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[Merlijn van Veen]

Uploaded a new video lifting the veil regarding the prevailing question "where to align the main speakers to the subwoofers".

Click here to watch it.

Sincerely and enjoy,

Merlijn van Veen

[Tim McCulloch]

Uploaded a new video lifting the veil regarding the prevailing question "where to align the main speakers to the subwoofers".

Click here to watch it.

Sincerely and enjoy,

Merlijn van Veen

Very nice, Merlijn!

[Rob Spence]

Very nice. Thank you.


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[Dave Pluke]

My head hurts....but, thanks Merlijn  !

[Nitin Sidhu]

Thank you Merlijn!

Excellent watching!

[John L Nobile]

Very informative. Thanks for posting this.

[Rob Spence]

Now if I could only figure out how to align them....


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[Frank Koenig]

Merlijn, a clear presentation, as always. Thanks. My two take-homes are the notion to align at the upper end of the frequency overlap (~1/3 octave over) rather than at the crossover frequency, as the spacial region of summation is smallest for the shortest wavelengths, and the benefit of using a lower crossover frequency.

Another tradeoff I believe is employed sometimes is to further separate the low- and high-pass cutoff frequencies and to accept a dip in the overall response in exchange for less audible interference.  I guess this is cheating and should not be necessary in a well deployed system, but in a pinch it can help to clean up the "mud". I would be interested in your observations on this practice.

Best,

--Frank

[Merlijn van Veen]

but in a pinch it can help to clean up the "mud".

DISCLAIMER: Don't take this personally.

IMO that's because most have created the mud to begin with, by raising the subwoofer levels to achieve low frequency emphasis.

In a unity crossover, mains and subs are equally loud at the actual intended crossover frequency for a given point in space. However, if you raise the subwoofer levels you shift the frequency up which was previously equally loud and the subs now have custody over an extra half octave or so. There's your mud.

So to counter it you lower the corner frequency of the LPF proportionally, thinking you introduce a gap. But effectively you're restoring the original crossover frequency albeit with mismatched phase slopes because the LPF and HPF now have different corner frequencies.

It's a can of worms that from my experience only works with 60 Hz crossover setups because by the time you've haystacked the subs to +12 dB you're effectively back at 80 Hz to 100 Hz.

I like LF as much as anyone but in the pursuit for emphasis ALL we're trying to achieve is SEND MORE VOLTS to the subwoofers and that can me done in more than one way besides cranking up the sub amps.

You could also use a low-shelf filter for the same effect which is MORE VOLTS to the subs. In this approach however you maintain the level custody between mains and subs and respect the intended crossover frequency.

Yes, this will cost you headroom because now the low-shelf will trigger the limiters earlier on but maybe then more rig for the gig is called for...

End of rant ;-)



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[Frank Koenig]

You could also use a low-shelf filter for the same effect which is MORE VOLTS to the subs. In this approach however you maintain the level custody between mains and subs and respect the intended crossover frequency.
End of rant ;-)

Thanks for the rant -- it benefits us all. I completely agree that LF boost is a subjective EQ decision that should be applied upstream with respect to a particular source, and that a properly aligned crossover should be left alone.

I, like everyone else, use an LF boost shelf for playback of recorded music, with the exception of cinema which always seems to have plenty of bass (my cinema experience is limited to my living room, and it's not a "calibrated" system). Live, if I want more bass (frequency range) I turn up the bass (guitar, drum, etc.) 

Best,

--Frank

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