No BFD - I was shocked!

[Mr Incredible]

Last night I thought I'd use one of my other BFD-Presets to play some music through. As you know, just turning the dial one way or the other will move between the 10 different presets you can set.

Well, I thought I'd try each in turn but forgot which one I was using and accidentally turned the dial to the "off" position so the BFD was in effect in pass through mode.



What a racket and what a boomy and uncontrolled mess I heard! I was truly shocked at what I was hearing.

If you are ever in doubt about the importance of the BFD in the equation, just put it into bypass mode for a film or a few tracks of music and be prepared to be gobsmacked at the ensuing mess!

[russ.will]

When my SMS-1 was on loan to Crustyloafer and then AngleEyes, I actually turned the sub off and set the front speakers to large, so bad was the sound.

There are some things I can put up with, but unEq'd subs in my room is not one. Funny thing is, when the Monolith first turned up way back when, I thought that it sounded great. You live, you learn.

Russell

[eviljohn2]

As with all of these audio things, it all sounds good to start with. Upgrades never sound that great until you try and go back to something lesser which becomes very unpalatable.

[oz72]

I'm vearing towards a BFD, for my monolith, I tried to use eq wizard a while back while i could install (foreign) software on my work laptop and this was in my old flat, but i couldnt suss it out. I've got a new work laptop and no access privilleges to install it So it I was to run it again it would mean me having to bring the pc from upstairs which is a lot of fannying about What I need is a local eq wizard/bfd guru to come round for a brew and give me a hand. Hint Hint Mr incredible

[Mr Incredible]

Trouble with laptops is usually their lack of line-in capabilities resulting in external USB soundcards.

I have my old PC (PIII 1.3Ghz Celeron 384Mb memory) which is sat unused by my desk for emergency situations. I have REW installed and it is configured for the soundcard and Midi connections (off the Joystick connection). I've got the cables and connectors for the SPL meter and phono lines to the amp and I even have the 1/4 inch to phono adapters for the BFD. I could be the mobile REW on wheels if needs be! First things first though....... BFD.........

Handy being less than half a mile from where you live!

[jolly]

Sorting out the REW on my Tag DP has been the biggest sound upgrade i have ever had

[oz72]

Ok I'm convinced which is the best BFD to get where can i get one and whats the best price? I've got two weeks of work so this will be my pet project. My girlfriend's is currently plastering cracks she's good with stuff like that, think I'll keep this project under wraps for now as she thinks the monolith is the main culprit for the cracks

[SJC]

There are a few different models.
The latest is the 2496 which I believe can be had for around £100 new.
The most popular seems to be the 1124, but that's discontinued now so Fleabay is probably your best bet. You should be able to get one for around £50 ish on there.

[oz72]

Which one have you got Mr Incredible? might make sense if I got the same one as you or are they all quite simillar to set up? I'm sure I've read somewhere they are quite tricky to fettle with.

[Mr Incredible]

1124p

[AngelEyes]

You really ought to get REW running before rushing out and buying a BFD. You may have a perfectly good response or it may be cured with chaning the sub or the seating position.

Also the BFD can introduce its own problems such as ground loop hum.

If you have 2 weeks off, move your PC and figure out REW, if I can work it out anyone can, it just takes a bit of patience and OMFG, reading the manual

REW is a great tool and you may even find you enjoy tinkering. If you really can't be bothered to try REW and MrI agrees to come over, I would still buy the BFD afterwards, you may not even need it.

Also, do you want to rely on someone elses kindness everytime you decide to move some funtiture or upgrade your kit?

Adam

[Ightenhill]

Be careful. Dont try to use BFD to fix a problem thats caused by a misplaced or poorly intergrated sub.. you can fall in the trap of adding so many filters you will suck the life out of it..

As Adam says use REW first to get the sub and your room reponse as good as you can first, then add BFD if you need to

[Mr Incredible]

Agreed. The BFD is the last (but nonetheless effective) line of defence to tame troublesome frequencies. REW can help with sub positioning, which can occasionally overcome some room "Mode" issues. But having determined the optimum position and a baseline measurement, a valued judgement can be made (with assistance from the knowledgable REW/Sub guys in here) as to whether a BFD will help that much.

[oz72]

Ok guys EQ wizard it is, my girlfriends face was a picture when i said we'd have to move the computer downstairs lol. Will see if i can borrow my mates mac book I'm sure the software is available for a mac as well. I'll no doubt keep you all posted. Especcially bob

[Mr Incredible]

Apparently the author of REW has indicated it is possible to run REW on a PC without "installing" it, providing Java is installed on your PC/laptop, which it probably is for the browser functionality.

"You can download the zipped jar files, unzip them to a convenient location and run REW by double-clicking the roomeqwizard_obf.jar file. Java stores application preferences in a registry key as described in the help files, no other registry usage."