Measurement with Bass missing

[pirlouit669]

Hi there,
First of all : congrats on that amazing software !

After spending hours trying to solve a problem, I finally decided to ask for help.
My setup : dedicated home theater with 5.1 system (well, formerly 7.1 but with 2 speakers in maintenance) : 3 front, 2 surround, 1 sub (SVS PB 3000 brand new ). Everething driven by an Onkyo NR 3009.
For measurement I use my laptop & UMIK-1 (with 90 deg cal file), connected by HDMI to my receiver.
I also spent a LOT of time reading forums and watching Youtube tutorials.

After a few (JAVA) measures everything worked fine :

And a few days later, it was impossible to get a response from the sub during a measurement.
Maybe I changed something, but I really can't say what. I've been tweeking my systems ever since I got the mike.
I went through everything I could think of...

First I thought it may come from my receiver settings.

• Of course my speakers are set to small / Crossover 80Hz.
• Everything like Audyssey or other funky systems disabled.
• I tried all listening mode and configs I could to try getting sub noise during that sweep : no chance.
• I also triple-checked every physical connection.

Then I thought the pb might come from my laptop :

• I downloaded FlexAsio and sent sub cal pink noise to the sub with REW Generator, it worked fine ! (low freq are correctly directed to the sub)
• I saved the sweep from REW and sent it from my computer or my BR player, it also worked.
• In case I had changed REW config by error, I downloaded it to another laptop and tried again that REW sweep : bad luck.

I checked input / output info during REW sweep (JAVA) : INPUT: 7.1PCM OUTPUT:5.1. => NO SUB
Same input / output when I use FlexAsio on the sub : INPUT: 7.1PCM OUTPUT:5.1. => SUB OK.
Then I guess problem does not come from the INPUT format.

I read that REW sends analog input (with JAVA) (which somehow is in contradiction with the info above).
Therefore I tried to read a 2-channel input from Youtube, but sub worked... (INPUTCM 2.0ch OUTPUTheater Dim 3.1ch). Same for another source : INPUT:Analog OUTPUTheater Dim 3.1ch, sub worked.

I just can't figure how to make that sweep measurement work with my brand new sub

If you guys have any idea, that would be GREAT.

Thanks in advance and take care,
Pirlouit.

 

[John Mulcahy]

To access individual channels of a multi-channel output on Windows you need to either use an ASIO driver (such as FlexASIO as you mentioned) or the WASAPI exclusive entry for the output device if using the Java drivers (names starting EXCL). In either of those cases you can send signals directly to the LFE channel.

 

[pirlouit669]

Hi John !
Thanks for your answer.
I already managed to send signals directly to the LFE (with FlexAsio).
My problem is that the signal from a "standard" Java Room Measurement does not trigger anything in my sub.

However it seems that I may have a workaround in using REW in playback mode. (even if that does not explain why the sweep from REW doesnt go the the SUB in the first place).

 

[achugh]

@pirlouit669 What version of REW are you using? When using JAVA drivers with my laptop HDMI connected to my AVR (Pioneer Elite SC-37) and opening Windows SOUND settings from the Control Panel, I can play all 7.1 channels when I test my speakers. However, when I play tones using REW Measurement menu, I can only play 5.1 channels. BL and BR do not play any sound for me too.

I am however able to play sound in a subwoofer using LFE channel. I did notice that if myAVR is in STEREO mode, I will not hear any LFE sound unless I force my AVR to send low frequencies to the subwoofer. For me, I have my subwoofer set to PLUS instead of YES in my speaker setup. Or I can use my sound mode to one of the DOLBY modes and then I get sound in LFE channel. I believe you need to check your AVR sound mode as more than likely that is where your issue lies.

JAVA drivers send PCM sound and depending on the AVR sound settings you may or may not hear anything from your LFE channel.

 

[pirlouit669]

Hi achugh,
I'm using REW 5.20.13.
I think you're right : issue lies in my AVR. I must admit I'm not completely comfortable with all the listening modes.
I'll dig deeper.
Thanks for your answer !