***Official HSU owners/support thread!*** - Page 162

While you are at it, see if moving your sofa up toward the TV by a foot or so improves the bass smoothness (8 - 8.5 ft from the back of the sofa to the back wall).

Dr_hsu,

I would appreciate your opinion on a sub for my home theater room I'm building. the room is 16ft long x 20 ft wide with 8 ft. ceilings. It's closed off from adjacent rooms. Two couches will be up against the back wall on a raised platform with two more in front on ground level. There will be 2ft between rows of couches and about 8ft between the front set of couches and the TV. I was thinking of running a single vtf-15. What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Given the wide distribution of seating locations, I would go for two VTF-3 MK4s at the 1/3 positions along the front wall (6.7 ft from the corners) if that would not block your screen. Otherwise the two front corners would be fine. This would provide a more even bass distribution than one 15H. Unfortunately the middle row seats will be deficient in low bass. The back row would be great for low bass. For movies with lots of deep bass, sit in the back row! Set the VTF-3 MK4s to two ports open, EQ2 and Q=0.3.

Dr. Hsu,

Attached is the drawing for of my living room. Would appreciate if you could recommend a sub for my Home Theater Setup. I have Polk Monitor 70s as front main speakers and monitor 60s as surrounds. The distance between the TV and the listening position is 12ft.

 

Layout.pdf 31.5322265625k . file

I thought for deeper bass you want higher Q? I had mine set to that but been tinkering with it and experienced deeper bass at two ports open, EQ2 and Q=0.55 while also getting good headroom.

In my Room I got much deeper bass with one port open and EQ1 with Q.7 I tried .3 but I dont see it helping with rolloff in my room even at 12Hz. I still get more with .7

Dr Hsu- another question please- my media room is 13x14x9. speakers to be on a 13' wall. Room can be sealed. Seating will be about 3' off the back wall- L shaped sectional.

I'm looking for the best solution- a pair of STF-2s, 1 VTF2-MK4 or 1 VTF3-MK4.

Thanks
Gene

I tried that at first but the sub kept bottoming out when playing Tron. I play at moderate to high levels so I needed more headroom.

Tron is so bloated with the bass really...not my choice for a test. Does it happen with other movies too? You must bat a very big room. One thing I recommend if possible is a behind the seating area positioning. I did that yesterday and it blew me away...almost literally!

Room is 16x20x8. It did during Immortals, but I had two ports open EQ2 Q 0.7. Immortals is a good movie to test out your setup, I recommend it.

So is having 2 different subwoofer makes and model not something you should do in home theater??? I know the front soundstage (LCR) is for sure important but I never thought matching subs would be that crucial. I was thinking of selling one of my Paradigm subs(DSP-3200) keeping the other Paradigm sub(DSP-3400) and pairing the 3400 to a new HSU VTF15H but I was told not to do that? Can anyone explain why? Is it so you "timbre" match the subs as they say? thx

How much space do you have behind the sofa? Can you fit a VTF-3 MK4 in there sideways? You need about 19" space for that. If you do not have space there, use it as an end table on the left side of the sofa (away from the kitchen).

The lower Q will give tighter bass. That would be where I would start and tweak from there.

For your room, you have great deep bass, so it makes very much sense to set it to one port open. In his case, since his room is only 16 ft deep, he does not have very strong support from the room in the very low bass. This is particularly so for the middle seats. To maximize the enjoyment, higher SPL from 22 Hz up will in my opinion give a better experience from more seats than setting the subs to one port open. That of course is just my take of it. He should play around with all the different settings and choose what is more satisfying to him. That after all, is why we put so much flexibility in our subs. It's like having many different subs to choose from but you just have to pay for one! Of course if one wants to get the most out of the system, one can also set to different modes for different movies. For movies without much deep bass but lots of mid bass, set to two ports open to get more punch in the chest. For movies with lots of deep bass, set it to one port open. That is the fun part of being an audiophile with a highly adjustable sub...

What is the size of the adjoining room(s)? Please post a detailed sketch including the adjoining room(s). Deep bass can be much better if you leave the door to the adjoining room open. Your room is too square if you close the door. Strong 40 - 43 Hz mode if you close the door.

