[Rudy81]

Just finished installing a new subwoofer, Klipsch RSW-15, in my HT and after finding the optimum location, ran a few plots. I have previously used an SVS 20-39 PC+ which I really liked, but I yearned for a little better musical performance. I am rather shocked at the nice response I am seeing in these graphs.

Does anything jump out at anyone that I may have done incorrectly?

The red line is the SVS and the blue is the RSW-15 in the same location.

 

[brucek]

Looks fine to me....

brucek

 

[Rudy81]

Awesome! I wanted to find a sub that would better match my Klipschorns in the music department. The SVS is a very good sub for movies and pretty good for music. I wanted a great sub for music even if it was less than optimum for movies. However, many owners of the RSW-15 don't complain about the movie LF performance.

The RSW-15 is fantastic with music. I'm sitting here having my first Audyssey calibrated listen.....nice!

brucek, thank you for all your help.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Looks like you have the mains and subs on for these measurements?

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Rudy81]

Wayne: I will have to double check, but I didn't think so. Frankly I have been pretty excited about the new sub and took a whole bunch of measurements. Some with the mains, some without, some with Audyssey etc. I thought these were direct, no sub, no mains, but I will double check when the excitement level comes back to normal.

 

[Rudy81]

Wayne: I couldn't wait to take the reading again later, so I ran it again. I tripple checked that Audyssey was off, source was "direct" from my pre pro to ONLY my subwoofer. Here is what I got, which seems pretty similar to the last one. Volume levels may be a little different.

 

[Rudy81]

Since I had hooked everything up again, I took a full range reading with Audyssey engaged. I'm not sure what else I can do to the room acoustics to make this any better. Although, I have the main Klipschorns crossed over at 60 Hz. I might have to cross them a little higher to get rid of that 60-100 Hz. dip.

 

[laser188139]

Rudy, I think you are right, that you might need to move the crossover higher to resolve that dip. With my LaScalas about 4' from the corner, I have a similar dip between 60Hz and 70Hz. I think it comes from a reflection out of the corner. It disappears, or is handled by Audyssey, when I set the sub crossover in the AVR to 80Hz.

Here is a graph showing the difference changing only the crossover from 60Hz (red) to 80Hz (green). (The dip around 130Hz is a different room issue, maybe a reflection off the front wall.)

 

[Rudy81]

Bill: Good to hear. At least we are on the same page and seem to be getting similar results. Thanks for letting me know. With a good, musical, sub there is no reason why I shouldn't crossover at a higher frequency. For some reason, there is a part of my brain that just doesn't want to do that since the Khorns are rated lower, but they obviously start dropping off somewhere in the 60-80 Hz. region.

 

[laser188139]

I'm not so sure that they are dropping off, so much as room reflections start happening and cancellation waves appear. With the sub in a different position, it can cover up the troublesome region in the mains. And being next to the wall, its reflections may be at higher frequencies, outside its range, that are covered by the mains.

As a picture is worth a thousand words, I added a graph above.

Have fun,
Bill

 

[Rudy81]

Bill: Nice job and some very good points. Thanks for all the input. I am guessing you are correct on the room mode issues. It is not perfect, but considering where I started months ago, I am a lot closer to a reasonable flat response in my room.

 

[Nick]

Rudy,

I am curious about your comment that the SVS sub is not as musical as the Klipsch sub. Does it have to do with the higher output of the Klipsch between 60-150hz? I'm wondering if the differences are due to crossover settings or the need to place them differently?

Is there some kind of consensus how one determines that one sub is more musical than another? I ask because I am a music only listener.

Nick

 

[Rudy81]

Rudy,

I am curious about your comment that the SVS sub is not as musical as the Klipsch sub. Does it have to do with the higher output of the Klipsch between 60-150hz? I'm wondering if the differences are due to crossover settings or the need to place them differently?

Is there some kind of consensus how one determines that one sub is more musical than another? I ask because I am a music only listener.

Nick

Nick: My comment is based on my two days worth of impressions comparing both subs with both movies and music. The subs have a very similar response when looking at a plot between 30Hz and 60Hz. I am crossing my sub over from the main Klipschorns at 45Hz., so the 60-150Hz is not an issue.

Thus far I have found that the RSW-15 is quicker and 'tighter' with music than the SVS. The SVS sounds 'sloppy' when working only music with the Khorns. Now, when listening to movie sound effects, the SVS shines.

I am currently setting them both up in my room. I had planned to sell one of them once I decided which I liked best. Turns out I may have to keep them both. Use one for music and the other for movies.