Played In a Silent Way a bit ago. I'm no eloquent reviewer but the impression was I was deeper into the sound field. As if it curved and instead of say a 50-60 deg spread it was more like >90. As if sound moved forward and almost beside, instead of in front, at times. ?
hey that's my old setup- 2- 5s and 2- 9s. Good stuff! Did you measure each one individually? Helps level matching and seeing how the two responses vary to confirm your final response is smoother with both online. Surprised you have no significant peaks that close to back wall and corner. I had to move mine at least 12" from any wall. Looking great !
I level matched one at a time. The room is large and basically open to the whole house. The xover is only 2 clicks. Gain about 7 and 9. I did move them off the corner angle a bit. Did this today, done messing with it for a while. Lol famous last words
Good work. My corner sub was 2 clicks higher than the one on the wall too. With the 5s I had the XO set to 5 for what it's worth. Enjoy.
Yep, that's what it does. Soundstage becomes more 3D and immersive. Timbre and tone added to everything.
The mic doesn't lie. Lol I measured the speakers without the subs and they were good to 40 and a bit below so really don't need much help. The xover as is -6 dB at 50 Hz so seems to make sense. With 2 subs I could see gain being less than their recommended settings I checked mine after some minor adjustments while listening last night Gain is 10 clicks ~ 10 o'clock Xover 4 REL both 15 clicks +/- 3 But avoid common mistake xover > gain
Different sub here...but set at 38hz so i suspect you are right on the money there...and hard to argue with your measurements.
Ears ain't mics but if you like what you hear all is good. Just for fun though, I would try going through the recommended Rel setup procedure and then measure it with a mic to see what difference it makes between the 2 setups.
I did both their break-in and set up procedure with my first one. The break in one is intense, lol. It never sounded right with the Harbeth until I lowered the crossover and gain . With the KEF R3 it sounded better at the higher levels. I'm a firm believer less is more in this case. Use the measurements to set initially and listen to adjust to taste.
My experience with setting up Rel is that one notch either way (be it xover or gain) impacts the whole soundstage. One notch too low and it falls flat on its' face, one notch too high (especially with xover) and you have 'boom' masking the soundstage. It's a fine line to walk.
and level. with my corner sub the level was very sensitive as measured- on 6 the output was almost a bit too much while on 5 the output fell off where it wasn't making a contribution. the sub along the wall was not as sensitive.
not sure how accurate their XO controls are but from 30Hz to 120 Hz there are 40 clicks at 2.25Hz per click stop. 5 clicks = ~ 41.25 Hz, right at the F3 of the Harbeths.
Yeah, that's exactly the reason why they don't want to have any indication on their controls (except for the 30Hz base), because otherwise people will just adjust to 'official speaker specs' which are hardly what one gets in their room.
it's log not linear a test at 30, 75, 120 Hz or full CCW, mid, full CW not much change 30, -5 at 60 75, -5 at 60, ~ the same 120, -5 at 75 I just checked level balance again Each 75 dB Both 81 dB The one in my setup near the opening (not corner) needed a few clicks more. The old manual gave gain specs (they call it sensitivity for rated output) Speaker level 22 dB LFE 40 dB their recommended gain 12 to 18 clicks ~ -17 to -30 dB or 6 to 0.3 W, mid range 1.5 W, the range of avg listening levels for various speaker sensitivities You will need less gain for 2 subs My left 12 right 10 Mine at a few clicks, pretty close match
After making some minor adjustments by ear last night I took 4 messurements to make sure I did not muck anything up. 4 sweeps, 20-20,000, low range calc <2000 Hz, refeence 31 Hz, ~sub peak No subs ~63 dB L ~ 69 dB R ~69 dB both 77 dB One sub adds 6 dB, the second another 6the lines are +/- 5dB Sub has little impact at 63 Hz and almost none > 100 Hz
I'm not sure what did it but I'm guessing the sub. My system has 'come together'. Listening to Hancock/Takin' Off I could pin down every instrument when I closed my eyes: lateral, depth and height. Room width 14', speakers .~8.5' Trumpet ~ 2' outside left speaker, 5' high, beside speaker, maybe a foot behind Sax about a foot outside right speaker, even with speaker plane, 4' high Piano mid center, about 3' high, about 2'+ behind speaker plane Bass, right, inside speaker 1', about 2' behind plane, 3' high Drums, behind bass, perhaps a bit right, height was difficult to discern but seemed higher than bass The images were stable and not waivering It may have been doing this before but tonight it really jumped out at me. Happy camper
That's what a pair of good subs, properly setup and dialed in will do for you. Not only do you get better bass, but better realism. Just my recent upgrade from a pair of nicely setup REL R-328 to a pair of S/510 significantly improved multi-dimensional soundstage and realism. This is why I am even considering a six-pack of REL subs. I love playing large scale orchestral music, and when soundstage, ambience, and realism can be improved it just brings out that much more of the music to enjoy.
Here's a question, I have 2 9Ti, but applied to any mfg. When initially balancing volume with mains using pink noise or a sweep: Do you make each sub the same as the mains without subs? Mains 72 dB Sub 1 72 Sub 2 72 All ~76 dB Or make the subs a bit louder Mains 72 Sub 1 74 Sub 2 74 All ~ 78 Then adjust by ear with music It sounds pretty much the same but when all 3 are the same there is less interplay >63 Hz
measurements alert you if something is way off, like a gross peak in the response. without seeing the measurement you might think the response is normal and attempt to adjust the peak by reducing the overall level. this short cuts the available bandwidth of the sub. seeing the peak in an RTA plot informs you what it is and gives the opportunity to deal with it some other way like repositioning or adding tuned bass traps, giving you the full bandwidth the sub is capable of. measurements also let you know of valleys in the response that might be hard to hear. measurements get the fundamental setup right and then you can fine tune by ear. i find it invaluable.
Oh I know, how do you think I set up my PEQ in the first place . Not using measurements for setting the gain/volume of my sub though! I use the Rel way for that.
