Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Sub level- adjust at sub vs let Denon/Audyssey1909

This is amusing! I don't think either Peter or I (the only posters >10000 posts) have ever used REW.

Couple points to add to this discussion....

Changing the trim on the sub or the AVR will not alter what Audyssey has done unless you are using Dynamic EQ/Dynamic Volume. Both of these depend on the speakers being calibrated to 75 db.

Second, what your drummer friend may be used to hearing is a bloated midrange (think Honda Civic boom-booming up the street). What you get with Audyssey is a flat response. This is something most folks are not used to hearing. Think of your experience at a better movie theater and compare what you hear at home with that.

Jay, Fred.
How many more than the 3 subs I have would you think I need?

Jay, I am tetering on upgrading my AVR from the 1909 between 3808, 3310 and 4310. Mind you one of the new models would be a bigger stretch to the budget than a $1,000 +/- 3808 would be! Just waiting for the complete new Denon model specs to be announced so I can make an informed decision of value to features choice. Or did you mean a huge A1400 increase in power? If so, you are right, I will continue in the sub A1400 shadows, probably for the rest of my days. I can't understand the usefulness of comparing a high end $3800 A1400 amp to sub $1100-$1500 AVRs? To me, that's like telling someone shopping for a new Corvette, that they really need to try a Ferrari! Now I was at a party this afternoon, where the host happened to have a Ferrari in his garage. Maybe this logic would fit his situation. Actually it probably would, considering his Maserati was parked right next to the Ferrari! (an exec at my wife's company, not someone I rub elbows with in day to day life mind you. )

Dave,
I went to my friends house to hear the base in his system (he has one Servo 15a sub in a smaller room. Sure the room was a factor, and him having it near a corner too. But after coming back and raising my subs level, I did like the difference. I now feel free to adjust the sub level to my taste depending on the source material. As has been said many times here, what sounds best to you, is what ids right. I often enjoy prominent base as long as it blends well with the rest of the material. I am now understanding that I do not need to accept Audyssey's setting's as gospel. I feel it does an outstaning job of equalizing the sound to my particular room, but that adjusting to personal taste is acceptable... duh. Like I have said many times, I may be slow, but...

Dave, regarding the new models, I suppose that you've read the info that Matt from Denon has provided at the RC forum .

Unfortunately Dave, I am suggesting an amp of the same power range of the A1400, but as we have been mentioning there are some less costly alternatives. Luc, seems to be liking his Behringer and many others have the Crown XTI1000, much cheaper options to drive the M80s.

And I would also be looking at upgrading the other 2 subs to the same quality of the Paradigm. If they were able to contribute as much to the system as the Servo does you might find you won't need to run the Servo as high.

Just wondering how you calibrated all 3 subs? Maybe this is where the issue lies.

Each should have been calibrated to the same level as the speakers with the other subs off, then all 3 subs should then be turned on. This would net you 9db(is my math right?) gain. Audyssey isn't set up to handle multiple subs correctly. If the 9db is too much you could set each sub 1 db less than the speakers and achieve 6db gain, etc.

Dave, you mention you have 3 subs. Have you calibrated each of them one by one to 75dB, or whatever db your other speakers are set? Also, are they placed around the room, or all up front?

Process:

Turn all subs off.
Turn sub "one" on, and calibrate it to 75dB's like the other speakers.
Turn sub "one" off, and turn sub "two" on and calibrate it to 75dB.
Turn sub "two" off, and turn sub "three" on and calibrate it to 75dB.
Then turn all subs on which will give you about a 5dB gain over the speakers, but that is what sounds great to me, and recommended in Ian's video.

For distance (delay) you have to average the distance of all your subs, it is best to try to space them equal distance from you, but that may be difficult, so just average their distances.

Then, run Audyssey.

Then, ignore Audyssey.

Just a note, Audyssey on my Denon 3608 sets my sub so low it's very, very close to inaudible. That's just one of the reasons I have never used it except for initial experimentation. For me it seems to make my already square room even more blah sounding, to put it scientifically.

Note to my Note: It could possibly be I have a faulty microphone as well. I have to crank the sub to crazy levels so Audyssey will get past the speaker identification phase. Otherwise it stops dead and says it can't find all the speakers I've told it I have.

Is your firmware upgradable on your 3608, have you followed the Audyssey "setup" guide posted on AVSforum? Others have expressed similar issues and found they were not positioning the mic correctly.