Hello Everybody.

Times are now quite joyous here. Several weeks ago we finished the entertainment area in the basement. All the equipment was moved from the upstairs living area (and acoustical nightmare: bare walls with wood-laminate flooring).

Our basement area for the system is 17.5 x 14.5 x 8 ft. There is a bar at the front right corner of the room which extends the dimensions by 4 ft of that side wall. There also an open walkway which extends to the stairs and main floor, so our listening space cannot be enclosed. Acoustical furnishings include, well padded carpeting, a small sofa 3.5 ft from the back wall, and acoustic ceiling panels. The speaker drivers are 3 ft from the back wall and 6.5 feet from eachother, and 13 ft from the listening sofa. We have two Servo 15s stacked in the front left corner, their drivers alligned with the mains' drivers.

I tell ya, trying to do this sub thing is a pain in the gooner! I think before I had both the crossover and level way to high. At moderate levels, the bass was powerful and deep and there was a slight but satisfying rumble that could be felt on some notes. But the minute we got to comfortably loud, the bass became overwhelming and the panels, the plaques on the walls, and every 2by4 that held this place up would rattle irritatingly. This is the way people want to hear it now when they come over. But it just doesn't sound right.

After tweaking the speaker placement and all the sub calibrations (by ear, no money for the fancy gadgets). I think I got it right. I now have the crossover set around 65 Hz, the level on the subs at exactly 50% gain, and the level on the X30 at about 30% gain. I can attest to the difference in imaging that a properly set up sub-bass system can add to the mix. There is suddenly better imaging, clarity, and presence about the music (and videos). The deep bass is almost visible or palpable, and there is much less audible room vibration during louder playback, but that little thud you can feel is there. I await the arrival of the SPL meter and test disc to see how my ear calibration measure up to the special devices.

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?

THOB

BTW, Matrix Revolutions? Yeah, good bass.