Harsh sound from Sierra 1 after looping through Rhythmik sub high pass?

[Brannigan]

I can't make up my mind whether I'm imagining this so hopefully I can get some input. It seems like my Sierras are sort of shouting at me sometimes ever since I ran them through my Rhythmik F15 to take advantage of the high pass filter. It sounds good for the most part but I find myself cringing from some higher frequencies like a loud person is shouting through a cell phone. I was told by a guy from Rhythmik that the built in high pass of the F15 sub adds 6db gain and it definitely sounds far louder at a lower point on the dial of my receiver. Somebody mentioned to me that too much gain can mess up the loudness contour and possibly have other negative effects. Is this true? I'm going to try an in line attenuator with my current setup and also a 70hz passive line level crossover (without the attenuator and F15 high pass) to compare but I'm having doubts about whether I'm wasting my money and should perhaps cancel the extra stuff before it ships. Dave mentioned Q plugs and that's next on the list if the attenuator or the passive x over don't work. Hopefully somebody here tells me something obvious that I didn't think of and saves me some trouble. Thanks for reading all that.

[soundseeker]

Can you tell us a bit more about your setup? What components, what sources, how are they connected?

[Brannigan]

I have an HK3490 receiver with 7 feet of belden rg59 dual shielded rca cables with canare connectors going from the the pre out of the receiver to the input on the rhythmik F15 sub and back out with the same type of cable in to the main in on the HK3490. The sierras are connected with 12 gauge speaker wire about 10 feet long. My music source is my computer with a xonar essence stx sound card set to hifi mode. The card uses the same type of cable as before. There's a chance these speakers are just too accurate for the average recording and I'm just hearing the crappiness for the first time. Not sure. Here's a link to the cables.

http://www.cablesforless.com/Super-H...P5167C201.aspx

[Brannigan]

I installed a passive 70hz high pass filter last night and the speakers sound much better. Only problem is now the rear ports on the sierras are conflicting with the sub like they were when I ran them full range without a high pass, just not quite as bad. The rear corner of the room on the side with the sub has some nasty WOOOMWOOOOMWOOOMM going on. Gonna start looking into corner bass traps.

[Mag_Neato]

I installed a passive 70hz high pass filter last night and the speakers sound much better. Only problem is now the rear ports on the sierras are conflicting with the sub like they were when I ran them full range without a high pass, just not quite as bad. The rear corner of the room on the side with the sub has some nasty WOOOMWOOOOMWOOOMM going on. Gonna start looking into corner bass traps.

If the ports are the culprit, you may want to try the "Q"-plugs designed specifically for the Sierra-1 ports. Click on the "Purchase" button at top of the home page, then click "Buy Ascend now", then click "Accessories" on the left.

[Brannigan]

If the ports are the culprit, you may want to try the "Q"-plugs designed specifically for the Sierra-1 ports. Click on the "Purchase" button at top of the home page, then click "Buy Ascend now", then click "Accessories" on the left.

Doesn't this affect the way the drivers move because of resticted air flow through the port?

[Mag_Neato]

Doesn't this affect the way the drivers move because of resticted air flow through the port?

Read this thread for better info than I can give you.

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=3784

Sounds like the "B" plug would work for you.

[davef]

I installed a passive 70hz high pass filter last night and the speakers sound much better. Only problem is now the rear ports on the sierras are conflicting with the sub like they were when I ran them full range without a high pass, just not quite as bad. The rear corner of the room on the side with the sub has some nasty WOOOMWOOOOMWOOOMM going on. Gonna start looking into corner bass traps.

Quick question for you.... What are you using to create a passive 70Hz high pass filter on the speakers?

[Brannigan]

Quick question for you.... What are you using to create a passive 70Hz high pass filter on the speakers?

this

http://store.hlabs.com/pk4/store.pl?view_product=27

[davef]

this

http://store.hlabs.com/pk4/store.pl?view_product=27

I would be most curious to see a schematic for this device. The problem with passive devices such as these is that the actual -3dB point for the HP filter will vary depending upon the input impedance of your amplifier. It won't be a dramatic difference but also don't assume that the 70Hz filter is really 70Hz.

I would try experimenting with the different filter settings. However, I still feel your best option is to use our Q-Plugs