Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Do I have my speakers setup right?

Ok, I know there are so many variables in this hobby that can make or break a good sound result, however, something is bugging me.

The other night I was over at a friends house watching movies. He has regular Pioneer 5.1 AVR that is probably 2-3 years old. For speakers he has some NHT Bookshelves for the mains, a NHT Center, and some cough cough choke BOSE white speakers in the back for surround. His sub is a Velodyne, but not a top of the line model and is a few years old, I think it has a 10" woofer. His room is fairly small, about 12' x 12'.

Anyway, I spent some time calibrating all his speakers using my SPL meter. His AVR only went down to 100 for a crossover, so we used that setting.

Ok, for the question....as you all know many movies have the 20th Century Intro before the movie starts. I was amazed on how it sounded once we calibrated his speakers. What really amazed me was the lowwww bass drum thump throughout the trailer, and at the very end. It sounded so Tight and just rocked the room.

So last night I'm thinking man my setup will sound better. Actually, the drum thump was hardly heard at all. I could hear it, but it did not set me back in my chair and say WoW? I tried bumping up the dB's on the sub channel which helped a little. I've got everything set to Small and crossed at 80hz on the AVR. I would think my m60's and EP500 would have put his system to shame on the same intro, I have to say his sounded better. I even tried Large on the mains and LFE+Main for the sub option.

What is the problem, is it my room is so much larger, is it my speaker placement, do I need to map out using realtraps to find holes? I'm using my HTPC with SPDIF out to my Denon 2805 so it does all the decoding. I could turn up the sub gain but then that would go against my SPL calibration using the meter.

I don't know this really bugs me for some reason, that bass drum should really thump on my setup I would think better than it does on his system. Any thoughts?

Randy

Randy, it may just be the room. Your friend has a very small square room which may be exciting certain low frequencies (maybe giving that intro scene a boost). I have a room almost that same size, and right now I'm trying to place some subs. Unfortunately where I sit, I get a huge suck out in bass, if I take three steps to the right (near the corner), boom, instant bass.

It doesn't take much to pressurize small rooms. Used to have a VTF 3 in a 10x10 room. Sometimes it felt like the walls were flexing.

I think you better get the 80's, seriously though it could just be your sub placement, my final placement of my sub was in the corner of the room, it gave me a much better bass response than when I had it placed more in the open.

Don't you have a huge room, Randy?

Just by more subs.

I think you ned to get another sub to fill that room. oh.....the 600 comes to mind.

Before you go buying another sub -- and I'm not saying you don't need one -- try repositioning your sub. Your sweet spot might just be in a null zone.

Alright, example.

I think I have posted pictures of my dorm room. If you remember it had a loft (3 beds in a wooden frame 4 feet high across the entire room). Anyways, I was sitting under the loft with my axioms. We just took it down, and my axioms sound entirely different. More open, I think. The room is long, 20 feet. And now that the couch is out of here and the beds are on the ground, the room is really reflective, so sometimes I think it sounds like the music is getting out of control because of all the late reflections I'm hearing.

My room at home is 12x12. I'm moving back in 3 days, and my axioms sounded the best there. Bass was huge and they sounded very nice.

Something about the quick reflections of a room are nice in some speaker setups. To simulate these quick reflections, you could probably invest in some wall treatements as reflecting points. I bet that would help "bring in the walls" of your room quite a bit.

Good luck!

I had a similar experience with my sub. I had it on the right side of the room, nearish the corner. It was ok. Then I moved it in order to get the Xmas tree in, and put it in the left front corner of the room, much closer to the wall. BAM! Much better bass.

Rooms suck.

Someday, I'm gonna live in the country and when I do I'm gonna bring my Axioms outside to hear them room-less.

Maybe Axiom will offer a moss stained finish by then.