# PB2000 graph!, MiniDSP(help)



## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

Here is an in room graph of my single PB2000. 2525 cu. ft. room with two 5' openings, doorway, stairwell:

No EQ, no smoothing:
Second Graph: MiniDSP, no smoothing:


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

The issue I am having is that my subwoofer output is now very low with the miniDSP inline. Even adjusting the AVR gain from +2 to +10 it is very low. I am sure I just boogered up a setting somewhere. Any ideas?


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## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

It looks loud in your measurement with the minidsp active, are you really running the sweep at 100dB or are you not SPL calibrated?


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

Not SPL calibrated. Was thinking the new Umik-1 did not need SPL but I obviously messed something up. Figured the FR graph is still relevant though.


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## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

The UMIK is a calibrated mic, so as long as you are loading the calibration file into REW then REW is showing you accurate dB SPL! What exactly is the problem you are having?


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

fusseli said:


> The UMIK is a calibrated mic, so as long as you are loading the calibration file into REW then REW is showing you accurate dB SPL! What exactly is the problem you are having?


Pretty sure I pressed the calibrate button on the spl function, which probably messed up the spl calibration. Maybe if I reload the calibration file it will readjust itself? Will be a week from Tuesday before I have time to play with it again.

Pretty sure I made it much harder than it needed to be.


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## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

Yep, no need to manually calibrate. Simply load the cal file.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Bear123 said:


> The issue I am having is that my subwoofer output is now very low with the miniDSP inline. Even adjusting the AVR gain from +2 to +10 it is very low. I am sure I just boogered up a setting somewhere. Any ideas?


Did you use only cutting filters? That’ll do it.

Regards, 
Wayne


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

Thanks Wayne, good chance that could be it. I only remember one area where there was a lot of eq added. Might raise the target and adjust the eq settings.


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## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

You are hitting on the same issue I have with the MiniDSP/UMIK-1. Even with NO filters, it reduces the sound too much. I have tried a lot of things including a Bump Box to change the voltage, opened up the MiniDSP to change the sensitivity jumpers, but regardless the output is diminished too much for me to use the MiniDSP. I did manage to get the curves flat with the MiniDSP at reference volume, but then bass is completely missing for movies…just gone. This is a subject that has been explored and is somewhat complex to tackle. Search these forums on MiniDSP gain samson s-convert.

Unfortunately, I have my MiniDSP sitting on the bench permanenly because of this.


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## workingclass (Feb 15, 2014)

blitzer said:


> You are hitting on the same issue I have with the MiniDSP/UMIK-1. Even with NO filters, it reduces the sound too much. I have tried a lot of things including a Bump Box to change the voltage, opened up the MiniDSP to change the sensitivity jumpers, but regardless the output is diminished too much for me to use the MiniDSP. I did manage to get the curves flat with the MiniDSP at reference volume, but then bass is completely missing for movies…just gone. This is a subject that has been explored and is somewhat complex to tackle. Search these forums on MiniDSP gain samson s-convert.
> 
> Unfortunately, I have my MiniDSP sitting on the bench permanenly because of this.


blitzer, I'm curious. Are you using MS or OSX?


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## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

I tried OSX and REW was not working right at all. I kept getting very different curves and it crashed a lot. You have to do some weird monkeying just to get it to work with the MAC to begin with. I was very disappointed. I switched to Windows and boom - it just worked. It has been my experience that software is just a lot more mature and tested on a PC.


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## workingclass (Feb 15, 2014)

blitzer said:


> I tried OSX and REW was not working right at all.,,,switched to Windows and all was well.


Ugh I somehow knew you were going to say that..


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

blitzer said:


> You are hitting on the same issue I have with the MiniDSP/UMIK-1. Even with NO filters, it reduces the sound too much. I have tried a lot of things including a Bump Box to change the voltage, opened up the MiniDSP to change the sensitivity jumpers, but regardless the output is diminished too much for me to use the MiniDSP. I did manage to get the curves flat with the MiniDSP at reference volume, but then bass is completely missing for movies…just gone. This is a subject that has been explored and is somewhat complex to tackle. Search these forums on MiniDSP gain samson s-convert.
> 
> Unfortunately, I have my MiniDSP sitting on the bench permanenly because of this.


I will run it without filters to see if it reduces output.


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## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

What version of the MiniDSP are you using - also what plugins are you using and what versions? I did some reading and the later versions of the plugins may have fixed some gain issues. I could not tell if it was newer hardware or the newer plugins that made the difference.


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

I have version A, .9Vrms Max, with the 2 way Advanced 2.1 plug in. I cleared all eq and it still cut the subwoofer output in half. Also, had a noticeable stutter while playing the sweep for REW instead of a smooth sound.


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## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

Balanced?


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

miniDSP 2 x 4


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

So I finally got some time to play with REW again today. The miniDSP is still benched as I did not get around to trouble shooting my output issue with it today. However, I feel this may have been a blessing in disguise, as I made what I felt were big gains with an unusual setup. I place my old, vastly inferior sub, a Polk PSW110, nearfield, did some phase adjustments, and ended up with the following results with no eq. Included the Polk graph just to show how whimpy it is...flat 38-60 Hz lol. All graphs are 1/12 smoothing, no EQ, and SPL obviously not calibrated.


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

SPL is working properly now with the Umik-1 and REW. I did not have 5.01 downloaded. When I updated, it asked if I was using the Umik-1, asked for the calibration file and seems to be working properly now, with sweeps occurring at 75 dB or so.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Looks like a big improvement adding the Polk to the mix, congratulations! Usually when you add an inferior sub to a first-class one, overall response is “dumbed down” to that of the inferior sub, as seen here.

Regards, 
Wayne


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

Thanks Wayne, I think I basically got lucky. The Polk as you can see sort of has a sweet spot of output where I have it placed of 40-60 Hz, and this is right where the null of the PB2000 occurred. And I believe having it placed nearfield, which is my only other placement option, helps with keeping the gain lower. I think the miniDSP issue might be an input issue. I have my AVR LFE out going into the miniDSP input. I have a .9V input and may need to switch it to the 2V setup. I can't wait to get it working as this is the *predicted* graph after eq:


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## Bear123 (Dec 31, 2013)

Bah! No luck with the miniDSP. Switched it to 2v input and it is worse than before....I am just about fed up with it..I don't really have time to fiddle endlessly with things. I don't mind putting some effort in but this is just frustrating for something that is supposed to be pretty simple. Almost ready to snag a PB1000 to put where the Polk is and splurge on an XT32 AVR with sub eq.(not really i'm kind of a cheapskate)


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