Help setting up my BK xls200 please

[gscholefield]

Hi all, i recently brought this sub and have set it up as follows;

room size - 5m x 3.6m

settings on receiver,
front l/r speakers - small
sub crossover - 80 hz
sub level - 0

settings on sub,
low level gain - 12 o'clock
crossover - 120 hz
filter bypass - out
phase - 180 degrees

The sub is df and positioned 6 inches away from a wall, set up this way i get a spl meter reading of 74-75 db from the sub. The problem is that it sounds to boomy, watching Tron on blu-ray the room was shaking in parts as the bass seemed to over take the rest of the sound track. I had to reduced the gain to 9 o'clock but when i play music with the sub at this level it can't be heard. I thought it was important to set ALL speakers @ 75 db but with the sub gain at 9 o'clock i get a spl meter reading of 62 db. What am i doing wrong??

Many thanks, Gary

 

[MaturityDodger]

Your setup process sounds good to me (although no mention of running your AVR's calibration?)
I'd agree that ti sounds like you now have the sub turned down a little low.

Have you tried moving the sub around a little to try and reduce the boom? Maybe further away from the wall?

 

[gscholefield]

When i ran the auto set up from the AVR i would get a sub level reading of -9.5db i felt i was getting a more accurate distance/levels (for all speakers) by setting up manually. I am a little restricted with the placement of the sub, although i did manage to get it 10 inches away from the wall but there was very little if any improvement.

I'm open to any suggestions !!

Many thanks, Gary

 

[Rich Marshall]

Tron is a bit bass crazy in parts.
Have you tried setting the crossover to 60Hz? Depending on the output of your fronts (even set to small) this could help reduce some of the boom and flatten out the room response.

 

[gscholefield]

I haven't tried the crossover at 60hz i'll give it a go when i get a chance (hopefully today) and post back the results.

Many thanks for your suggestion, Gary

 

[larkone]

Setting it that low will leave a gap in response as your centre is only rated down to 75Hz. I solved the boominess on my sub with an Antimode 8033 - they do work well. Stopped the wife feeling sick on bass heavy movies.

Thread here:http://www.avforums.com/forums/subwoofers-tactile-transducers/975125-views-anti-mode-8033-a.html

 

[goujam]

Use the distances the auto calibrate sets for the sub even if there incorrect ! The auto cal will compensate for the delay in the subs amplifier this may help you a bit

 

[gscholefield]

Spending more money to improve the BK would be a last resort as it is only a stop gap until i can hopefully afford a Velodyne DD+ . Did the antimode give you a nice controlled/tight bass compared to before ??

Many thanks, Gary

 

[gscholefield]

Use the distances the auto calibrate sets for the sub even if there incorrect ! The auto cal will compensate for the delay in the subs amplifier this may help you a bit

Hi Goujam, should i use distance and level from auto calibrate or just distance as the level seemed way out but the distance was ok??

Many thanks, Gary

 

[goujam]

The distances then adjust the level to your taste, you may hae to try get an inbetween that suits for films and music. Have you got a referance for differant sources on you amp? I can set an offset of 0db for souces that input films and tv then on my souces for music I set an offet of -10db for the referance this helped abit for my music playback!

 

[larkone]

Spending more money to improve the BK would be a last resort as it is only a stop gap until i can hopefully afford a Velodyne DD+ . Did the antimode give you a nice controlled/tight bass compared to before ??

Many thanks, Gary

Yes it did. Occasionally I switch it to bypass mode just to prove it was money well spent and it definitely is. Obviously it varies from room to room but I had certain seats where it was uncomfortable to listen to deep bass notes on films. The antimode cured that much to my wife's relief - it was her seat that suffered worst of all.

 

[hoppaz]

Hi all, i recently brought this sub and have set it up as follows;

room size - 5m x 3.6m

settings on receiver,
front l/r speakers - small
sub crossover - 80 hz
sub level - 0

settings on sub,
low level gain - 12 o'clock
crossover - 120 hz
filter bypass - out
phase - 180 degrees

The sub is df and positioned 6 inches away from a wall, set up this way i get a spl meter reading of 74-75 db from the sub. The problem is that it sounds to boomy, watching Tron on blu-ray the room was shaking in parts as the bass seemed to over take the rest of the sound track. I had to reduced the gain to 9 o'clock but when i play music with the sub at this level it can't be heard. I thought it was important to set ALL speakers @ 75 db but with the sub gain at 9 o'clock i get a spl meter reading of 62 db. What am i doing wrong??

