Subwoofer slam vs boom

opps, the subs are both in the same phase, different phases kills the bass

Hmmm i don't think you'll need an icbm, your preamp seems to have the right features. That whack in the chest feeling you are looking for occurs in the 70-80hz area. Real bass below 30 is felt in the bones more then it is heard. I'll bet your friend was using a subwoofer that didn't have as flat a responce as your subs. My first speakers were a pair of cervin vega at-12's. They could hit you in the chest like oj but really didn't put out much below 40hz. If you want a flat responce you can't have a big bump in that upper bass region. I now how have a pair of Dynaudio 1.8's which have a much better bass responce, but don't put out nearly as much slam as those old vega's. It could be that your gear is too good. You probably have a nice flat responce down to the upper teens, i bet with the right song you could crap your pants heehe. What you need to do is un-audiophile your gear a bit. Set your speakers to small, and your crossover to 80 or 90 so your subs will work that upper bass. Set the subs to max output and let it rip. Make sure there are no pets or small children nearby and then play some good old rap music or that scene fom Heat where they bust out of the bank. Those M16's should sound like a sledge. In responce to your other question, the .1 is a discrete low frequency channel movie makers use to place only low frequency information. The information on this track will only be sent to the subwoofer if one is present or 'large' in a system without a sub. When speakers are set to 'small' all information below the crossover point is redirected first to the sub, and then to any 'large' speakers. The bass management abilities of preamps and recievers varies greatly and tends to be the weakest link, but if you can choose the crossover point, you probably have a pretty good one. Having large speakers in a hometheater setup is still a good idea because all channels are full range these days (20hz-20k).

... I thought I would get kicked out of here for saying the C word(Vega's). Those were my first speakers years ago, sounds funny saying that I am 26. I still have them, the DX-9's. I tried to use these as passive subs, disconnecting the tweeters and mids, running the .1 channel straight to the subs via a Bryston 9B amp. Just did not like the result, the HSU-2 I have sounded way better. The Vegas just sounded like someone put a metal garbage can over my head and was beating on it with a rubber hammer.

I was thinking of bypassing the HSU-3's amps and running the signals through a channel on my Simaudio Titan amp(7ch). Anyone know if this idea would be worth a try? I am wondering if the Sim might have better control over the HSU drivers. No the best solution, drawing the juice out of the Sim might not be the best idea, but this thing is so dang big, I don't think it could ever run out of power.

Thanks
Marty

wait a minute did you say 25k in gear? what kind of system do you have? there is noo way you can have bad bass in that neighborhood, well maybe if you lived in yellowstone. Anyway I'm 26 also, i use dynaudio contour speakers and have a harmon/kardon signature amp/preamp- don't laugh it sounds great and I can play them just about full out without a bit of strain. i don't use a sub for music and never felt the need for one. I might pick one up for home theater, but then again i've got neighbors and you know how that can be. i'm rocking dmb right now and having a keg can, what could be better? maybe that's your problem- wrong state of mind ;)

I think the room I am working in is screwing things up, alot. Next I guess I will rotate the whole mess 90 degress. See what happens.

Wrong state of mind, given. I do not use subs for music either, just with HT I want a system to grab me by the balls and wip me aroung the room. It's not that is sounds bad, I just don't know what it could sound like. I want the 2x4 whacking feeling.

I need help...:)

Thanks
Marty