Should I add another sub?

Bro @GundamUnicorn,

Before u decide to buy any sub, it is vital to discern if the wide band deep valley is due to:

  1. room mode vs mlp,
  2. xover cancellation/ management.

Could u post the above FRs? These FRs will be able to tell us what is happening in your room to a good extent

Thanks havenā€™t got a quiet moment to do any sweeps. Thinking to shift sub to front wall mid pt to see if it helps. Havenā€™t got any longer cable to move to any other possible locations. Will post them once available.

You canā€™t randomly move your sub bro. At least try the crawling method, just google for it

My room are tiny so practically thereā€™s only a few spots for placing the subs. Currently is right side 1/4 of front wall. Whole front wall is free except where center speakers is. So I tested front center and side wall center for comparison today. It seems side wall mid pt has better graph, only concern is itā€™s take valuable floor space.
Back is occupied with a big 3S sofa leaving a narrow gap 300mm between sofa n built in wardrobe. What happen if I stick a svs300micro in that spot? The drives will be firing into sofa at one side n into wardrobe doorā€¦ thereā€™ll be rattled?

Iā€™m afraid itā€™s not about buying your way out of trouble.
The Starke is pretty tight. I owned it before
REW will allow simulations, and give you an idea of which positions help. Then you narrow it down based on your own limitations.
Then you measure your room, show those keen on helping you, and diagnose whatā€™s wrong before you plonk down hard earned $$ā€¦
But basic principles is two equal subs even outs the curveā€¦

Yes aware so Iā€™m looking at better sub locations and the right side wall mid pt side seems a better graph
3P comparison

Side wall mid pt

These graphs are useful! The side mid side wall placement has the least serious dips amongst all 3 and can maintain the bass quite well till 130hz.

I would use this placement to start with.

Could u use this sub placement, measure and post the graphs I mentioned earlier? Then we can take the next step to see what are the issues.

I already did use the A1 Evo optimizer to check the response with mains using the 1/4 of right side wall and the selected xo 150hz gives much better FR. Iā€™m settled on sub placement now and remeasures whole system again this weekend. Any concern for xo at 150? Bass integration with mains poor?
Seems like no urgency for adding 2nd sub for now but eventually will.
Thanks everyone for your help

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Just take note on safety , please check all your mounted equipment example . Wall mounted speakers , projection screen and projector.

Ensure you have better hardware or some adhesive to ensure it does not turn loose ,prolong use off low frequency those item does come off .

Have fun on the new toy .

Great!

For your xover w mains, u seem to be saying that setting xover at 120hz does not yield a good combined result w your mains? Like what @Wechnivag mentioned, it could be a xover vs timing issue, causing cancellations around the xover point. Based on your subā€™s FR in the new position, your sub+mains combined FR shld maintain quite well when crossed between 100hz-150hz. Need to see the FR to know.

Pls try to post the 3 categories of graphs i mentioned when u do the remeasure. Then we can help u see where is the issue. We donā€™t know what we canā€™t see.

Graph #3 that i mentioned earlier, measure using both 120hz and 150hz xover w your mains. So that members can help u take a look at the sub integration w your mains, b4 and after they combine. And check for cancellations.

So graph #3 should have 3 graphs in total and each graph will have 3 FR lines.

  • (Graph 1) cc; sub; cc + sub
  • (Graph 2) mains; sub; mains + sub (using xover 120hz)
  • (Graph 3) mains: sub; mains + sub (using xover 150hz)

Looking fwd to see the graphs!

finally go ahead and add 2nd sub, the modest KEF HTB2 which suppose to comes with the KEF KHT 3005 i used as a package but stupidly didnā€™t took it, thinking the Starke SW12 is sufficient and not required that sub. With HTB2 filling the gap in 50~200 hz, the XO is better now as the satellite 3001 rolls down around 150hz. still no ideal, but did some measurements:
Center

FL

FR

Sub


think of getting another HTB2 to fills in the dip around 30~50hz. current htb is at left of sofa and placing another on rights will fills that and gives a smoother response with just small delay to be apply (i checked using alignment tool)
or bite the bullet and just get svs3000 micro to fill that range and also provide more output beyond 30hz?
what you guys thin? another HTB2 or SVS3000 micro? $ vs $$$??

Thanks for posting it.

The labelling of the FR lines are confusing. And u did not mention whether they are measured w room eq on or off.