The advantage of having two identical subs is they both reach the limit at the same time (very important to level match them!). Otherwise, what you get is the worst of both subs. This is because whichever sub reaches the limit first will start to generate distortion. For example, if sub 2 can play 5 dB louder than sub 1 at 20 Hz cleanly, because you have both playing, you start hearing distortion 5 dB before sub 2 reaches it's limit! Hence you get the worst of both subs, so to speak.

Sorry. It's hard for me to try to search to see if you had posted your room layout. If you did, can you point me to it? If not, do post it so I can make a placement recommendation. You must be hitting it pretty hard to make it pop! I was just demoing it in our facility with Haunting. The guy was worried that the ceiling mounted projector would fall on his head! No popping even at a pretty extreme level. What was the level setting on the sub, and on the receiver's sub out? Master volume? Which receiver? (Sorry! After looking at so many people's setup a day, I lost track of what system each of you have... )

No prob Dr. Im going to give you a complete breakdown of my room, just not this week. Im an US Army Airborne instructor and this week is our jump week testing phase for the students. Im pretty busy this week, ill give it to you this weekend. Thank you

I attached a PDF of a rough draft of the house. The media room and surrounding rooms have changed little other than the door to the kitchen being moved to the right side.

So one doorway would be in the back right corner and the other doorway would be in the front left about 30" from the corner.

Thanks for your time.

Gene

 

RYNKEWICZ ROUGH DRAFT #7.pdf 119.08984375k . file

At your convenience!

Ah, so the TV is on the wall that has the garage behind it? You said seating is on an L shaped sectional about 3 ft off the back wall. So, you have space behind the sectional to put the sub? If so I would put a VTF-3 MK4 back there with the woofer firing into the back of the sectional. Otherwise, do you have enough space to the right of the sectional to put the sub? Place it next to the door in the back right corner. You should get pretty good 15 Hz in that room with the door to the kitchen open. Set the sub to one port open, EQ2, Q=0.3. Close the door in the back right corner but keep the to the kitchen open.

Mahalo! I would have the space in either of those locations. Behind the sofa would be best so I wouldn't have to walk around it

And by firing into the back of the sectional do you mean the side with the woofer or the back with the ports? I'm guessing side with the woofer.

So nothing in the front will work?

If not it looks like I'm going to have to prewire that spot.

Gene

The front right corner would be fine, but you would not get the same visceral impact you would get with the sub behind your back.

Yes, woofer firing into the back of the sofa.

Before you pre-wire, try the sub in different locations. If you like the behind the sofa position best, then you wire it there. You can also do the subwoofer crawling method if you have a good measurement system like the REW. Put the sub on your best spot on the sofa, woofer at ear level. Place the mike at the back of the sofa where the woofer would be if the sub is there. Adjust for around 80 dB reading at 40 Hz. Run the frequency response. Move the mic to other locations around the room where you can put the sub. Take a measurement at each potential location. Do not change the signal level between runs. Show me all the curves and I will help you pick the best location.

I have 18" behind the sofa. I think I can move it an inch forward. Do you think VTF-15H would be an overkill in my situation?

No, not an overkill. A bigger sub will always be less stressed for the same listening level, and always lower distortion and more headroom for a more effortless and dynamic bass.

As EJ said in post 4684, 'When most of you basically said "you can't have too many subwoofers." I was skeptical, but the proof was in the sound.'

Thanks Dr. Hsu !

You are most welcome!

Hello Dr.Hsu,

I purchased a VTF-1 recently off eBay. Once I got the placement right (next to my couch against a wall) the sub really came to life, I love everything about it except that I'm not getting that mid-bass "punch in the chest" feeling I was looking for, it does go plenty low for my room though in max extension mode.

Would I be able to add a MBM-12 next to the VTF-1 and have good results? (Both would be on the same side of the couch next to a wall, there is no wall behind the couch)

I'm really looking to get that hard punch back with gunshots, rapid explosions, etc.

Thanks

Thank you so much for your time and help. Prewiring will need to be done before the drywall goes on- well before I can test anything out

I might just run a cable to the back anyway.

Is wireless an option with your subs?

Gene

Please post your room layout. Include details of adjoining rooms. Adding an MBM certainly would help greatly for punch in the back. With your room layout, we can determine if after adding the MBM, is there a more optimal location for your VTF-1.