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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
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 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
gochurchgo
921 posts
 
I don't run REW (more because it would expose things I would OCD on rather than enjoying music) but I just got a Rythmik sub this weekend. I set it up according to the included sheet and set the GAIN at 0 and its pretty close to perfect on EVERYTHING to my ears.


atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 
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
@kren0006   Of course is possible! The sub settings have nothing whatsoever to do with musical genres!  In fact there's not even a way to design a speaker to favor a certain genre either (and the idea that speakers do that is a myth, although one of the biggest myths in audio).
kren0006 OP
1,859 posts
 
Hey!  Reason for optimism!  Thanks atmasphere!  I need some work on placement, calibration, and room treatment but I'll keep trying to get there with one sub for now.

The first room treatment overture did not go over too well...."they look like office cubicle walls" was the response I got from her....

Gotta wait a couple months and then try to strike again.  It's all good though -
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