Subwoofer Question

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lugano

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Hello everybody,

I am about to get a REL Storm III subwoofer to further enhance my system. It will work together with my CLS IIz. Given the many controls available on the REL, I was wondering if somebody has such a setup and what are the used settings on the REL. I know that room/furniture/amplification etc do play a huge role, but it would have been nice to start the fine tuning from somebody else's final settings. I'm not planning to use it for home theater, only for hifi music listening. Thank you for your kind answers !
 
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lugano,
I too have the CLS's with a sub but it is a ML Depth not the REL Storm III. I was considering the REL but changed my mind since I got a great deal on a floor demo. :D
What I would do is run the CLS's full, no rolloff in frequecny and set the REL about 50 -55 HZ. This you will have to experiment with due to your room and other equipment. It may prove too "boomy" and you may have to set it lower or it may be about right for you. I have mine set at 45HZ and it is perfect. There is no "localization" of the sub and the overall sound is natural. What I mean by localization is, you should not be able to hear the location of the sub other than it is part of the overall frequency range. You should not be able to "hear" where the sub is just that it is there and part of the total sound.

I use mine for 2-channel listening and for HT and it is works just fine.

Good luck with the REL it is a fine sub.

Jeff :cool:
 
lugano,
Listen to different types of music for adjustments.
Specifically,
Listen to "stand-up" bass in a jazz configuration.
Listen for music that has the bass and the bass drum present and make sure you can hear both. You do not want them to blend but be able to hear either one.
Listen to some live recordings.

After this you should be able to find the "right" spot for you. :D

Also what I did was to raise the sub off the floor about an inch or so this also helped define the bass better. :D I can explain this more if you like.

Jeff :cool:
 
Same thoughts here...

Jeff Zaret said:
Listen to different types of music for adjustments.
Also what I did was to raise the sub off the floor about an inch or so this also helped define the bass better. :D I can explain this more if you like.

Yep, as we talk I am editing some music and building a 5-minute bass test track, with chops of songs I know to be quite deep. By putting it on repeat on the CD and also using the Chesky Records Jazz Sampler & Audiophile Test CD I am confident I'll get enough material. As for raising the sub from the ground, I had the same idea ;) and was already thinking about where to get 4 stainless steel or marble blocks ... but first I'll have to put my greedy hands on the sub !
 
Steve,
What this did for me was give a little more definition to the low frequency which was being produced by the sub. There were some frequencies (notes) which I was unaware of that were being "smothered" by my carpet. This gave me a clearer bass "decription/presentation" and I actually re-adjusted some of the setting a bit, i.e. turned to frequency range down from 55 to 45 hz and adjusted the volume of the sub.

I had some oak blocks which I had used for another experiment that failed and I put those directly on the carpet and then put the sub on them with spikes attached on the blocks The blocks are 4x4 x1 inch.

I also plan to see if I can "spike" the blocks to the carpet to see if there is any more difference. I also plan to play a bit more and possibly raise it up even farther mabe up to six inches since I am playing. :eek:

Jeff :cool:
 
Steve said:
Can you explain more why lifting the sub helped?
ASC, who are known for thier tube traps, also has a product for lifting bass units even higher off the floor. There was some discussion of this over at AVSForum if I am not mistaken on this, and there may be some more info over at the ASC site on the benefits of this.

From what I remember, most who have done this, have experienced improved bass response, just as Jeff has with just the couple of inches he did.

Dna
 

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