[blake18]

I have been noticing for a little while that I start to get fatigued during bass heavy scenes in movies. I mean, I don't have my subs turned up very high... I have the cut-off frequency on my subs at about 120hz, would this be the cause? Not sure if I can lower it without losing a lot of mid-bass, my center, mains, and surrounds go down to about 130hz as their stated specs. I find myself waiting for the bass heavy parts to end, whereas I used to look forward to them.


It especially happens during scenes where the bass extends for a while, like during a long explosion. A primary example would be of the helicopter scene in the first Matrix movie, when the helicopter crashes into the building - that scene is almost unbearable for me. It just fatigues me a lot more then I know it should.

 

[mojomike]

Have you done any calibration? You may simple have the sub running too hot. Another possibility is that you may have some obnoxious peaks in the response. This certainly can give you bass fatigue. You would need to chart the frequency response to determine this.

 

[lalakersfan34]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mojomike /forum/post/12954455


Have you done any calibration? You may simple have the sub running too hot. Another possibility is that you may have some obnoxious peaks in the response. This certainly can give you bass fatigue. You would need to chart the frequency response to determine this.

Those would be my guesses as well. It's easy to be running your sub 8-10dB hot without even noticing it until you calibrate. The guess about peaks is probably even more likely. See if you can change subwoofer placement, even just slightly - it can make a big difference. It wouldn't be uncommon to find peaks of probably 10-20dB at certain frequencies depending on where you are in the room and where the subwoofer is. These can really be fatiguing. I'd follow mojomike's advice and see if you can chart frequency response.

 

[blake18]

Hmm, I'm thinkin you guys might be right... I noticed when I took my subs out of the corners, the fatigue did go down a huge amount (I placed them along the center of the front and rear walls). However, the bass output also went down a LOT - almost half as loud. It seems that when I corner loud my subs I get major peaks that are extremely fatiguing.


I really don't know what to do about the frequency setting issue. I mean my center, mains and surrounds go down to 130hz, yet 80hz is my preferred setting on my subs - it just sounds SO much smoother at 80hz to me. How am going to not lose that entire range between 80 and 130...?

 

[lalakersfan34]



Quote:
Originally Posted by blake18 /forum/post/12954629


Hmm, I'm thinkin you guys might be right... I noticed when I took my subs out of the corners, the fatigue did go down a huge amount (I placed them along the center of the front and rear walls). However, the bass output also went down a LOT - almost half as loud. It seems that when I corner loud my subs I get major peaks that are extremely fatiguing.


I really don't know what to do about the frequency setting issue. I mean my center, mains and surrounds go down to 130hz, yet 80hz is my preferred setting on my subs - it just sounds SO much smoother at 80hz to me.

What subs do you have? If you're using a 120hz crossover, your subs still probably have substantial output at 160hz and even 200hz. Many subs aren't linear that high up, and you might have a lot of upper bass distortion going on too. Again, try calibrating with an SPL meter to see if your subs are calibrated really hot. It's quite possible, and I think it's pretty normal for people to naturally have the bass calibrated too loud. You might just be used to having way too much bass. It might take some getting used to if you tone it down, but I think in the end you'll be glad you did, as your system will integrate better, and movies (and especially music) will sound far more natural.

 

[mojomike]

Your simplest starting point is to invest in a $40 RadioShack SPL meter and do a basic level calibration. Set the sub level to about the same as your main speakers or slightly higher by a few db if it sounds too weak to you.

 

[blake18]



Quote:
Originally Posted by lalakersfan34 /forum/post/12954698


What subs do you have? If you're using a 120hz crossover, your subs still probably have substantial output at 160hz and even 200hz. Many subs aren't linear that high up, and you might have a lot of upper bass distortion going on too. Again, try calibrating with an SPL meter to see if your subs are calibrated really hot. It's quite possible, and I think it's pretty normal for people to naturally have the bass calibrated too loud. You might just be used to having way too much bass. It might take some getting used to if you tone it down, but I think in the end you'll be glad you did, as your system will integrate better, and movies (and especially music) will sound far more natural.

I have tried reducing the volume a LOT, I have the dials on my subs set about 30% and my receiver set to -10db. I STILL get these damn peaks even when I turn things way down. I'm not used to heavy bass, I can't stand overbearing bass in anything - I WAY prefer a more natural sound, which is why this is so irritating to me. And I just have no idea what to do about losing an entire frequency range between 80 and 130...

 

[mojomike]

You may not be losing it at all. If there tends to be a peak in that area, leaving a bit of a crossover gap may be just the thing to reduce that peak. That's where frequency response charting comes into play.

 

[blake18]

From what I can tell there isn't really a big gap in frequency response. Everything sounds great accept for the huge bass peaks. That said, I think I did figure out what was causing those peaks. I have two subs in the rear right corner of my room stacked on top of one another to sort of make them "one-big-sub". I decided to turn off the 10" sub that is in the front left of my room, as it's the closest sub to the listening position. It would appear that this massively reduced the large peaks in bass I was getting. Clearly the 10" was way too close to the listening position (only about 3 feet away). I am going to now stack all 3 subs to make one giant sub, and test it that way. The rear right corner subs are about 6 feet away.

 

[OvalNut]

Hi blake,


As stated above:


1. Go to Radio Shack and get an SPL meter.


2. Get a copy of Avia.


3. Pull your subs out of the corners a bit as you've done.


4. Set your receiver sub trim level to -5


5. With the SPL meter at the listening position, run the subwoofer tests on Avia. Adjust ONLY the gain dial on the subwoofers so that the total output at the listening position as measured by the SPL meter is about 1 to 2 db louder than your main speakers. Leave the gain setting at wherever it ends up.


* In absence of Avia, you could also use your receiver's test tones for checking the subwoofer level, but Avia is the preferred method.


** You also want to check/adjust the Phase setting of the subs, but for now let's stick with the above and see how it sounds.


*** The only way to tell for sure what is happening though is to map the frequency reponse using sine waves or Room EQ Wizard or a real time analyzer like TrueRTA. Right now there is a lot of guesswork going on due to lack of information.


**** What makes/models of subs are you using?



Tim