AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Subwoofers, Bass, and Transducers › ***Official HSU owners/support thread!***
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

***Official HSU owners/support thread!*** - Page 154

post #4591 of 5953
1/4/12 at 10:18am
AFAIK there is no longer a Canadian distributor, but you can always call and see what they can do for you.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #4592 of 5953
1/4/12 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by leninGHOLA View Post

AFAIK there is no longer a Canadian distributor, but you can always call and see what they can do for you.

thanks, I emailed them and they do in fact ship to Canada. You just can't order directly from their website since the form doesn't let you choose Canada as an option, but you can place the order over the phone or through email.
Reply
Reply
post #4593 of 5953
1/4/12 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by swolfcg View Post

I don't want to loose $100 in shipping. If I sell the VTF-1 I will more likely not buy another HSU.

If you sell the sub yourself, you'll still be losing money. So, how much trouble is it wroth to sell it separately vs. sending it back and being done with it? I completely understand your point, but I find it a pain to try and sell things sometimes. My time is worth more than that (not that I many big bucks or anything...just want to spend it doing other things)

Seems that the VTF-1 should be comparable to the M8...so not sure why it's not working as well for you. Sucks to read through all this and hear about the problems.

I spent a lot of time researching before I bought as well. I was pretty much set on buying an SVS. But, after some consideration, I realized it would be easier for me to buy HSU since they are local to me. If things to wrong (and they do/can), I can bring it in, instead of shipping it, for repair.

I actually ended up going overkill with a VTF-15H. But, honestly, I could not be happier. I, occasionally, crank it up and it makes me grin ear to ear.

But, I will say...I had to crank up the receiver output to hear the damn thing. It defaulted to -10. I think I put it at like +15 now lol. That may sound high (and I may be exaggerating without going to double check), but I do remember raising it up pretty high.

Thing is...I've watched numerous bass heavy movies (specifically to test this monster out), and I've yet to have any problems!

I realize the 15H is in another league...but, the settings required to get this thing to respond did surprise me. Oh, and yes...this thing does take a few seconds to turn on sometimes (auto mode) when the volume is low. But, has never went to sleep during use.

Anyways, it is interesting to read that the M8 handilly outperformed the VTF-1 for you...they seem very comparable.
Reply
Reply
post #4594 of 5953
1/4/12 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by swgod98 View Post

Anyways, it is interesting to read that the M8 handilly outperformed the VTF-1 for you...they seem very comparable.

They don't seem comparable. The M8 should be easily outclassed by a VTF-1. The M8 would be closer to a STF-1. Thus the confusion.
Reply
Reply
post #4595 of 5953
1/4/12 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leninGHOLA View Post

They don't seem comparable. The M8 should be easily outclassed by a VTF-1. The M8 would be closer to a STF-1. Thus the confusion.

Hmm...I think I got my info mixed up. Thanks. Well, if swolfcg keeps the VTF-1 when he moves to SoCal, he could easily bring it in for eval/comparison.
Reply
Reply
post #4596 of 5953
1/7/12 at 12:49am
Can someone please fill me in on the ballpark price of a used HSU VTF-3 MK3 subwoofer? It is for sale locally by the original owner, who has had it for 3 years, it has never been serviced, but has been "very well taken care of and has no problems at all."

Thanks in advance!
Reply
Reply
post #4597 of 5953
1/7/12 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KtrainHurricane View Post

Can someone please fill me in on the ballpark price of a used HSU VTF-3 MK3 subwoofer? It is for sale locally by the original owner, who has had it for 3 years, it has never been serviced, but has been "very well taken care of and has no problems at all."

Thanks in advance!

I think 450 to 500 would be a fair offer for the sub if it is in good condition. 400 to 450 if it has some cosmetic blemishes.
Reply
Reply
post #4598 of 5953
1/8/12 at 12:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadyJ View Post

I think 450 to 500 would be a fair offer for the sub if it is in good condition. 400 to 450 if it has some cosmetic blemishes.

