A new sub question

[CraigT]

I have 340 mains with HSU VTF-2 and H/K AVR 430. I listen primarily to 2ch music. I am finding that I prefer listening to 2ch without sub due to a perceived clarity that is not present with sub...which is what DaveF mentions in another thread. I am convinced, however, this is more due to processed vs. unprocessed audio. For the AVR 430 to filter out the bass it digitizes(D/A) the signal and then converts it back to two analog(D/A) signals. Can anyone (hint, DaveF) comment on this?

[curtis]

I think DaveF mentioned he didn't like the bass in some of today's CD/mixes. There seems to be more and more emphasis on bass in music nowadays.

That said, the performance of a sub has a lot to do with placement and calibration. I know in my room, there are listening areas where the bass sounds spot on, and others where it sounds off.

Many people of told me that EQing the sub for a particular listening area is a "revelation". Because there is more emphasis on bass, I think the EQing of the sub is going to be more and more important for great sound.

Just my 2 cents.

[bikeman]

"Many people of told me that EQing the sub for a particular listening area is a "revelation". Because there is more emphasis on bass, I think the EQing of the sub is going to be more and more important for great sound."


As some of you know, I've just EQ'ed my inexpensive 10" Dayton sub with a BFD. The difference is night and day. Run a sweep of your sub in it's current location and see if there are any peaks. I had one that was 14db higher centered around 60hz. Once I tamed that one, it was a whole new sub. I plan to fine tune the freq. response when I have more time. I don't expect any earth shaking change in the sound like I experienced with the 60hz flattening however.

David

[curtis]

I'm lazy.....

My Sherwood/Newcastle P-965 is suppose have a firmware upgrade that will enable auto-EQ. Although, I am skeptical about auto-EQing the speakers, I do want to do the sub, and the firmware upgrade is suppose to allow for that. So I am in a wait and see mode.

Velodyne also has a standalone auto-EQ for the sub coming out this year as well.

More than one person has tried to talk me into getting a Behringer unit.....who knows, I still might.

[BradJudy]

I thought about picking up a BFD, but am considering R-DES once it is available. I have played with the corresponding software and it's very well done. Unfortunately, it's a good bit more expensive than the BFD.

I think the VTF-2 is a very capable and good sounding sub (I'm biased since I own one) and I have been happy with it for the past 2+ years. Once I actually do some more in-depth measurements, I may be inclined to EQ it one way or another.

[Abhi]

I am enjoying my CBM-170s and VTF-2 with BFD. Before and after BFD is a night and day difference, as bikeman has already pointed out. I can't think of a system without sub-frequency room correction now. BradJudy, R-DES may be a better equipment than BFD, but it has just 4 bands of PEQ, where as BFD has 11 (or 12?) filters available which let you fine tune the response very accurately. I think BFD is just good enough for the bass equalization. Now there is HK 635 which does this and more with its EZ-Setup/Eq automatically.

[curtis]

R-DES is going to be nice, but the Velo unit will only be $100(retail) more and much more capable.

[curtis]

One thing about that HK 635 and its EQ abilities.....there are no specs available....so you don't know what it is doing or how many bands/filters it has.

[BradJudy]

The Velo item has some benefits (not having to connect to a computer and having a remote - I don't expect R-DES will ever have either of these) and I think each will have their fans. I like the R-DES software and being a computer guy I prefer using computer software over the TV interface of the Velo (couldn't they do something to make it look less Atari like?). Admittedly, the ability to throw a stone and hit either AV123 offices or Mark's house gives R-DES a benefit for me that other people don't get from it.

Hopefully R-DES will follow up with nice measurement and auto-EQ functions, although future features shouldn't be primary factors in purchase decisions.

Personally, I'm curious where SVS and Hsu will fall in selling/recommending EQ products. I know SVS already sells two pro EQ options, but I bet they are playing with these new generation EQs intended specifically for subs.

[curtis]

That's like me with Ascend and Hsu......if I wanted to, I could go bug James and David at lunch.

I'm a computer guy too.....and think the R-DES interface looks slick....but I don't want to hook something up to my system to be able to tweak it. Now if I had an HTPC, hooking up R-DES to it would be a no brainer, as well as something like TrueRTA.

Isn't Pong making a comeback?