REW and miniDSP 2x4 HD 3 x subwoofer alignment - Curves look great, bass still a bit boomy

[matthewacker]

Hello everyone,

I have gone through some amazing youtube videos on setting up REW and taking measurements, time aligning, and even applying some EQ settings to get the below curve. Using miniDSP 2x4 HD, Umik-1, and of course REW.

Based on what I've seen my results are very good (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I have 3 x SVS PB-2000 subwoofers. The subs are in the corners, 2 in front, 1 in back.

I know my room is not idea, it's rectangular and I'm in the right side of the rectangle (15 feet deep, 30 feet wide). I'm on the far right of the room and my setup is about 10 feet wide. Diagram below, 1, 2, 3 are the subs. I have no sound/room treatments. Hard floor, drywall walls.

I love the sound of this set up for music. It sounds incredible and brings a smile to my face. Rich, tight, full. But trying to achieve the gut punch from gun shot movies (watched some John Wick 1 scenes last night) the response seems boomy.

Does the all spl graph not show the "boominess"? I thought based on the curve it should be good.

Is this a reflection / decay issue? My waterfall does show a lot of residual.

I have one more sub coming soon and some cheap wall art sound absorbers from Amazon.

Thank you,

3 individual subwoofer responses along with the combined corrected graph.

 

[John Mulcahy]

Best attaching an mdat file with the measurements.

 

[matthewacker]

OK, please see the attached file.

 

[sm52]

What do you think?

 

[John Mulcahy]

OK, please see the attached file.

Measurements 7 and 9 look good, if those are measurements at the listening position with all subs playing it should be enough to just play with overall sub level to get a result you like. It isn't really meaningful to use the alignment tool with your individual sub measurements as they were not made with a timing reference so the summations likely do not reflect reality.

 

[sm52]

as they were not made with a timing reference

Exactly. Therefore, my attempt at alignment should not be used.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I love the sound of this set up for music. It sounds incredible and brings a smile to my face. Rich, tight, full. But trying to achieve the gut punch from gun shot movies (watched some John Wick 1 scenes last night) the response seems boomy.

IIR the “gut punch” is more in the 50-70 Hz range, so a flatter curve may do you better.

That said, I don’t think I’d necessarily judge things from one movie. The producers add signal to the frequencies they want enhanced. Dial in things for one movie, and it might not sound all that great for the next.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[matthewacker]

What about my RT60/waterfall? It looks like it's showing 1.5 seconds to 1 second across most sub frequencies. That's pretty horrible right? What's a normal rating or an average number there?

Would a thick rug and some wall treatments help? Or is some serious bass traps necessary to improve this?

 

[John Mulcahy]

No, waterfall is very well behaved, nothing of concern there.