Video Asylum

Posted by One Dark Cat (i) on January 22, 2001 at 13:19:12:

In Reply to: problems with narrow sweetspot, need advise! posted by power on January 20, 2001 at 19:49:43:

I can't help you with your sweet spot problem (I have a very similar problem right now) but I can give you a couple of tips that helped me with my sub. You may already know all of this but here it goes.

First, try placing the sub where you would normally sit, put on a source that has good, accurate varied bass and try walking around the room until you find the spot that sounds best. Not boomy or boxy, but tight and accurate. When I did this I unhooked my other speakers and only listened to the sub. The corners are a good place to start as they tend to reinforce bass. When you find a good spot mark it and keep walking around the room. Pretty soon you should have two maybe three spots that sound good but one will start to sound better. That's where you put the sub.

Once you get the sub where you think you will want it, hook up your main speakers, throw on some music and have someone switch the phase around. One position will have noticeably more bass then the other.

Try using a SPL meter and a set up disc that will roll through your speakers to balance out the sound pressure from each speaker, including your sub. But this is only a place to start as you will still need to play music and movies to get the final sound right.

After the above play a lot of music and tweak until it sounds right to you. I set my crossover at 70 hertzs, about 20 hertz above where my mains start to roll off (my mains are flat to about 47 hertz. I also run my mains as small, but that is very system dependant and you should try both small and large.

Hope that helps,

Jeff