Speakers and bass at low volume

[unlucki]

Hi Audiophile peeps,

I have a Yamaha AS500 and Dali Zensor 3's in my den fed by all the sources listed below.

The majority of my listening is done at below 9 'o clock levels, I listen with no tone controls or loudness applied as when I did apply these I did not like the way it changed the sound.

Please forgive me now ;-) as I feel I have a reasonable ear, I was lacking in bass, I know the dali's are supposed to be good in this area but for me they where not doing it, btw at volume they are great ! So in my infinite wisdom and as the Yamaha has a sub out I added a CA sw120 which is again ok but now the bass is there at low volumes I feel it is not as well controlled as can be. I have tweaked crossover settings etc for hours with no joy.

I now have seen I can get Qacoustics 2050's new for 219gbp delivered any opinions as to if these will help or should I buy a better sub or indeed better standmounters budget is no more than 300

Many Thanks in advance for any advice

T

Macbook air Dragonfly v1.2 Yamaha AS500 Iphone 6 plus Marantz CD6005 Rega RP1 Zensor 3 standmounted CA Sub sw120

 

[MattSPL]

Have you made sure the phase of the sub is correct?

Play a test tone frequency of your chose sub crossover frequency and listen for when it sounds loudest.

 

[unlucki]

Hi

not ever checked phase as single cable from amp's sub out but looked on back of sub now and there is a switch for phase it is at 0 if switched 'on' would be at 180 ?? any idea where I can get a public domain test tone for sub ?

Many Thanks

T

 

[davedotco]

I feel that you are fighting nature here, your ears will be less sensitive to bass at low levels and that is just the way it is.

Set your sub to work at low levels and it is going to be overblown at higher levels, there is not much you can do about that.

Phase and positioning will fine tune the system but you are a fair way from that at the moment. Yamaha make quite a big thing of their loudness control so I would try this, set up as follows.

Firstly, set up the sub to sound good at your normal loudish listening level, do not be tempted to set the x-over too high, no higher than 80hz anyway, and check the phase switch. Do whatever you can to get the best integration.

Though you will do well to remember the first law of subwoofers, "If you can hear the sub, it's probably too loud"

When you are as happy as you can get at higher levels, set to your normal lowest levels and use small amounts of correction using the Loudness control. This is probably the best compromise without changing everything.

Regarding the 2050i speakers, check that the price quoted is for a pair, not each.

 

[unlucki]

Hi

I know lol been suffering this for a while being the wrong side of 50 now ;-)

I have ran a test tone and currently loudest around 40....

I love that law of subwoofers am going to use that !

Will follow all advice and for that many thanks, it is not the 2050i it is the 2050 and the price is for a pair with 5 yr warranty ! Not many reviews though online...

Thanks again

T

 

[davedotco]

Hi

I know lol been suffering this for a while being the wrong side of 50 now ;-)

I have ran a test tone and currently loudest around 40....

I love that law of subwoofers am going to use that !

Will follow all advice and for that many thanks, it is not the 2050i it is the 2050 and the price is for a pair with 5 yr warranty ! Not many reviews though online...

Thanks again

T

The 40hz will almost certainly be a room resonance, work on placement and setting up your sub to reduce that as much as possible, compensate by slightly raising the sub levels.

The 2050 is, obviously enough, the old model, but that is a lot of speaker for the money. It will however need a fair amount of space to 'breath', a couple of feet off the wall and not too close to furniture.

 

[Jota180]

For a full bass sound the driver needs to move a lot of air and at low volumes it just wont do that. Not at your usual listening distance. Near field listening may make a difference.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Is there an audible difference how the amps sound when the tone controls are set to 0 and the tone defeat is off?

Try the tone controls again without the sub.
Setting both to their lowest first try increasing the treble in small increments then the bass.

Alternatively set the bass as low as it goes and use the loudness button. Then adjust the treble in small increments.

You may find the sound you are looking for.

Just re-engage tone defeat when you turn it up.

 

[unlucki]

As per subject really, followed all advice in here and ended up switching sub off ! Amp is now at 8 o'clock and bass is at 9 o'clock just right ! Now got to figure out what to do with the sub ;-) Just working my way through Rolling Stone's top ten double albums.

Many thanks to all for kind words of wisdom.

T

 

[Gazzip]

You could try a transmission line speaker? They are always good at delivering low frequency at low volumes. Something by PMC might help if you can get a second hand bargain.