harder down deep below 25 or so where the Energy leaves off but most of the time it should sound pretty similar unless you are playing movies with a lot of sub 25Hz sound effects. You aren't running your sub at extreme levels so it doesnt seem like you are running out of output capability.

Most of the time, if a sub doesn't sound good, it's the room's fault. You should try to measure out the response of your room with a sound meter.

But if you are really not satisfied with your sub, then getting a larger sub could still help but I have a feeling that it's not the sub's fault.

One thing you could try, place your sub in a nearfield configuration. That is, beside or behind your seating position. I used to think I needed to upgrade subs until I tried this. Now I get ALL the impact I could want.



I let the Audyssey calibrate my sub and I fould it set it way too low for my liking. I measured the output with my SMS1 and I found that I needed to bring it up from -6.5 to -2.0 for a realistic level with music. And then for movies to get added impact I set it to 0 dB, so that means I added 6dB to the Audyssey setting.

I'll try and bring the level back up a bit more, but then it becomes boomy. BTW, the sub is behind my couch, in the corner of the room that seems to have the most bass in the room.

I'll try and bring the level back up a bit more, but then it becomes boomy. BTW, the sub is behind my couch, in the corner of the room that seems to have the most bass in the room.

It sounds like the couch is eating up all your sound waves before they can hit the nearest wall and reflect back at you. Try exposing the sub so the sound wave reflects off two walls.

What happens of you move the couch and keep the sub in its place?

question, what unit are ou playing movies on? ie, BR panasonic? How are you connected to your reciever? 5.1 anologs, or digital audio?

Also, if it's boomy, then try and move it out of the corner, corner loaded, can emphasise certain frequencies.

I'm using my PS3 for Blu-ray. Everything is HDMI. An analog anything. The sub is connected with a 25ft cable to my Denon 888 receiver.

The sub was at the front of the room first, I then moved it to the other side of the room, but it was the same and the door was way too close for comfort, so I moved it to the back room, to the right of my couch.

Here's a layout of the room.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/bluesmoke79/stupidroom.jpg

Also, if it's boomy, then try and move it out of the corner, corner loaded, can emphasise certain frequencies


I agree. Try raising the gain on the receiver to improve output and moving the sub away from the corner. Corner loading can make your sub sound boomy. It's not always the best place to put it.

Ian

I'm using my PS3 for Blu-ray. Everything is HDMI. An analog anything. The sub is connected with a 25ft cable to my Denon 888 receiver.

The sub was at the front of the room first, I then moved it to the other side of the room, but it was the same and the door was way too close for comfort, so I moved it to the back room, to the right of my couch.

Here's a layout of the room.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/bluesmoke79/stupidroom.jpg

You might want to try buying a pair of Dayton 12" RSS315HF-4 at $110 a piece on sale at Madisound for $220 total, and do it yourself. Get someone to make you cabinet online or local which would cost around $100-150 total. A Behringer EP-1500 puts out quality 400 watts rms at 4 ohms in to 2 channels and costs $220. All in all, maybe $550 which is only $50 more than a PB-10 shipped. Will have more output and sound even better than a PB-10. Actually you could do just one 12" Dayton with a cheaper amp as well.

If you haven't gotten an spl meter. You can grab it http://www.sonicboomaudio.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=538
While you're at it, ask Mason how much for the PCi25-31 tuned to 22Hz.

If you decide to get all adventurous. There's Mach5 audio http://www.mach5audio.com/ and creative sound solutions http://www.creativesound.ca/ .

most of the times it isn't the woofers fault that it sounds bad (i don't know anything about this woofer)

it's the rooms fault...try measuring it up and read some acoustics on my site on what to do to make it better....

most likely you have a room node deep down around 30-40hz that's making this problem and for that you need a big helmholtz absorber or many many tubetraps to fix the problem...

changing the subwoofer with a untreated room just sounds kind of silly to me...but sure with a little bit of adjusting it might get a little bit better anyway :)

I'm not a PS3 guy, so forgive me, and maybe someone else can chime in here on this, but does the PS3 offer any speaker settings for surround? I know with many DVD players, if you do not have the speaker sizes set to small, the lower frequencies will not be sent properly to the sub. I've run accross a Blu ray player (panasonic) that if you didnt set the speaker on the player to small the output really sounded off. The sub sounded bloated, and the speakers horrible. Check that out. Also, check the settings on your reciever for the same thing. Make sure they are set to small.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the diagram that the area around the couch to the back wall is a raised ceiling with 11ft. The rest is 8feet high. It's an upstairs converted bedroom.

So what can I really do? I don't have the money to do bass traps and all that stuff, nor do I have time. I just wanted a simple setup.

changing the subwoofer with a untreated room just sounds kind of silly to me...but sure with a little bit of adjusting it might get a little bit better anyway

I agree. Placement and room nulls are probably your problem. Changing your sub may not render the results you are looking for. Your first step would be to get a spl meter.

Ian