Finally Set Up...A Subwoofer Calibrating Experience

[kingdaddykeith]

I'm curious to know from my fellow sonic-holics what your bass experiences are like. Where are your subs? How are you coping with your room difficulties? How do you like your buh-buh-bass? Are you the conservative that likes it accurate or the level-cranking liberal that wants to feel the rumble of every note? When did you know you 'got it right'? For those who have calibrated with an SPL reader, how did your calibrations by ear compare with the device?

You can never get close by ear, I use a Test Disc that I made myself with sine wave test tones starting at 10Hz to 120Hz at 1 Hz spacing, and a modified RS SPL meter with a pana mic wand (DIY). This will show you where your peaks and dips are, but even then you cant do anything about them if you don’t have a Parametric EQ like the Behringer Feedback Destroyer. Once finished the sound is night and day different, my 2 Maelstrom Subs are flat in room from 15Hz to 80Hz.

[magictooth]

Once finished the sound is night and day different, my 2 Maelstrom Subs are flat in room from 15Hz to 80Hz.

Holy smokes,

2?!

Maelstroms? How big is each unit? Do you have any place to sit?

About the real thread though, go and get a test disc and SPL. It's amazing that you're unwilling to spend a little bit in order to get the best out of both your Servo-15s. That's a large amount of money you've spent on subs.

[bikehikefish]

You can pick up a Rat Shack SPL meter on EBAY for less than 35 bucks. Then get a Stryke Bass Zone CD with all the test tones for about 12 bucks.

Once you graph out your bass, you will WANT to get the Behringer Feedback Destroyer (on EBAY from $50 - $90).

I moved my Paradigm PS-1000 from the corner to between the front speakers and that flattened the curve, but there were still two peaks, one at 40 HZ and one at 55HZ. The BFD got rid of the peaks. After the booms at those two frequencies were eliminated, I had to turn up the volume on the sub to match the fronts. This was a good thing, as the bass is now at an appropriate level from 30 - 80 HZ, instead of the level being dictated by the 40 HZ peak, with the other frequencies being relatively lower.

[the hand of boredom]

Holy smokes,

2?!

Maelstroms? How big is each unit? Do you have any place to sit?

About the real thread though, go and get a test disc and SPL. It's amazing that you're unwilling to spend a little bit in order to get the best out of both your Servo-15s. That's a large amount of money you've spent on subs.

Magic:

To add to my original post, and to reply to yours I know that I don't quite have it perfect, but it is MUCH better now that I am closer to perfection. The money spent on the 15s is well worth it, I enjoy the performance alot.

I really am excited about obtaining an SPL an test disc for a few reasons:

1. to see just how imbalanced the response is
2. to play with more audio toys
3. to see how close (or far) my ear's calibration is to that of the device

However, with the finishing of the basement and all the other economic perks of moving into a new house I don't have enough dolla-bills to drop on a parametric EQ. After getting used to the sound of the system in the basement there doesn't appear to be a noticeable peak, but I know for a fact that there is a null somewhere along the response curve that I can do nothing about at the moment.

When I start working again in a week I'll be able to have some interest in shopping around for an EQ. At that point, the fun can start.

THOB

[magictooth]

2. to play with more audio toys
THOB

That's all the reason I need to justify a new purchase...even if the wife disagrees.

[the hand of boredom]

You can never get close by ear, I use a Test Disc that I made myself with sine wave test tones starting at 10Hz to 120Hz at 1 Hz spacing, and a modified RS SPL meter with a pana mic wand (DIY). This will show you where your peaks and dips are, but even then you cant do anything about them if you don’t have a Parametric EQ like the Behringer Feedback Destroyer. Once finished the sound is night and day different, my 2 Maelstrom Subs are flat in room from 15Hz to 80Hz.

Waddup Player!

Where did you get those sine waves from? I tried using Kazaa search to no avail!

15 Hz is lethal. Good show. Are the Maelstroms 15 inchers?

THOB

[Woochifer]

Waddup Player!

Where did you get those sine waves from? I tried using Kazaa search to no avail!

15 Hz is lethal. Good show. Are the Maelstroms 15 inchers?

THOB

I guess all those downloaders on Kazaa aren't audio hobbyists!

Here's a great website that has pointers on how to EQ a subwoofer using a Behringer Feedback Destroyer. It's the site that I mainly used when setting up my subwoofer (there is a learning curve, but the results are worth it). It also has a series of sine wave MP3 files posted, as well as an Excel spreadsheet that you can use to plot your frequency response (it also has the correction values that correspond to the Radio Shack analog SPL meter, which gets progressively less sensitive in the lower frequencies).

http://www.snapbug.ws/bfd.htm

[magictooth]

Waddup Player!

Where did you get those sine waves from? I tried using Kazaa search to no avail!

15 Hz is lethal. Good show. Are the Maelstroms 15 inchers?

THOB

I think that they're 18" drivers. The Tempest is a 15". The Maelstroms apparently have a higher sensitivity so you don't need a more powerful amp to drive them.

[kingdaddykeith]

Waddup Player!

Where did you get those sine waves from? I tried using Kazaa search to no avail!

15 Hz is lethal. Good show. Are the Maelstroms 15 inchers?

THOB

The Maelstroms are 18” drivers made by Adire, I’ve built 2 sonotubes using these and my experience mimics Woochifer’s, they sounded quite bad until I added a BFD and used the software program to plot the room response. Here ars some links to the Tone Generator and Room response program.


Tone Generator (freeware)
http://www.nch.com.au/tonegen/#104

Room response program
http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/eq/peq.htm

[the hand of boredom]

The Maelstroms are 18” drivers made by Adire, I’ve built 2 sonotubes using these and my experience mimics Woochifer’s, they sounded quite bad until I added a BFD and used the software program to plot the room response. Here ars some links to the Tone Generator and Room response program.


Tone Generator (freeware)
http://www.nch.com.au/tonegen/#104

Room response program
http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/eq/peq.htm

'
Sa-WEET Damn!

That thing is a bee-yute! Two 18 inch drivers?! That is quite insane. The sub looks really nice, man. It compliments the the decor of the room from what I can see. I hope they bring you hours of visceral abuse. How many watts running into 'em?

THOB

[kingdaddykeith]

Thanks:

I'm running a Mackie 1400i trrough a Behringer Feedback Destroyer. With the VC paralleled (2 Ohm) thats approx 700W per sub in a 14x14.5 room, more then enough. I actually made them to fit the decor of my main speakers more then the room.

[the hand of boredom]

Thanks:

I'm running a Mackie 1400i trrough a Behringer Feedback Destroyer. With the VC paralleled (2 Ohm) thats approx 700W per sub in a 14x14.5 room, more then enough. I actually made them to fit the decor of my main speakers more then the room.

Visually, quite impressive. You've done some nice work. So let me get this straight. You have a 14 x 14 room with two 18s. You should get some medication for your bassoholism.
That mains look interesting. What can you tell me about those? Are they DIY?

THOB

[kingdaddykeith]

That mains look interesting. What can you tell me about those? Are they DIY?

THOB

Yes there DIY:
The drivers are Scan-Speak 8530-K00 midwoofers with a Vifa XT25 tweeter in a MTM config. The entire system 2 woofers 2 mains, 2 subwoofers and center and surrounds are actually all DIY and all active through Marchand XM9-3kk and XM44-4 electronic crossovers fed by all Sony ES amps and preamp. Right now the tweeters are 1st order electrical at 3k and the mids are 4th order at 2.8K, but I'm still working on that and I'm about to get the Halo C2 and 2 A52 amps soon.

My diy site
http://www.geocities.com/kingdaddyke...?1078331805978