Thanks!
Reply
Reply
post #4599 of 5953
1/8/12 at 1:17am
In the middle of a divorce. I've left some of my theater equipment in the house for my kids, with the written understanding that it's my property.

I'm disabled to the point where I need a walker in the house and a wheelchair outside. I only mention this because at 39 years old, I'm moving back in with mom and dad. They had me when they were young, so their only 59 and 60.

Too my point. My folks built their home in '04, and they wanted a theater room. Not having much experience, he modeled his theater closely with mine. He has swan diva speakers, along with what I believe is a HSU VTF-3 (Mk1 OR Mk2).

One of the pieces of gear I did take was my HSU rosewood VTF-3R. We also have a pair of Diva 2.1 large bookshelf speakers I want to use as high fronts with Dolby Pro Logic IIz.

The room is a fairly large rectangular room, with the HT taking up about half the space. Sub placement is faily limited. Could I start with placing the subs upfront, close to each corner and go from there?
Reply
Reply
post #4600 of 5953
1/8/12 at 4:24am
I would start at the front corners, see what it sounds like there. Try it in near-field placement too, you may like that spot.
Reply
Reply
post #4601 of 5953
1/8/12 at 9:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alleric View Post

I'm not an industry person by any stretch. Just a layman stereo nut for the past 25 years. But at any rate, there's a write-up of mine back on page 138 of this very thread. On page 139 I threw a youtube link up of of one of the key sequences of the Bach piece I used in my write-up.

Days have passed since then, more material has gone through it and I must say it still is just jaw-dropping. Netflix brought me Cloverfield to mess with last night and for giggles I pulled one of the port plugs out and let chapters 4,5 and 14 roll. The bass was insane but I could immediately hear that idiosyncratic "ported sound". It's not bad, just a bit harsh to me. Fortunately even in the huge room we have I can pull plenty of output out of this thing even when sealed, which is where I usually keep it parked. When I get home tonight I'm going to run through those chapters again sealed, ported, sealed once more and see what's what before the wife gets home.

On music this thing is still the bee's knees. I've ran many, many selections from my orchestral and chamber recordings, my electronica, my metal, blue grass, choral, rock, whatever. It just doesn't matter. This thing running sealed in that huge box with Q set at .3 provides sickening masses of tight, tight bass all the way down to 15hz.

The most staggering thing I keep noticing regardless of material, but especially in movies is how this thing expands the soundfield. Getting the normal transient queues from L/C/R and the surrounds, but now having a sub that can support those transients and subsequent resonances down below 20hz is just jaw-dropping. This thing just drops in under the other speakers and vanishes.

Oh... one more thing on Cloverfield for those that haven't seen it. The acting... is really, really bad. The acting alone almost gave me a headache. :P

edit: Ran the tests again on those chapters as previously stated. Sealed, ported, sealed. My final words to address this would be that if you want shock and awe, go ported. If you want sound quality at more than acceptable levels, go sealed.

Hey Alleric,

Based on your write-up in this thread, I feel like I will have a tendency to keep it more sealed sounding as you did. All the qualities you say you appreciate in this sub in the more sealed mode, I likely will too. That being said, in your opinion, would you have been better of with a sealed sub? Or is there still more low end bang with the ports plugged that give you a better home theater experience with this model?

I appreciate a good tight, defined bass, but I also want explosions rock my face off in movies. Looking for a sub that is a good compromise between those that won't break the bank and the VTF-3.4 seems like what I am narrowing in on (especially with its customizability). But want to be as certain as I can that I wouldn't be happier with a sealed sub.
Reply
Reply
post #4602 of 5953
1/9/12 at 1:26pm
My receiver is a Yamaha RX-V867. When I run YPAO it set my front speakers to large and set the bass crossover at 110Hz. I changed the fronts to small(polk monitor60).

What should I set the bass crossover(on receiver) to? 80Hz?

On the back of the STF-2 I have the Phase at 0.

