Tracks for Auditioning a Subwoofer

**adogand6kids** · **03-08-07, 03:40 PM**

In Wayne Pflughaupt's recent excellent review of the SVS SB12-Plus he mentioned some of his favorite musical tracks for auditioning a subwoofer. I will reprint them here for everyone's edification.

Basia, The Sweetest Illusion - Track 1, “Drunk on Love”
Basia, London Warsaw New York - Track 1, “Cruising for Bruising” / Track 5, “Ordinary People”
Manhattan Transfer, The Offbeat of Avenues - Track 2, “Sassy”

I would like to expand this list with some recommendations of my own, then open it up to the forum for their input. For accuracy and a wide spectrum of fast paced base notes, I recommend:

Edgar Meyer's self titled album - Track 8, "The Low Road"

For low frequency extension and output I recommend:
Yello, Stella - Track 3, "Oh Yeah"

How about the rest of you? What music tracks do you recommend to evaluate the performance of a subwoofer?

**Wayne A. Pflughaupt** · **03-08-07, 08:31 PM**

I typically use DVDs for gauging extension and bass dynamics (impact) since you don’t often find these things with music. And I use the music tracks to gauge detail and finesse because you don’t often get those things with DVDs.

Re the Manhattan Transfer reference, that track (and possible more on the disc) has all kinds of detail in the bass that I’d never heard until I demo’d Sonnie’s SVS PB12-Plus/2 subs. Sure wish I’d had my other reference CDs with me!

Regards,
Wayne

**dave7** · **03-09-07, 09:49 AM**

Believe it or not, The Blue Man Group's CD [not the DVD-A which seems to under-perform IMHO] has some crazy deep bass as well as some fantastic imaging and very "liquid" sounding percussion from their own "home-made" PVC instruments. Be careful though, at high listening levels, some tracks can easily overextend bass drivers. If you hear some "popping" immediately turn it down or off altogether.

Another good one is the last track on the Burmeister III demo CD. It is a Chinese drum poem and provides some good, very deep, and very rhythmic drum hits. It is good for evaluating and tuning bass response.

**bobgpsr** · **03-09-07, 04:12 PM**

Quote:

dave7 wrote:

Believe it or not, The Blue Man Group's CD [not the DVD-A which seems to under-perform IMHO] has some crazy deep bass

Curious if you are using a 5.1 analog connection from the player to AVR/Pre-Pro for playing DVD-A? If so did you do a +10 dB boost on the subwoofer (LFE) channel? Many SACD/DVD-A players do not do the boost in the player but expect the AVR/Pre-Pro & subwoofer combination to somehow do the +10 dB boost. This 10 DB requirement comes from movie sound reference levels which require 105 dB SPL output on the normal channels but 115 dB SPL output on the LFE channel. I could see how you would feel that the BMG's DVD-A would "seems to under-perform" if the analog LFE channel was not calibrated with the needed 10 db boost. If you used i.Link (IEEE-1394) then I retract my comment.

I need to play my Blue Man Group DVD-A again -- since I am now sure I've got the 10 dB LFE boost with a 5.1 analog connection to my SD-6915 SACD/DVD-A player.

**dave7** · **03-09-07, 04:56 PM**

I'll have to re-check everything, but I am pretty anal about such issues myself. In my set-up, movies go to my pre/pro via a coaxial digital connection. Therefore they are level balanced in the pre/pro.

For DVD-A, I run via the 5.1 analog connection through my pre/pro which is a straight analog pass-through. Level matching for the DVD-A is done via the controls in the player since they don't effect the Coax output.

In short - both set-ups should run correctly albeit via different settings and controls, since they are both level matched independently.

Don't get me wrong...The DVD-A is still pretty good. But for some reason the plain old CD version of The Blue Man Group's "Audio" is incredible - so much so it is potentially damaging. It is the only disk I own that I am at all cautious about when I play it loud.

Also be aware that I am comparing the CD "Audio" to the DVD-A "Complex". I didn't even realize there was a DVD-A version of "Audio". I'll have to order it now.

