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Is Sub Gain Set&Forget Across Music Genres a Fallacy?

I have a single subwoofer in each of my 3 installations.  Two Rels (S/5 and R-328), and a Sunfire (SDS8).  L/R's are Spendor D7, D1, and SA1, respectively.

Try as I might, I cannot ever seem to arrive at one sub gain setting (to say nothing of crossover setting, but let's leave that alone for now) that works ideally or even sufficiently for all of the music that I listen to (blues, jazz, rock, classic rock, southern rock, country, some pop).

Maybe I'm naive and the answer is simple - of course dummy, why would you think there'd be a single setting that would work for everything?  

It'll sound perfect for certain songs/genres (majority), but then I today listen to Jimmy "Duck" Holmes new blues album "Cypress Grove" (really good), which has a TON of bass (and really good recurring bass on certain tracks - probably a pretty good album for sub setup) and I find I need to dial everything way back.

So if I say, okay, this Cypress Grove album is my baseline for setting up my sub, then it'll probably come up wanting on other stuff, ugh.  I am going to get some GIK room treatment monster bass traps to go on the front wall, so I know that will help.

As I said, maybe the simple answer is, YES, there is no such thing as set and forget for subwoofers across music genres.

PIA to keep changing the gain during a listening session but appears that is way it has to be if I don't want to just ignore the non-ideal-ness of the bass with single setting (not my style).....    If that's wrong, LMK what the magic secret is!  

I anticipate some will say multiple subs is the only way to cure this.  Perhaps, but not an option at present time for me.  Looking to keep this discussion to single sub if possible, as I know it could easily morph to a swarm discussion quickly. 

If sub swarm is the only answer, however, I suppose I could accept that.  But if room treatment and careful setup can get there, that's preferable.  Maybe set/forget not even possible with swarm - kinda seems like this could be an issue that more subs don't necessarily fix? 
kren0006
big_greg
6,628 posts
 
Is it "wrong" when one recording has a lot of bass content and another has very little?  If your subs are working correctly, they are just letting you know what's there in the music.  If it seems like too much bass because the last recording you listened to was "just right", it's not the subwoofer that's the issue. 

I have 4 subs in my system.  While I tinker with them a little from time to time, yes, they are for the most part "set it and forget it". 

Sometimes the bass is startling.  Sometimes I wonder where it went.  It's not because the subwoofers aren't dialed in.
kren0006 OP
1,859 posts
 
bg: fair point. 

I didn’t say anything was wrong with the recordings. Maybe I didn’t explain the situation well enough. The most annoying situation for me is I think I have it all dialed in, sounds great on everything I listen to, and then a guest comes and requests something where the bass is so overwhelming it needs to be dialed back - kinda embarrassing. 

But I guess the comparable is a system with full range speakers and no subwoofers. Assuming no tone controls on the preamp or integrated, this is a no adjustment setup across music genres or songs. Simple, easy. The owner never has to worry whether the settings are optimal.


I was just wondering if it is even possible to reach that level of simplicity and ease with one (ideally for me) or more subs after the initial calibration (Set and forget and still optimal). Or whether there will always be some tweaking needed. 

Sounds like you are very close to the set and forget. 

Maybe subwoofers are so specialized compared to full range speakers and the sound improvements subs offer are so notable that any inconvenience involved in slight adjustments are well worth it if sound quality is more impressive than simplicity?


Maybe I really do just need a second one; dang I didn’t want to go there and not sure how I’ll make that fly when better half already frustrated with how much (junk - her words) is cluttering the living room.
kren0006 OP
1,859 posts
 
drumnman2: interesting comments on room correction and preamp adjustment.
My lone experience with room correction was with Audyssey (basic version) for my home theater setup and I was quite underwhelmed with the results. But probably that is comparatively a fairly primitive program
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,617 posts
 
I have four subs in my livingroom,three of them are tucked behind furniture out of sight.What you're hearing on top of the excessive bass in certain recordings are standing waves and room modes.Even two subs,some unobtrusive bass traps in the corners,and maybe trying a dsp unit will go a long way to smooth and control.
There are some long threads here about how and why it works already:-)Since you already have the subs think about picking up a spool of wire and experimenting sometime.Also a cheap hand cart to save your back on those stairs.

kren0006 OP
1,859 posts
 
Thanks. Yeah I knew there were multi-sub threads and that they were passionate : )


My quick 2 minute search of site for sub single gain setting across music genres didn’t turn up anything on point but I guess it’s all related and I didn’t search exhaustively
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