Loss of bass from subs

[Rashman78]

Hey all,

Need to pick your brains..

I’ve recently built an extension that has given me a new lounge area.

Room description:
Rectangular in shape, about 4m x 7m.

Level, flat, painted ceiling.

2x recessed skylights 1m x 1m each.

Concrete base, screed, hard flooring also with underfloor heating.

Adjoining room through archway, also hard flooring.


Current cinema setup:
65” LG oled.
Sony 4K BluRay player.
Pioneer SC-LX901 amp.
6x Cambridge Audio floor standers.
Cambridge Audio centre.
4x Cambridge Audio atmos ceiling speakers.
4x Cambridge Audio Minx300 subs.

I used to have all this setup in my old lounge which was about 4m x 5m and carpeted.
Bass was crazy awesome. Serious low-down, bass.

I moved the equipment into the new room recently and watched a film for the first time.
All speakers firing on all cylinders and sound great.
But, I noticed that I have lost a lot of low frequency bass for some reason.
I thought that if anything, bass would be a lot more boomy because of the hard floors.. but it seems to have gone the other way.
It seems like the hard floor is swallowing up the bass!
The subs are definitely on and working hard. Settings are the same as I had them previously.

I’ve noticed the new room is a lot more echoey so I will need to add a fair bit of soft furnishings.

But why am I losing so much bass?

Any ideas?

 

[Jase]

Because you've just increased the overall size of your room and additionally have the adjoining room through the archway.

The settings you had previously won't work so you'll need to re-run the auto setup and probably have to increase the channel levels. Especially the subs, although even then they may struggle.

 

[Rashman78]

Hi,

The subs aren’t struggling by any means.
In fact, they could do with being turned down because 2 of them jiggled their way 3 inches forward during the film.

I am confident that 4 of these subs are more than enough to fill the new room. And then some.

The issue I’m having is loss of low, deep bass.

I’m putting it down to either the hard floor or the adjoining room.

However, if I stand in the adjoining room, there’s no noticeable bass in there.
If that room was robbing the main room of bass, I’d expect to feel it in there, but I can’t.

 

[Jase]

Hi,

The subs aren’t struggling by any means.
In fact, they could do with being turned down because 2 of them jiggled their way 3 inches forward during the film.

I am confident that 4 of these subs are more than enough to fill the new room. And then some.

The issue I’m having is loss of low, deep bass.

I’m putting it down to either the hard floor or the adjoining room.

However, if I stand in the adjoining room, there’s no noticeable bass in there.
If that room was robbing the main room of bass, I’d expect to feel it in there, but I can’t.

Have you re-run the auto setup on your Pioneer to see what the levels are?

You say the subs aren't struggling yet you have no low, deep bass. Just because they worked in one room doesn't mean you'll get the same response/performance in another.

I can open a door to my room and completely change the bass response compared to having it closed. That's the nature of bass.

You could try the subs in other positions within the room and see if that helps as you may be sitting in a massive null but I still suspect the area is just too big for those subs.

 

[Rashman78]

I’ve had to disassemble the system for a week or so because I’ve just had a new kitchen delivered which is currently being fitted.
When I get the room back in shape, I’ll play around with the settings and levels and see what I can do.

I’m not at all convinced that 4x subs can’t fill a room that is by no means large, so I’m inclined to suspect that it’s the hard-surfaced nature of the room.

I will also add soft furnishings to see if that helps.

 

[Jase]

I’ve had to disassemble the system for a week or so because I’ve just had a new kitchen delivered which is currently being fitted.
When I get the room back in shape, I’ll play around with the settings and levels and see what I can do.

I’m not at all convinced that 4x subs can’t fill a room that is by no means large, so I’m inclined to suspect that it’s the hard-surfaced nature of the room.

I will also add soft furnishings to see if that helps.

Depends on the subs and what they're capable of in terms of response/output etc. Adding more will often help smooth out the overall response but if you want lower bass then bigger subs/drivers are needed.

Soft furnishings may help to a certain degree with higher frequencies but bass needs something pretty significant to have an effect. Especially below 100hz.

Anyway, see if you can improve things with different positions for your current subs once your kitchen is fitted.

 

[Rashman78]

Will do

 

[andym81]

I would definitely rerun the EQ and play with your placement once you have your furniture in place.

If your corner loading try and stack them and see how they sound.

If you want really good LFE I'd look at upgrading depending on funds of course.

Those cambridge subs are rated to 33hz - 6db

 

[ti33er]

I have a similar issue in my 4.4m x 6.5m with 3m high ceilings (another 1m ceiling-void to the neighbouring flat above makes it a 4m ceiling in essence)!

I had a BK Monolith in here last week and it was unimpressive...not any deeper nor more punchy than my SVS SB13

When I took the Monolith to my friend whom I’d acquired it for earlier this week, it literally growls and shakes her room apart and had to turn the volume down !!!! Her Living room is of similar size and even open-plan to another room of similar size making it a really huge space - the only real difference is her ceiling slightly lower at 2.6m and solid

I believe my suspended ceiling sucks up a lot of bass in here ...I’ll need to get some Buttkickers in my couch for rumble ;-)

 

[ti33er]

Ps. If funds permit, I’d try out BKs new Platinum PR model ...they claim have similar output to their Monolith, but smaller Platinum P12300-SB

If you can fit two Monolith in and disguise as coffee tables; these really can produce subterranean rumble you get at the Cinema