# Subwoofer issues



## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

I did the subwoofer crawl and place it where I got the highest spl and flattest response and then ran Audyssey. The sub when watching movies only it has an echo or leaves a ringing on my left ear. Could it be that I just need to place it in a place with a different spl reading? My sub is a Hsu VTF3 MK4.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

It sounds like the distance setting is wrong, Did you change it after Audyssey was ran?


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## 86eldel68-deactivated (Nov 30, 2010)

:reading: :arrow:


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

asere said:


> I did the subwoofer crawl and place it where I got the highest spl and flattest response and then ran Audyssey. The sub when watching movies only it has an echo or leaves a ringing on my left ear. Could it be that I just need to place it in a place with a different spl reading? My sub is a Hsu VTF3 MK4.


Where is it placed? Is it in a corner?


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> The sub when watching movies only it has an echo or leaves a ringing on my left ear.


At the risk of sounding silly... are you certain it's not a harmonic of the room, or perhaps something in the room, that's making the ringing sound. If you did the sub crawl, level matched and ran Audyssey that should have dialed everything in pretty well.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

theJman said:


> At the risk of sounding silly... are you certain it's not a harmonic of the room, or perhaps something in the room, that's making the ringing sound. If you did the sub crawl, level matched and ran Audyssey that should have dialed everything in pretty well.


That's a really good question --- by "only when watching movies" - do you mean at real high SPL?

I've heard noises that I thought were sub related, but it was the drywall or the room making noise.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

Zeitgeist said:


> That's a really good question --- by "only when watching movies" - do you mean at real high SPL?
> 
> I've heard noises that I thought were sub related, but it was the drywall or the room making noise.


It is in a corner firing at the fireplace with the ports opened to the window. The sub does not make rattling noise because of the fireplace and yes only at high SPL.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

asere said:


> It is in a corner firing at the fireplace with the ports opened to the window. The sub does not make rattling noise because of the fireplace and yes only at high SPL.


If you move it out of the corner and play at high SPL - can you reproduce it?

Corners normally mean high SPL, but part of why it's high is because it's energizing tons of room modes.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> It sounds like the distance setting is wrong, Did you change it after Audyssey was ran?[/QUOTE
> 
> The distance after running Audyssey was closer but I asked Chris with Audyssey and he said the distance does not matter because Audyssey uses filters.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

Zeitgeist said:


> If you move it out of the corner and play at high SPL - can you reproduce it?
> 
> Corners normally mean high SPL, but part of why it's high is because it's energizing tons of room modes.


I have moved it before and did not like the results on the original placement because it was like not having a sub. Hardly any bass. Right now it is placed at sofa side by fireplace with high SPL. Here are the SPL measurements.

The couch by the door on the door side:

68,68,66,75,75,71,66

The sofa side by the door:

68,74,66,72,67,64,60

The sofa side by fireplace:

75,76,70,72,70,64,64

The side between fireplace and components:

76,76,73,73,73,66,60

Original placement:

76,72,71,75,64,64,66


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> It is in a corner firing at the fireplace with the ports opened to the window.


There's a lot of energy coming out of those ports, so depending upon how close they are to those windows you might have found the issue right there. Windows are a trouble spot for a lot of rooms, but aiming the ports directly at them is going to exacerbate the issue.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

theJman said:


> There's a lot of energy coming out of those ports, so depending upon how close they are to those windows you might have found the issue right there. Windows are a trouble spot for a lot of rooms, but aiming the ports directly at them is going to exacerbate the issue.


I forgot to mention even on sealed mode it causes the issue.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I would try to play with the distance setting in Audyssey (remembering where it was before you mess with it).


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

I think I might know what the issue is. I forgot to set the crossover defeat switch to out prior to running Audyssey. All this time it has been set to in.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

I apologize if I have asked before but with a new true sub how is it suppose to sound? The bass on my hsu is clean and tight but is the pressure you feel in the ears normal when you hear really low frequencies?


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

Yes, it's called "pressurizing" a room. Some people are more sensitive to the phenomenon then others are, but pressure is part of the experience when really low bass is coupled with a decent amount of volume.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

Is there a difference on how the LFE sounds with Bluray vs standard dvd?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

asere said:


> Is there a difference on how the LFE sounds with Bluray vs standard dvd?


Yes, BluRay uses fully uncompressed audio that can go below 10Hz where DVD about the lowest you will ever get with any decent levels is 20Hz.


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

asere said:


> I apologize if I have asked before but with a new true sub how is it suppose to sound? The bass on my hsu is clean and tight but is the pressure you feel in the ears normal when you hear really low frequencies?