The volume(on back of sub) is in the 12 o'clock position

the Crossover frequency(on back of sub) set at max

Using sub in cable

I have the Crossover defeat switch set to "IN" (no idea if this is right setting)

Are these the correct settings? Thanks for any help, I'm not very good at this.
Reply
Reply
post #4603 of 5953
1/9/12 at 1:49pm
I'm looking at a few different subwoofers from HSU and SVS, however I'm always worried the sub might not go as low, or as loud, as I want it to (and to future proof my purchase).

In terms of SVS, I've been looking at the SB12-NSD and the PB12-NSD - however, at my current set-up with just a pair of B&W CM5s, I don't know which will work best. The room is about 14*20 ft. and opens to a kitchen and listening to about 40% music, 30% HT, and 30% x-box. I will be upgrading my set-up to CM9s in a few months.

I guess what my question is, if I get the bigger one, will it "outshine" my set-up? Will it still sound as good at low volumes?
Reply
Reply
post #4604 of 5953
1/9/12 at 3:27pm
Bass doesn't outshine, you either have enough to fill the space or you don't. That's a big area and I would go with the larger ported sub. Pretty similar to my room size and setup and I run a pb13 ultra and a hsu vtf2 mk4. Want to get another pb13 one day.
Reply
Reply
post #4605 of 5953
1/10/12 at 7:27pm
Ok I need a little help, I have a VTF3 MK4 the settings are listed below. I was watching Cloverfield and started noticing a popping noise during a few scenes of the movie, could I be bottoming it out?


On Sub:

Volume: 10 O'clock
Phase: 0
Operating Mode: EQ2 with one port plugged
Q Control: .45
Crossover set to: Off

Reciever:RX-A710
Crossover set to:80Hz
Volume set to: -10Db
Reply
Reply
post #4606 of 5953
1/10/12 at 11:07pm
Can you describe the popping noise in more detail? Did it sound like a hammer hitting something or was it a bit softer than that? It might be port chuffing. Place the sub on its side so the ports face out, run the scene that induces the popping at the same volume level, and listen closely to the ports. Feel the air next to the port and if it feels like it is blowing and sucking, it is just chuffing. Chuffing won't damage the sub, so you don't have to worry about that. To get rid of it, just unplug the other port, and give the air more freedom to move. From your sub settings, I'm betting its chuffing.

If it sounds like a hammer is clanking on something in the driver, that is not good. That is bottoming out and it could damage the driver. It doesn't look like it is that though, from looking at your sub settings of EQ2 with a port plugged, the driver is very well protected.
Reply
Reply
post #4607 of 5953
1/11/12 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadyJ View Post

Can you describe the popping noise in more detail? Did it sound like a hammer hitting something or was it a bit softer than that? It might be port chuffing.

It sounds like a popping or ticking sound, I don't think it sounded like port chuffing. It happened maybe five or six times in about ten minuites before I realized it was not part of the sound track.


Place the sub on its side so the ports face out, run the scene that induces the popping at the same volume level, and listen closely to the ports. Feel the air next to the port and if it feels like it is blowing and sucking, it is just chuffing. Chuffing won't damage the sub, so you don't have to worry about that. To get rid of it, just unplug the other port, and give the air more freedom to move. From your sub settings, I'm betting its chuffing.

It has rear firing ports, I will check it out.


If it sounds like a hammer is clanking on something in the driver, that is not good. That is bottoming out and it could damage the driver. It doesn't look like it is that though, from looking at your sub settings of EQ2 with a port plugged, the driver is very well protected.

I don't know just a loud pop is all I can think of to describe it.
Reply
Reply
post #4608 of 5953
1/11/12 at 4:51pm
Picked up a used VTF3.3 with Turbo locally, and I love it (running it in max. extension mode - both ports open with Turbo mounted)! For the first time, I can shake my house with bass that I can barely hear
Reply
Reply
post #4609 of 5953
1/15/12 at 10:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by detroit_fan View Post

My receiver is a Yamaha RX-V867. When I run YPAO it set my front speakers to large and set the bass crossover at 110Hz. I changed the fronts to small(polk monitor60).

