# Am I bottoming out my sub?



## legion1capone (Jan 30, 2010)

I was listening to the U-571 depth Charges scene for the first time with only my sub on. Now, were are people running the volume control on the ED A3-300? As a newb of coarse I like it with it all the way clockwise. But I'm sure this isn't the best scenerio for the sub itself. I can hear what sounds like the sub bottoming out. Is this what I am hearing or do I need to adjust the crossover more so it is producing less frequencies? I have to turn the volume knob to about a quarter turn to get the noise to stop. I just wanted to know if this is normal to hear or not. 

I was just reading a bit and this sounds a lot like clipping to me. The only time I really notice it is when there is a serious explosion like the depth charges. Would it be better to return the smaller sub and get the A5-350. As it would have more power in reserve for those serious notes.


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## recruit (May 9, 2009)

It could possibly be that you are bottoming out the sub if the gain is too high on both the sub amp and receiver, are they calibrated with an SPL meter to read around 75db? usually it is like a clacking sound that is heard when a sub bottoms out is this the type of sound it is producing and if it is you really need to throttle back or you will damage it.


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## legion1capone (Jan 30, 2010)

I don't have an analog SPL meter but I have a digital one. I haven't dialed it in with an SPL meter yet. When I have my meter out on average movies vocals and talking when its quiter is about 65-70dB, when there is some action going on it jumps in to the 80dB range, and when there are serious things going on in the movie the meter will read peaks into the 90dB range. To me averaging in the 80dB range doesn't seem like that much. Or is it?


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

That's not necessarily a good judge for how loud it really is. Depending on if you have it set on slow or fast, that would change what you perceive as being "not that much." A and C weighting changes things, too.

Best thing to do is get a calibration disc and use the pink noise to calibrate your speakers to 75dB and then you can adjust the sub dB level to your preference from there.


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## jackfish (Dec 27, 2006)

I'd return the A3-300 and get an A5s-300. More power and sealed.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Generally when you bottom out a sub you will hear a defiant "thud" sound as the driver hits the end of its travel. You could be over driving the amp into distortion as well, that usually will sound more like a cardboard box being hit rapidly and usually sounds unclear.


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