Ditto. Pressure in the ears, often in the chest to, it becomes a whole-body experience. Hence the fun of it!:sn:


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## bmdtech (Dec 17, 2011)

Did changing the crossover setting fix the issue for you? I know that my sub had an issue like this when I forgot to set the low pass correctly, the sub woofer was singing when anything near 200Hz played due to the resonant frequency of the cabinet.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

bmdtech said:


> Did changing the crossover setting fix the issue for you? I know that my sub had an issue like this when I forgot to set the low pass correctly, the sub woofer was singing when anything near 200Hz played due to the resonant frequency of the cabinet.


Yes the defeat switch was in and I had to set it to out and rerun Audyssey.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Yes, BluRay uses fully uncompressed audio that can go below 10Hz where DVD about the lowest you will ever get with any decent levels is 20Hz.


Since around what year have movies been mixed to contain good mid bass? Do they go back as far as 2004 or only more recently?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I can think of many movies that were mixed with good mid bass that go back to the mid to early 90s. Its when BluRay came out that the LFE channel on the uncompressed format started to go into the single digits.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> I can think of many movies that were mixed with good mid bass that go back to the mid to early 90s. Its when BluRay came out that the LFE channel on the uncompressed format started to go into the single digits.


Good to know thanks. Do you know which movies have single digits?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

There is a thread on that very subject but I cant find it at the moment. There are so many but the ones that come to mind are. Transformers DOTM, Super 8, The Hulk and many more.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> There is a thread on that very subject but I cant find it at the moment. There are so many but the ones that come to mind are. Transformers DOTM, Super 8, The Hulk and many more.


Thanks for the reply. The titles you mentioned are obviously Bluray right?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

asere said:


> Thanks for the reply. The titles you mentioned are obviously Bluray right?


Yes

Another couple movies came to mind, Diehard 4 and Looper


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Yes
> 
> Another couple movies came to mind, Diehard 4 and Looper


Thank you


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> There is a thread on that very subject but I cant find it at the moment. There are so many but the ones that come to mind are. Transformers DOTM, Super 8, The Hulk and many more.


I apologize for asking but The Hulk Bluray you mentioned that goes below 10hz is the one with Edward Norton correct?
Also with my HSU VTF3 MK4 what mode does the 10 hz the 2 ports open or 1 port open? According to Dr Hsu 1 port open can drop as low as 16hz. i never got that since 2 ports open does max extension.


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## Tom V. (Jul 12, 2012)

asere said:


> I apologize for asking but The Hulk Bluray you mentioned that goes below 10hz is the one with Edward Norton correct?
> Also with my HSU VTF3 MK4 what mode does the 10 hz the 2 ports open or 1 port open? According to Dr Hsu 1 port open can drop as low as 16hz. i never got that since 2 ports open does max extension.



I believe one port open will be "max extension"

Two ports open is "max output"

Tom V.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

Tom V. said:


> I believe one port open will be "max extension"
> 
> Two ports open is "max output"
> 
> Tom V.


How about if you listen at moderate levels? What is better?


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> How about if you listen at moderate levels? What is better?


Then max extesion is probably better. That's what I would choose anyway.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

theJman said:


> Then max extesion is probably better. That's what I would choose anyway.


Just tried different modes and I can't tell a difference!


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> Just tried different modes and I can't tell a difference!


That's surprising - mid teens is powerful and should be pretty evident. What did you use for test material? I assume it had content that far down? Did you flip the mode switch when you changed the port tune?


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

theJman said:


> That's surprising - mid teens is powerful and should be pretty evident. What did you use for test material? I assume it had content that far down? Did you flip the mode switch when you changed the port tune?


I used the movie the village. On mode number 2


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> I used the movie the village. On mode number 2


I've never heard of that movie, so I can't say with certainty whether it has sufficient deep bass to reach the mid teens. Perhaps someone more familiar with it can comment.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

I won the Ken Kreisel sub 12012 and I cannot wait to get it but I already have the hsu vtf3 mk4 . Do I now need to do away with the hsu? Man I can't wait to get it!!!


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

asere said:


> I won the Ken Kreisel sub 12012 and I cannot wait to get it but I already have the hsu vtf3 mk4 . Do I now need to do away with the hsu? Man I can't wait to get it!!!


Congrats! You just won a lot better subwoofer then you realize. Trust me.

Depending upon the size of your room I would consider unhooking the HSU. While I'm sure it's a nice sub based upon what I've heard from the 808's it's hard to imagine it will be anywhere near as good. The Kreisel subs are in a different league.


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## asere (Dec 7, 2011)

theJman said:


> Congrats! You just won a lot better subwoofer then you realize. Trust me.
> 
> Depending upon the size of your room I would consider unhooking the HSU. While I'm sure it's a nice sub based upon what I've heard from the 808's it's hard to imagine it will be anywhere near as good. The Kreisel subs are in a different league.


Yes I'm going to unhook the hsu and use only the kreisel. I could try both subs with a Y adapter but since the kreisel is the superior one I'm afraid it will down the hsu.


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