[shadyJ]

 Here are some test tones and other sounds I made to help measure and compare subwoofer performance. They are mostly simple sine wave in .WAV files. They are mostly set at maximum amplitude (0 dBFS), so be careful before you play them, especially the very low tones, which I would say is anything under 20 hertz for most subs. Read the text file included in the package! There are tones going down to 2 hertz (not that I expect those to be especially useful, but I thought what the hell, why not). There is stuff in here that will make any subwoofer beg for mercy.


Give me some feedback though, tell me what works well and if you found anything helpful. I want to know what you guys think! Tell me how your sub fared with the varying sounds in the package. If you have multiple subs, use these sounds to compare them, and don't forget to tell us the results!


I haven't tested these tones out on all of my subs, but when I do, I will post the results here.

LINK to the files.

Let me know if that link isn't working.

 

[Nino1919]

Hey, thanks alot that was very kind of you. I will test it out on my little vx10 to see how it does. I want to know if it can really go down the the 36hz it claims.

 

[saprano]

Thanks! just downloaded. I love testings things.

 

[mbfleming]

Thank you very much shadyJ. Good work. I especially like heavy bass noodling.wav


Here is his readme file for others who might be interested:

Quote:
These are just a collection of some simple bass WAV file sounds for use to help gauge subwoofer performance.

Be warned that the digital full scale is saturated, which means the recording is maximally loud.

It should be pretty easy to find the limits of your subwoofer with some of these sounds.

Feel free to distribute these files and do whatever you like with them.


This ZIP file should contain:


(2 to 90) hertz 10 seconds.wav


These files are what their name would indicate, 10 seconds of a sine wave in the titled frequency.


100 hertz to 5 hertz bounce sweep.wav


This sine wave sound starts at 100 hertz and falls continuously to 5 hertz and rises back up to 100 hertz.


beats.wav


This file is some fairly low frequency beats with sharp attack and decay.

It might be useful in comparing transient response between subs.

When the tempo speeds up, the beats should remain distinguishable until the very fastest point.


deep bass 5 to 25 hertz tones.wav


This is just two second stepping sine waves with no breaks going from 25 hertz to 5 hertz.

I made it for a quick way to examine the deep bass capabilities.


discreet tones 100 to 12 hertz.wav


This is 1/10 second sine wave tones with 1/20 second gaps falling from 100 hertz to 12 hertz.

It might also be useful for gauging transient response and decay because of the sudden starting and stopping.


stepped tones 100 to 15 hertz.waz


Four rapid pulses of 100 to 15 hertz sweeps.

This is a stepped sweep, not a continuous sweep, although it wouldn't be humanly discernable.


heavy bass noodling.wav


This is just a simple arpeggaitted sequence which contains some pretty deep and heavy bass.

Although it might not sound like it, it should be pushing your subwoofer pretty hard.

Can you tell us how you created them?

 

[shadyJ]

I used a simple tone generator in a audio editor called Sound Forge for all the sine waves. For the heavy bass noodling and the beats, I used a Roland JP-8000 synthesizer. The Heavy bass noodling might be useful because underneath the audible melody is some very heavy bass, and if you look at your driver you ought to see some pretty serious excursion, depending on the volume you have it set it. You shouldn't be able to hear it very well though, and if the melody sounds like it's clipping or going through a distortion pedal, then your system isn't handling the deep bass well. It should sound clean.


My ULS-15 handles everything with aplomb. Of course, you can't hear it producing 12 hertz notes but you can definitely see the cone moving. My VTF3 mk3 handles almost everything well but strains a little bit with some of the seriously deep stuff. It didn't bottom out of chuff though. MY A3-300 handles many of the tones well, but it seems like it won't even try with the really deep tones. I don't know if this is due to a limiter or filter of some kind. Perhaps it's just a sub which knows its limits, which is a good thing.


By the way, I had trouble turning the wav files into a CD with Infrarecorder and WMP, but it worked in Winamp's media library burner. I turned the files into 320 kbps MP3's for anyone who is having trouble burning this stuff onto a CD. I don't know why some programs game me trouble for trying to burn this stuff on CD, they are just plain vanilla wav files. Anyway, here is the same package but in MP3.

