OK. I admit it. I haven't put the time into tweaking my system as I would like, and haven't even set up the BFD that I bought something like six months ago! So I've tried to keep mum about my bass issues, as I believe in helping those that have first tried to help themselves… and that hasn't been me!
But I've done a day of listening/playing to try to figure out some of the bass issues I have in my 13' square room, and I think I've raised more issues than solved! I did
not meter, calibrate, or set up the BFD today… (hopefully, tomorrow!). My goal was to try to determine exactly why, with an EP350, I can't get that "hit you in the chest" feeling from LFE. I know the 350 is no 500, but I
am in a small room and I would think the 350 would be enough sub. Maybe not.
Before my Axioms, I was using a smaller JBL sub in the corner of my room behind the sectional:
With the smaller sub only, I got more bass than I do from my 350. I know that there is a big difference between the output of a sub in the corner and one that's away from a corner. So trying both in the same corner, I've found that the 350 doesn't put out any better than the JBL (which is a 10", 100-watt unit rated to 35Hz…. No mention of how flat that is).
Knowing that my square room is giving me "peak and null" headaches, I thought that two subs (placed as above in diagram) would even things out a bit, and it did. A bit…. But still no "hit you in the chest" feeling. For what it's worth, I was expecting more of a difference because the "favorite seat" (on the right side of the sectional directly in-line with the DLP) seems to be the mother of all nulls. If I sit towards either corner of the room (in the "angle" of the sectional or in the recliner) bass is more substantial. So I was really expecting that adding the second sub to offset the null from the 350 would help quite a bit… eeeehhhh, Not So Much.
So tomorrow I hope to run some plots and set up the BFD. But since I don't seem to get that "hit you in the chest" feeling ANYwhere in the room, even in the "peak" locations, I'm thinking that the BFD won't help me with this because I'm probably just not going deep enough for the bass I can feel. My room rattles a bit, if that makes a difference!!??!!
A secondary problem is how much noise I'm hearing from the 350, and I'm curious if others have noticed the same. From my first or second day, I was aware of some noise at a particular point on the SACD of DSOTM. Since then, I've kept the sub turned down a bit to avoid this noise. I had always thought that it was the driver, but putting my head on the ground in front of the 350 during the Darma "tap" scene (Bang-bang-bang, not BOOM-BOOM-BOOM, by the way) it seems as though what I've been hearing is port noise. I wonder if this is why the 500 uses that B/A oval port?
So, the questions:
1-Who wants to take a stab at whether or not a BFD will actually enable me to produce better "hit you in the chest" bass by taming peaks that will therefore allow me to turn up the sub a bit more…or, is a 500 justified even in this small a room? Anyone else using a 500 in a room this small? Overkill?
2-Anyone else getting "easily hearable" port noise from their 350? Maybe not so much on a really loud, LFE-laden soundtrack, but during music with pronounced bass?
Sign me,
Bass-Anemic in NH