**MACCA350** · **03-09-07, 05:47 PM**

With bass reaching below 8Hz, check out Bassotronics, bassiloveyou track. you can find it here under downloads. Some of the other tracks are pretty cool too.

cheers

**Sonnie** · **03-09-07, 10:43 PM**

It's not super low stuff... but probably in the 20Hz -30Hz range... I like about any of the Yello tracks. Some are really low. Plus you also can find several of their tracks that will test your entire range. I love several of their tracks for testing mid-bass... truly awesome.

Then there is Pink Floyd... several tracks getting on down there. A few I like are Yet Another Movie and Learning to Fly, but there are a host of others.

**bobgpsr** · **03-10-07, 08:42 PM**

Quote:

dave7 wrote:

Don't get me wrong...The DVD-A is still pretty good.

The very end of track #9 Club Nowhere, has some deep but not really loud bass. Nice musical bass but nothing like extreme LFE from movies that I hear.

But thanks for getting me to dig out the DVD-A of Blue Man Group. Playing it loud tonight and having a blast! The other half is out of town -- so surround sound rules tonight!

And yes it is the BMG's "Audio"

**jackfish** · **03-13-07, 09:25 AM**

Marcus Miller
The Sun Don't Lie

Sustained 25 Hz notes with his five string bass on the title track.

**Wayne A. Pflughaupt** · **03-13-07, 06:11 PM**

Wow, quite a feat, considering that the lowest note on a 5-string has a fundamental of about 30 Hz...

Regards,
Wayne

**mojomike** · **03-13-07, 07:28 PM**

Quote:

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

Wow, quite a feat, considering that the lowest note on a 5-string has a fundamental of about 30 Hz...

Regards,
Wayne

Actually, the 25 hz note is possible if Miller made use of a subharmonic synthesizer. He could play a 50 hz note and synthesize a note one octave lower at 25 hz to mix with it. Miller does use a type of Apple software for post-production called "Logic Pro" which most likely includes a subharmonic synthesizer.

**jackfish** · **03-17-07, 08:51 PM**

Quote:

mojomike wrote:

Actually, the 25 hz note is possible if Miller made use of a subharmonic synthesizer. He could play a 50 hz note and synthesize a note one octave lower at 25 hz to mix with it. Miller does use a type of Apple software for post-production called "Logic Pro" which most likely includes a subharmonic synthesizer.

Bingo!

**kramskoi** · **03-19-07, 01:32 AM**

Quote:

MACCA350 wrote:

With bass reaching below 8Hz, check out Bassotronics, bassiloveyou track. you can find it here under downloads. Some of the other tracks are pretty cool too.

cheers

i have that track!...excellent room shudder...Papa Smurf's Dimension is pretty good also...Blue Man Group...Evelyn Glennie...Enya...Tricky...Massive Attack...Thievery Corporation, etc...all good stuff...

**jackfish** · **03-22-07, 10:53 AM**

How can one transfer the mp3 files in the download section of http://www.realmofexcursion.com/ to a CD and have them recognized and played in a CD player? Is there a conversion that can be done to a CD Audio format for playback on a CD player? It would be interesting to play some of these in my home stereo. Or must one use the sound card outputs run into preamp inputs? (Computer and stereo are in different rooms)

**Otto** · **03-22-07, 11:02 AM**

Quote:

jackfish wrote:

How can one transfer the mp3 files in the download section of http://www.realmofexcursion.com/ to a CD and have them recognized and played in a CD player? Is there a conversion that can be done to a CD Audio format for playback on a CD player? It would be interesting to play some of these in my home stereo. Or must one use the sound card outputs run into preamp inputs? (Computer and stereo are in different rooms)

You should be able to find a audio file converter. I use one that's called (IIRC) dBPowerAmp. I would imagine that there are a variety available at http://www.download.com. Save the mp3 in question, convert it to a .wav, then burn it to a CD. Your CD player should then be able to play it. Also, some players can play mp3s natively. I think my Denon 1910 can do it, but I've used it infrequently...

Good luck.

**mojomike** · **03-22-07, 11:07 AM**

Many CD burning programs will convert Mp3's to CD tracks automatically. I think that even Windows media play may be able to do this. Also, Nero, Record Now, and many others.

**jackfish** · **03-22-07, 11:27 AM**

Thanks much, after I wrote that I thought I should have been a little more resourceful and do an Internet search, which I did and found several programs. I will check my CD burning program as well, probably already there. Thanks again.

**bnw** · **09-02-07, 11:31 AM**

I use Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo

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