Many thanks, Gary

Any reason why you have phase set to 180? This may make the sub sound out of phase and be part of your problem. All of my subs have had phase set to zero.

 

[gscholefield]

Yes it did. Occasionally I switch it to bypass mode just to prove it was money well spent and it definitely is. Obviously it varies from room to room but I had certain seats where it was uncomfortable to listen to deep bass notes on films. The antimode cured that much to my wife's relief - it was her seat that suffered worst of all.

Thanks for the link it does sound like an interesting piece of kit for the money.

Cheers, Gary

 

[gscholefield]

Tron is a bit bass crazy in parts.
Have you tried setting the crossover to 60Hz? Depending on the output of your fronts (even set to small) this could help reduce some of the boom and flatten out the room response.

I tried the crossover at 60hz it did help abit but was still a little boomy.

Thank you for your suggestion, Gary

 

[gscholefield]

The distances then adjust the level to your taste, you may hae to try get an inbetween that suits for films and music. Have you got a referance for differant sources on you amp? I can set an offset of 0db for souces that input films and tv then on my souces for music I set an offet of -10db for the referance this helped abit for my music playback!

Apparently you can set diffent sub levels for films/music on the AVR , although i had to adjust the sub to -10db (65db) on the AVR before the level sounded right when watching a film . I must be doing something wrong to have to reduce the sub level by so much??

Many thanks, Gary

 

[gscholefield]

Any reason why you have phase set to 180? This may make the sub sound out of phase and be part of your problem. All of my subs have had phase set to zero.

I researched how to set phase on a sub and this is the method i used (please tell if i've gone wrong somewhere) ;
set crossover @ 80hz then play an 80hz test tone to the front l/r speakers and sub. Then measure the levels with an spl meter from 0 to 180 degrees phase with the highest reading being the most suitable (i got a 2db increase @ 180 degrees compared to 0 degrees). This is one big learning curve for me and i would appreciate any input that members might have.

Many thanks, Gary

 

[hoppaz]

I researched how to set phase on a sub and this is the method i used (please tell if i've gone wrong somewhere) ;
set crossover @ 80hz then play an 80hz test tone to the front l/r speakers and sub. Then measure the levels with an spl meter from 0 to 180 degrees phase with the highest reading being the most suitable (i got a 2db increase @ 180 degrees compared to 0 degrees). This is one big learning curve for me and i would appreciate any input that members might have.

Many thanks, Gary

Did you use an analogue SPL meter?

 

[gscholefield]

Yes ??

 

[hoppaz]

Try phase at zero and then re run some DVDs etc. See if it is different. If sub is at front with mains speakers then normally you'd set phase of sub to be in phase with the speakers.

 

[gscholefield]

I have now tried some cd's with phase at 0 and the boominess is the same as at 180 degrees. My sub is at the front, how do i set it to be in phase with my main speakers ? Was the process i followed before incorrect ?

Many thanks, Gary

 

[hoppaz]

Leave the phase at zero and if your avr has eq calibration re do it. Then adjust the sub gain to see if the bass starts to blend in to your speakers.

 

[gscholefield]

Well i've tried everything now but still no joy (to much boom), it looks like antimode might be the only solution. Unless anyone else has anymore ideas??

Many thanks to all, Gary

 

[hoppaz]

Well i've tried everything now but still no joy (to much boom), it looks like antimode might be the only solution. Unless anyone else has anymore ideas??

Many thanks to all, Gary

having re-read your original post I think you have the sub connected via a low (single rca cable) level input and not a hi level input?

 

[gscholefield]

That's correct it's connected with a single rca to the low level input.

Gary

 

[hoppaz]

That's correct it's connected with a single rca to the low level input.

Gary

To explain, if you are happy with the cd bass response but not the movie response then I struggle to see why. You have two channels playing 100w (estimated) music and one 275w sub amp playing music but this is with not having a purely dedicated .1 sub channel (even less bass is sent in this case) yet with movies you have 5 channels of sound (500w) sending more wattage with a dedicated .1 channel (more to the sub) yet it is too powerful?

275w will send out some pounding bass but not earth shattering. Hopefully other have ideas but to invest in an anti-mode for this size sub seems wrong. You have altered the sub level or re-calibrated the avr at the sub level so it isn't higher than the speaker levels?