Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners multiple subs

Just finished building my dedicated theater. Dimensions are 17L X 12W x 7.5H. Current configuration is:

Denon 3806
Paradigm bipolars for front
CSW center
Axiom QS4 surrounds x 4
Paradigm PS1000 sub (here's the rub)

After finishing, and placing sub in several different locations in the room, I feel like the sub is very localized. To me it seems like I can pick out where the sub is no matter the placement. It's probably just me because maybe I'm looking for sub placement? Not sure.

I was thinking about moving to multiple subs to try and offset this. I would like opinions as to whether I should go with two smaller subs or stay the same size I have now? The PS1000 is 10" driver with I believe a 250W amp.

Thanks

What's your crossover? You may also be running the sub too hot. Have you calibrated?

Have the crossover set at 80HZ. With the Denon I'm running the subwoofer as LFE+ main, with the fronts set to large.

I have not calibrated as I don't know where to begin to calibrate. What equipment is needed etc.

It's not that the sub doesn't sound good for movies, just seems to me to be localized.

You'd need an SPL meter to test the sub's gain against the speakers.

Here's an example of one:

link

That's a start, but what would I be looking for? Is the SPL for each speaker supposed to be the same? Sub higher than surrounds. Sorry for the newb questions, but a guy has to learn somewhere.

After reading a couple of other threads, it seems I should be setting my fronts to small, and change the LFE+main to just LFE. Is this correct?

As far as the multiple subs go, ideally you'd want the same subs. If not, it's not a giant problem. I run three subs--one 12" ported, and two 10" sealed. Probably not the greatest mix, but it's what I have. Having three really evens out the response in my room as well as making the low frequencies less localizable.

If HT is your thing, I wouldn't go smaller than 10". The smaller you go, the less extension you'll have.

Yes, each speaker should be calibrated evenly. Personal preference may dictate bumping up a channel to what you prefer. It's all highly tweakable--which is good and bad. Good because you can set things up exactly how you want, and bad, especially for the newcomer, because there are too many variables.

To start out, keep things simple. Set all speakers to small and let the sub handle the low frequencies. Play test tones through each speaker while holding the SPL meter and make sure each channel measures the same.

Patience is the key. Dialing in a sub can be tedious. Just set some time aside and methodically go through different options until you find the one that works for you.

thanks everyone, I'm off to Radio Shack.

Try changing your fronts to small and change the denon to LFE instead of LFE+main

Just did that and seems better.