Any specific setting recommendations for F15HP and Sierra Towers.

[racrawford65]

Glad I was able to help, Jim. Also, good point on the subwoofer crawl!

[aiverson]

I've got a Blue Snowball USB mic. Do I need something nicer? The subwoofer is in the only spot it can go. Luckily, it is sounding pretty good where it is at. I'm just trying to fine tune and get some pointers specifically matching with Sierra towers!

I'm definitely going to try measuring the SPL for the phase. Any advice on the crossover? Am I I just listening to what sounds best to me here? Any type of tone tracks I should use for that or just playing music?

EDIT: And to do that phase setup. I'm just getting a 60hz or 80hz tone, or whatever I have my crossover set to, and playing that tone while measuring SPL and adjusting phase?

[racrawford65]

You could try the blue snowball mic with REW. Not sure how accurate/sensitive it is, but you have it and REW is free.

As to the cross-over, yes what sounds best and gives the best integration between mains and subs. If you can use your mic with REW, you can run a sweep and look how the speakers/subs interact in the crossover region. Smooth as possible. Again, I use 80 (and haven't tried 60) but it sounds good to me and "offloads" more of the bass to the subs than the mains. I'd not go higher than 80 (don't want to localize the sub) nor much below 60. You can use bass heavy music that you are familiar with to see which sounds better.

Your edit is correct. Play your cross-over test tone and adjust phase to maximize SPL.

[aiverson]

Seems I get the highest SPL with the Phase at 0.

[Mag_Neato]

If it sounds good to you, you're golden!

[curtis]

Seems I get the highest SPL with the Phase at 0.

What's the crossover frequency? And that is the tone frequency you used to take the SPL measurements?

[Pogre]

In addition to those great recommendations, I'll add this......

Curtis had a great suggestion how to dial in the phase. While playing a test tone that is the same frequency as the crossover point, with mains and sub playing, run a sound pressure level meter (Rat Shack, REW w/UMIK-1, etc) at the listening position while turning the phase dial and leave the dial at the point that produces the highest SPL. Another person to help would be ideal!

Huh. That's an interesting tip I've not heard before. Next time I bust out the gear I'm gonna play with this a little bit.

I have found that adding a couple of feet to my subs does seem to even out my response just a touch better but I haven't tried playing with the phase dial like that.

[racrawford65]

Adding distance is same as adjusting phase