Sunfire "True Subwoofer" Solitaire EQ 10 vs. $100 Yamaha

[michael_98101]

Here are some completely unscientific measurements, taken in a tiny square untreated room without disconnecting my main speakers (NHT SuperZeros). The room has uneven frequency response that becomes pretty obvious when playing chromatic scales on my electronic piano.

The blue line is my old Yahama 8" sub that cost about $100 from Best Buy and never sounded good. The red line is my tiny new Sunfire crossed at 85Hz. The yellow line is the ambient noise level in my downtown condo.

Subjectively, the Sunfire sounds much more solid and less boomy, but to me this isn't obvious from the graph.

Next I'll be putting books in the shelves and probably more serious acoustic treatment.

--mj

[michael_98101]

When I was testing very low notes I noticed my main woofers were still moving, even though the amp was wired into the Sunfire's line level high-pass outputs. I was skeptical whether the Sunfire's high pass filter was working, so I compared the electronic frequency response of the receiver with and without the Sunfire in the loop. It seems to be working, though I wish it had a steeper curve.

--mj

[michael_98101]

Here's a cumulative spectral decay of just the subwoofer. I'm having trouble getting a good measurement because other stuff in the room starts shaking and buzzing.

Looks like the deepest null is around 85Hz.

--mj

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Subjectively, the Sunfire sounds much more solid and less boomy, but to me this isn't obvious from the graph.

It is to me. The Sunfire doesn’t have the 5 dB peak at 60 Hz, and the peak at 100 Hz is below the nominal level of the frequencies below that point, while the Yamaha’s 100 Hz peak is higher.

I’m surprised the Sunfire doesn’t have better extension than the Yamaha...

Regards,
Wayne

[michael_98101]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

It is to me. The Sunfire doesn’t have the 5 dB peak at 60 Hz, and the peak at 100 Hz, is below the nominal level of the frequencies below that point, while the Yamaha’s 100 Hz peak is higher.

Thanks! I'm still learning how to translate these graphs into what I can hear. Maybe the Sunfire's auto-EQ thing detected the 100Hz peak and adjusted that whole band down? As I understand it, the Sunfire has a 4-band graphic EQ.

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

I’m surprised the Sunfire doesn’t have better extension than the Yamaha...

But it DOES! Or at least you'd swear it did if you listened to music on it. What am I missing here? Maybe the reduced boom makes the lows sound lower? It sounds better than I expected for a 9'x9' untreated room.

--mj

[michael_98101]

michael_98101 wrote:

Here's a cumulative spectral decay of just the subwoofer. I'm having trouble getting a good measurement because other stuff in the room starts shaking and buzzing.

Looks like the deepest null is around 85Hz.

--mj

Is the room ringing at 25Hz pretty typical? Any other observations about this graph?

--mj

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Probably. Even if you have bass traps, they don’t usually work down that low.

Regards,
Wayne