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darth2222
08-23-2007, 02:30 PM
I finally have completed my HT system with the arrival of my SVS 20-39. I was wondering what i should set controls at/ This sub will mainly be used for movies. Also is there any receiver settings i need to mess with besides changing the speaker settings to account for the sub. Any comments will be appriciated.

topspeed
08-23-2007, 04:35 PM
Believe it or not, your shiny new sub is going to be the toughest speaker to properly place. Room modes/nodes can and will wreak havoc on long bass waves. Do a quick search in this forum for fomer sub guru Richard Greene as he authored a few threads on correct room placement and room interaction. Doc Greene has forgotten more about subwoofers than you or I will ever know. It's not very technical and required reading for any audio enthusiast.

The next step is calibrating your rig. If you have a newer AVR, it should have a built in room EQ to take care of this for you. If not, get an analog (not digital) SPL meter from Radio Shack for around $35 and a AVIA or DVE test disk. You can find the discs at Borders, Circuit City, Best Buy, or online. You can also use the pink noise in your set-up menu in your AVR, but they aren't as accurate. Calibrating your rig isn't hard at all and in fact, it's kinda fun! The goal is make sure your all of your speakers are playing at the same SPL/volume at your listening position. This way, one speaker won't overpower another, a situation that screws up imaging, panning, and just about every other reason your bought a HT in the first place. The difference between a properly calibrated rig and one that isn't is literally night and day.

Hope this helps.

PeruvianSkies
08-27-2007, 12:04 AM
You might find this helpful: http://www.psbspeakers.com/audioTopics.php?fpId=105&page_num=1&start=0

Essentially one little tip is to place the sub in the listening spot and move around the room with your ear close to the ground while playing music that involves extended bass passages. When you reach the point where the bass sounds the most blended, then move the sub to that spot and go back to the listening spot and see how that works. I would suggest starting out with your knobs around 12 o'clock and work from there. You can use your receiver to set the crossover, which you might want to keep around 100 for the time being until you get better at doing this sort of thing.