Do you adjust your subwoofer


I have kef reference 3 speakers and a rel 510 subwoofer 

 I keep the  crossover low and the volume low as well. It gives just a little extra down low

I was wondering if people bump up the subwoofer when using it for movies, just for the extra thrill

 

crwindy

@crwindy 

It is not personal at all. The settings for music and cinema should be exactly the same if a system goes down low in the right manner. One uncorrected REL 510 is already 6 dB down at 20 Hz. Getting it flat down to 20 Hz would require quadrupling the power. Studies have shown that the most satisfying curve for sound reproduction in the home environment boosts bass up 6 dB at 20 Hz falling to 0 dB at 100 Hz then flat out to 1000 Hz with a slow roll off with 20K down 6 dB. This would require 16 times the power in a REL 510.  In order to get this right you will need another 510 and a digital 2 way subwoofer crossover such as a Mini DSP. You would crossover between 80 and 100 Hz with a steep slope like 48 dB/oct then you can get the correct boost with the gain control on the woofers. I listen to an acoustic bass go down the scale and expect to hear each note at the approximately the same volume factoring in room acoustics which can be a little tricky. But, if the bass gets continuously louder as it goes down, the volume is too high. 

I have a NAD M17 v2i processor, it's remote has an overall volume Control, of course, and additionally has three separate targeted volume controls for tweaking the surrounds, Center and subwoofer channels.

So if the sub sound tends to be too much or too little for a specific movie I can tweak it, same thing for the surrounds and Center as well.

It's a wonderful feature.

I also create individual settings on the remote where I can listen to movies strictly in two channel with surrounds and subs while excluding the center channel because sometimes two channel just sounds better for home theater sound.  I can also set it to include the center channel on the fly. 
 

 

Granite audio sells a deep bass tone CD. 20-120 hz. Full sweep and 15 sec tone test per frequency. Can easily hear peaks and nulls or ap a measure room levels. 

Not all recordings seem to have the equivalent bass level.  I mean, what seems right to me, for that material.  So I do change the volume.  It's a db scale on my remote app so within about a  3-5 db range I find seems "right" in 90% of recordings.  Others set and forget.  As far as locating the sub that's a multi-faceted problem.  I find I can locate the sub at around 76hz and above so there's that aspect.  Volume less impacting to location to me/my set up and space.  

I have two REL S/812 subs and they are fine for 90% of the music I play. BUT, every now and then there will be a disc with so much low bass I have no choice but to get out of my chair and turn them down.  REL should really have built a remote control into their equipment.  If you want a perfect example of what I'm talking about, play Herbie Hancock's "Dis Is Da Drum". I don't know what is being used to create the extremely low bass but it gets my subs shaking and hits you in the chest.