For the subs only graph,

  • which is kef sub, which is starke sub?
  • What does purple, red, green represent?
  • are the FRs with room EQ off or on?

For the FR and FL graph,

  • are the FRs with EQ on or off?
  • is the purple and orange lines represent the combined responses of speakers and sub?

Suggest u hold first. More might not be better.

  1. U need to be v clear what problem are u trying to solve actually? Itā€™s not clear. 30-50hz is not an issue from the graphs, deploying a dsp for the subs should give u a good sub response from 25-130hz.

  2. adding subs of different model and make is highly unadvisable. Unless u have the tools and know-how to integrate them well. U already have 2 diff subs: starke sw12, and a kef htb2. Then u still want to add a 3rd non identical sub svs micro. I feel it will have more cons then pros. Plus in such a small room w limited placement positions, do u really need 3x subs?

Sorry I am v confused. I thought that the previous conclusion was that mid wall placement for your sw12 gives a good FR to work with liao? This shld likely give a nice response bwteen 25hz-150hz if u have the know-how and tools to do so.

Secondly, we asked your assistance to remeasure and post the relevant categories of graphs using mid wall sub placement to move this to the next step. Did u do that? Could u post graphs of that pls?

We are investing time to help u solve the problem in a guided manner. So we appreciate it if u can take those steps first and post the graphs that members helping u asked for. :slight_smile:

sorry for the confusing posts haha, i had previously lived with sw12 at the side wall mid pt placement for a couple of days but found it to be not practical so had shifted back to 1/4 pt and it had been there since.

Iā€™m using Audysessy One (A1) optimisation script thatā€™s automates vol leveling/time alignment/xo/eq using REW from measurements extracted from Audysessyā€™s MultEQ app. After running the script+REW, the following fronts and sub responses are produced:
Sub -

  1. Sw1o - combined subs pre EQ
  2. Sw1final - post EQ to target curve ā€œEvo_Target Curve @75dbā€
  3. LFEchannel - predicated final response with 120hz LPF applied by AVR (i did a REW sweep before and it tracks pretty close with the predicated response)

Front Right (same for FL)

  1. FRo - pre EQ,
  2. FRchannel - post EQ + LFEchannel

below are the raw individual sub responses from MultEQ which i didnā€™t include in the sub graphs as their levels are much higher and I donā€™t know how to offset them to same level for easy comparison :sweat_smile:
So A1 will using these raw responses and find the best combination using REW and the result is SW1o.
I really appreciate your help and advice. Thanks!
PS:
Xo are: C -90, FL/R - 120

A very simple question for youā€¦if you said HTB2 placed at left of sofa and you ā€œbelieveā€ that by getting another HTB2 should be able to ā€œfill upā€ the dip between 30-50hzā€¦so did you do measurement by moving the HTB2 from the left to the right and if so, what does the measurement tell you? Does that ā€œright side of the sofaā€ position truly fill in that range of dip youā€™ve mentioned?

Againā€¦I do not advocte the different make and size of driversā€¦e.g. SW12 vs a 8" HTB2 and now you are even considering a SVS 3000 micro which is an 8" driver. You might be better off getting a good pair of subs that closelt matches the amplification of your Starke SW12.

I did move the htb2 at different positions when I got it to see which position has the best potential using REW alignment tool and determined left of sofa should be the one before I run thru the A1 optimization script. The right side of sofa was one of the tested positions. So I used that response and aligned with the combined response sw1final shown in above post which yields good result in REW. Thatā€™s why Iā€™m considering getting another to smooth out the response but they are good only to 30hz. Alternatively, Iā€™m also thinking replacing the HTB2 I have now with Svs 3000 micro which according to specs is 23-240hz Ā±3db so can provide more low end.

Ah I see. No wonder.

Cos that placementā€™s FR for sub is good and likely donā€™t need another sub.

A 3rd sub likely wonā€™t help much in your case I think (plus u have limited placement) and it might spoilt the soup.

But, I would do what @desray suggested, change your 2nd sub to an identical sub e.g. sw12. You are likely wasting money getting a 3rd sub. I would rather channel the funds to get another sw12, sell the htb2.

Your latest subs + speakers FR is not that bad. I would try running a house curve on your subs that has a 5db-8db slope from 100hz-30hz with your current setup.

But seriously speaking, if u can live with the sidewall midwall placement for single sub, perhaps that would be the best and simplest.

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