What should I set the bass crossover(on receiver) to? 80Hz?

On the back of the STF-2 I have the Phase at 0.

The volume(on back of sub) is in the 12 o'clock position

the Crossover frequency(on back of sub) set at max

Using sub in cable

I have the Crossover defeat switch set to "IN" (no idea if this is right setting)

Are these the correct settings? Thanks for any help, I'm not very good at this.

First, on your receiver, drop your crossover to 80. You were correct to put all your speakers to small. You should set the crossover to out on your sub. That way your receiver will do the crossover and not the sub. Volume at 12 oclock might be a bit hot, but not out of the ordinary. As far as phase goes, play with it. It may sound better at 180, but you'll need to play with it.
Reply
Reply
post #4610 of 5953
1/15/12 at 11:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackangst View Post

First, on your receiver, drop your crossover to 80. You were correct to put all your speakers to small. You should set the crossover to out on your sub. That way your receiver will do the crossover and not the sub. Volume at 12 oclock might be a bit hot, but not out of the ordinary. As far as phase goes, play with it. It may sound better at 180, but you'll need to play with it.

Thank you very much for taking time to reply. I have it set that way now. Just watched Open Range and the gunfight scenes were fantastic!
Reply
Reply
post #4611 of 5953
1/15/12 at 11:36am
Open Range does have great bass with gunshots, I remember when I watched it on DVD for the first time in 2004.
Reply
Reply
post #4612 of 5953
1/15/12 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AtDaBeach View Post

Open Range does have great bass with gunshots, I remember when I watched it on DVD for the first time in 2004.

Yeah the first shotgun blast that went off caused me to jump out of my seat a little lol. I was very surprised to see it wasn't on Blu-ray yet though.
Reply
Reply
post #4613 of 5953
1/18/12 at 6:48pm
Hey guys, just got my VTF3.4 in this week...this thing far and away destroys my previous crappy Polk sub.

Playing around with things and dialing it in and it seems as though I prefer it sealed (both ports plugged) with a Q of .3 and EQ of 1. That's basically as tight sounding as I can make this thing and music in TV shows still seems a tad boomy to me or lacking in mid bass. Or at least the mid bass and deep bass doesn't sound as balanced. Also may mean I am still just getting used to the new sound.

Given my preference for making it tight, it makes me wonder if the ULS15 might have actually been better for me. I'm mostly HT (which is why I chose ported based on reviews here), but TV and movies have music in them and it seems like I am noticing the bottom end boominess slightly too much in the music. Can anyone comment on the sound differences of the ULS15 and VTF3.4 in sealed mode?

Anyone got any tips for better balancing the sound with the rest of my system? I think I'll be picking up a radio shack SPL meter and going through the volume fine tuning outlined in the manual. I take it this should be done with the receiver's master volume at 0dB like when it's doing MCACC self-cal? This was not mentioned in the manual.
Reply
Reply
post #4614 of 5953
1/18/12 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by millerrh View Post

Anyone got any tips for better balancing the sound with the rest of my system? I think I'll be picking up a radio shack SPL meter and going through the volume fine tuning outlined in the manual. I take it this should be done with the receiver's master volume at 0dB like when it's doing MCACC self-cal? This was not mentioned in the manual.

I think a Radio Shack SPL meter would help you a lot. I have always used mine to put the finishing touches on balancing my system. Most tools built into receivers, such as Pioneer's MCACC and Yamaha's YPAO are less than reliable when to comes to setting a sub at the right level and an SPL meter does a better job, I think.
Reply
Reply
post #4615 of 5953
1/18/12 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I think a Radio Shack SPL meter would help you a lot. I have always used mine to put the finishing touches on balancing my system. Most tools built into receivers, such as Pioneer's MCACC and Yamaha's YPAO are less than reliable when to comes to setting a sub at the right level and an SPL meter does a better job, I think.