 

[mbfleming]

I may be dating myself, but back in the olden days (before the internet), all I had was this Denon Audio test CD:

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-Audio-Te.../dp/B0000034ME

It's really cool that we can make our own now. I have an old copy of SoundForge around here some where. I'll have to dig it up and install it...

 

[sandworms]

added to favs, thanx bro

 

[Derry]

downloaded to a cd but DVD reader will not open it,,?? plays music CDs all the time,, any ideas,,


thanks


Derry

 

[penngray]

I have to ask...how is this useful without measuring tools?


You guys realize that you can just download REW for free and play any tone, pink noise you want from your PC.


Is this for those who do not have a PC?


Still I wonder how its use full without measuring tools.

 

[shadyJ]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Derry /forum/post/18261363


downloaded to a cd but DVD reader will not open it,,?? plays music CDs all the time,, any ideas,,


thanks


Derry

Have you tried the MP3 files link ? The WAV files are trickier to burn to CD's for some reason.

 

[shadyJ]

The individual tones themselves aren't more useful than what you can get from REW, at least as far as measuring tools goes. The most useful parts of this file is the stuff with quick attack and decays, the "beats" and the "discreet tones 100 to 12 hertz.wav" files, which I am hoping will show how well your sub systems transient response performs.


This isn't meant really for measuring tools, this is just to hear and compare how subwoofers handle a couple different aspects of sound subjectively. As such, it isn't enormously useful for calibrating systems with any precision, since you could only do it by ear. I mostly made it for the sounds which which can show transient response without having to deal with higher frequency sounds which can sometimes mask what the sub is truly producing. I am not even sure any of these sounds are valuable in that respect, and it was just an idea I had and something I whipped up in an afternoon.

 

[penngray]

Thanks, I was curious on how they are used. I wasnt trying to say they can not be used. Just didnt understand how to use something like that instead of measurements.

 

[monomer]

Thanks very much and take heart that your efforts and the willingness to share are greatly appreciated. I will try them out tonight. Yes, I think the beats and noodling might be quite useful indeed.

Its funny how things have changed with the advent of REW... audio calibration and evaluation now seems to require some visual, where it seems the eyes have now become more important in judging audio performance than the ears... back in the "olden days" even a simple a sweep could be very revealing, today it seems it must be visually correct before its deemed to sound good. I've been using REW for years but still regard my hearing as being the ultimate piece of test gear as well as the final arbiter.

 

[Gov]

Great thanks, pal!! BTW, how is the Panny BD player holding up?

 

[shadyJ]

The BD player is terrific, thanks! Going from 32" standard definition to 1080p 125" projection has been just... wow. Lets just say I watch a lot more movies nowadays!

 

[whasaaaab]

this is a good link for bass test for any subwoofer. here are two links both free
http://www.realtraps.com/test-cd.htm

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4483...ofer_Bass_Test

this one is good i used this as well to test the sub25 with some other sub test materials it has 17 songs and tones

 

[whasaaaab]



Quote:
Originally Posted by shadyJ /forum/post/18262568


The BD player is terrific, thanks! Going from 32" standard definition to 1080p 125" projection has been just... wow. Lets just say I watch a lot more movies nowadays!

congrats what projector did you get? i want the new sim projector it has 100'000 to 1 contrast there moving up slowly. by next year they will be phenominal. Or i might get the 83" mistubishi tv if they perfect it more

 

[homank76]

Thank you

 

[shadyJ]



Quote:
Originally Posted by whasaaaab /forum/post/18262617


congrats what projector did you get? i want the new sim projector it has 100'000 to 1 contrast there moving up slowly. by next year they will be phenominal. Or i might get the 83" mistubishi tv if they perfect it more

I got a Optoma HD20. There are better projectors out there, but my budget was $1k.

 

[Oldfart]

I had an unanticipated problem in trying your sounds. Between 18 and 30Hz something vibrated noisily, pictures on the wall went cockeyed, and a vase on a shelf on the wall in the room behind my subs fell off.