I am interested in hearing more from Chris on how to best set up FR5’s with a pair of F12’s specifically for two channel music. I’m interested in optimizing playback of vinyl and recently acquired a Stellar phono preamp to go with a snazzy Ortofon MC Cartridge. I’ll admit that Paul’s book convinced me to make these upgrades as historically i’ve put more emphasis on the amp and preamp. I was amazed how much improvement the Cartridge and phono preamp made in the sound coming from the FR5’s. Please assume the preamp has adjustable high and low pass filters.
That’s a great combo. What preamp are you using that has adjustable high-pass and low-pass filters?
Generally, I’d set a high-pass on the FR5 at 60–80 Hz and then low-pass the subwoofer using its built-in controls. The subwoofer also has EQ adjustments and fine-grained manual controls. Note that our auto EQ is designed around a single subwoofer, so with a pair you’ll want to tune manually. This is the case with nearly all subwoofer autoEQs (I think the JL audio one has an umbilical between subs for basic mutli-sub auto EQ).
Room size and shape, listener location, and subwoofer location interact in complex ways, so the setup and tuning aren’t the same for every customer. Exact placement, crossover, and EQ need to be set from in-room measurements and listening.
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. I’m currently using a Sony STR-ZA810ES receiver that I plan to replace, but I have the speakers set to small and the filter set at 80 Hz. The sub in the picture is a REL HT1510 that I borrowed from my home theater. I’ve tried the sub in many different locations but it sounds boomy and sluggish. I suspect a sub with a smaller driver and more controls will work better in the space. Because of all the challenges of the room with windows down one side, 16 foot ceilings and open to the kitchen, I moved the speakers closer to the listening position for the best results.
I’m considering the Emotiva XSP2 preamp as a replacement to the Sony. It has the features I’m looking for but is fairly new and I haven’t seen many reviews on it yet.
Smaller driver doesn’t mean more control. We do have a much better woofer in our subwoofer than in this Rel (which is independent of the size of the woofer) but the boom is from the room modes and you need EQ in addition to the placement changes (which is a feature of the foundry sub). We have an autoEQ you can use or manual EQ but I would “go to school” on EQing down the peaks using REW if you want to do this manually, though our autoEQ is a good starting point.
Very interesting and thanks again for having patience with my questions coming from relative ignorance. I would have thought controlling the driver was almost exclusively a function of the subs amp versus the driver. Can you please tell me more about autoEQ? Is this what your ad calls “intelligent DSP”? The SVS 3000 also claims to have autoEQ are all autoEQ’s created equal? Is subwoofer set up the same for stand speakers as it would be full range speakers? For example, why not let the foundry play up to 1000 Hz then cut it off at 30 as music typically has no information down there?
Yes, i’s not the amp “controlling” the woofer unless the subwoofer is in a very small category of system that use motional feedback, pressure sensor or some other sensing mechanism t
A woofer/box electromechanical system where the “control” is how linear the motor force, suspension compliance, and other electromechanical behaviors are. The dsp can monitor and can compress/limit right before the woofer makes bad noises. Some companies makes a look ahead non-linear model of the woofer and try to do more with the DSP but this is atypical for subs.
SVS has their own auto EQ and, no, not all are created equal but all room EQ built into subwoofers are more more limited than what folks in high end home cinema processors like trinnov waveforming, and dirac live bass control (DLBC) do where they are taking into account multiple subwoofer and sources into a much more comprehensive algorithm. However, in these home theater type approaches, any analog sources would need to run through another A/D converter and that isn’t generally what audiophile would choose.
Subs shouldn’t be crossed over high enough where they can be localization issues (where the bass doesn’t sound like it’s coming form the main speakers) or interference with the low midrange performance of your main speakers. The ideal placement for subwoofer is different form a full range speaker where the full range speaker needs to be put where the best stereo imaging, overall tonality and boundary iteration is. Subwoofers should be placed instead where they integrate best at the listening position to mitigate room modes and the peaks/dips introduced by them. This is a lengthy topic and well beyond a simple forum post. I can point you to some places to learn about this stuff though.
Thanks again, Chris. I have a fundamental understanding of room modes and the peaks and dips that can occur and I have moved my subwoofer to a position where it sounds much better, but I still feel like I’m a ways from being optimized. I’d love if you could point me to more information on how DSP works in general with a sub and maybe specifically how it works on your sub. I found you to be a straight shooter, so I’ll ask if you were designing a sub specifically to pair with the FR5’s would it be different from the current foundry sub? If so, how? BTW any concern I had about the SPL of the SR5’s and the need to use a filter on the low frequencies so they can play louder is gone now that they’re broken in. Those little guys can rock!