Thanks, I think that's what I will do here for sure.

The manual says use the analog one, is it better than digital? I'm wondering if I might be having a hard time finding either (no longer listed on their website).

Also, can you confirm that test tones should be played back at 0 dB when doing SPL measurements?
Reply
Reply
post #4616 of 5953
1/18/12 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I think a Radio Shack SPL meter would help you a lot. I have always used mine to put the finishing touches on balancing my system. Most tools built into receivers, such as Pioneer's MCACC and Yamaha's YPAO are less than reliable when to comes to setting a sub at the right level and an SPL meter does a better job, I think.

Good advice. I believe the SPL meter settings are "c" weighted and slow response. I've fallen back to the lazy automatic systems, so I may be wrong. Also, all the articles I've read on the subject recommend the analog unit with the needle and not the unit with the digital display.
Reply
Reply
post #4617 of 5953
1/18/12 at 8:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EJ View Post

Good advice. I believe the SPL meter settings are "c" weighted and slow response. I've fallen back to the lazy automatic systems, so I may be wrong. Also, all the articles I've read on the subject recommend the analog unit with the needle and not the unit with the digital display.

The analog units are generally more sensitive for the price you pay and when you are taking measurements you should be aiming for a range and not an exact number.
At least this is what I have gathered.
Reply
Reply
post #4618 of 5953
1/19/12 at 5:47am
For me it was easier to read a static number than figuring out where a bouncing needle was peaking. My digi works fine. Most of my old analog meters, etc have joined this crowd...
LL
Reply
Reply
post #4619 of 5953
1/19/12 at 6:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by millerrh View Post

Hey guys, just got my VTF3.4 in this week...this thing far and away destroys my previous crappy Polk sub.

Playing around with things and dialing it in and it seems as though I prefer it sealed (both ports plugged) with a Q of .3 and EQ of 1. That's basically as tight sounding as I can make this thing and music in TV shows still seems a tad boomy to me or lacking in mid bass. Or at least the mid bass and deep bass doesn't sound as balanced. Also may mean I am still just getting used to the new sound.

Given my preference for making it tight, it makes me wonder if the ULS15 might have actually been better for me. I'm mostly HT (which is why I chose ported based on reviews here), but TV and movies have music in them and it seems like I am noticing the bottom end boominess slightly too much in the music. Can anyone comment on the sound differences of the ULS15 and VTF3.4 in sealed mode?

Anyone got any tips for better balancing the sound with the rest of my system? I think I'll be picking up a radio shack SPL meter and going through the volume fine tuning outlined in the manual. I take it this should be done with the receiver's master volume at 0dB like when it's doing MCACC self-cal? This was not mentioned in the manual.

If you are going to use the 3.4 sealed, EQ1, I think you'd be better with a ULS.
Reply
Reply
post #4620 of 5953
1/19/12 at 6:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cacihome View Post

If you are going to use the 3.4 sealed, EQ1, I think you'd be better with a ULS.

It seems like people with ULS's are needing more than one to get the output they need for HT but that ported had more output and could fill a room better with only one sub. But yeah, if I'm running it "sealed" I wonder how different they actually are now. It's actually one thing that attracted me to the VTF3.4 though is that I could change it's tuning. I suspected I'd prefer the tighter sealed sound, but without hearing it in my room I didn't really know. At least with the VTF3.4 I can choose this after the fact, which made it seem like a lower risk option that was also cheaper than a ULS.

And if the sound of a sealed VTF3.4 is similar to the ULS, It's actually a cheaper alternative, so I don't totally regret it because sealed it's sounding pretty nice. Just wonder if it would have been even nicer if it was designed sealed.

These are my pre-calibrated impressions though, so it may change. I'm going to spend some time this weekend dialing in my system. Got new B&W speakers as well this week that I need to hook up, so pretty much everything will be reconfigured this weekend and I can report more.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Subwoofers, Bass, and Transducers › ***Official HSU owners/support thread!***