Bass Settings on Marantz 2245 w/ Heresy III's

[glennconti]

I have set my 2245 receiver to have the bass, mid and treble all at the 12:00 settings assuming this will not color the source material. However it sounds better to me to have the bass setting at 2:00. If I need more bass am I better off with a powered subwoofer and all EQ off? Or just add more bass at the tone control and not have a sub. Budget is not a problem. Again my setup is Marantz 2245, Klipsch Heresy III's and a Pioneer DV-610-AVS and I play mostly SACD's.

[willland]

Glennconti,

Welcome to the forum.

I have a Marantz 2252B powering a pair of Heresy I's and here are my settings:

bass @ 11:00, mid @ 1:00, treble @ 1:00

I do have the loudness button active which as you know accentuates the midbass region.

My room is 13 x 13 with carpet, long thick drapes, queen bed with full dress and big fluffy pillows. This setup is by no means "bass shy". I think the overall response is pretty flat with a leaning a little mid-bassy, which I like.

As you know, the tone controls only add more bass at those frequencies but will not make it dig any deeper. I think a quality, tight, fast, subwoofer might be in order if you can't get the sound you want "right".

Bill

[LHF63]

Let me second Bill's welcome to the forum.

I've got H1's running from a Marantz 1060. Originally I set the bass control to about 1:00, mid to 12:00, and treble to 11:00, loudness off. This was not bad, not what I would call bass-shy, but the H1's do only go so deep. Added in a McIntosh MC7100 with the Marantz functioning as a preamp, and this tightened up the bass somewhat, but of course didn't deepen it. So I added a Hsu VTF-2 MKIII, speaker-level inputs, crossed at 60 Hz, and put all the tone controls back at 12:00. For me, that was the ticket.

No right or wrong answer here, but like Bill said, tone controls won't make the Heresy's (I or III) dig any deeper. Just depends on what your ears need.

Lou

[glennconti]

Thanks for both of your responses. I think a sub may be the way to go. What does anybody think about the Klipsch SW-115. I like the stand by mode and the frequency response down to 18 Hz. I think I can get a new one for about $700. I want a sub that can get down to at least 20 Hz. The H3's get down to 58 Hz so a crossover of about 60 Hz sounds right. Any more thoughts?

[LHF63]

I haven't heard the Klipsch subs, but of those I have heard (or have heard a very close relative):

Hsu VTF-2 MK4 SVS PB12-NSD SVS PC12-NSD

All will reach 18 Hz and all have standby mode. The SVS subs are $769 for the box, $749 for the cylinder. The Hsu is $519. For the SVS subs shipping is included in the price. For the Hsu, shipping is additional. And they all come in "any color you want so long as it's black".

The Klipsch sub may be a better match, but I will offer my opinion that there's not much to timbre matching at subwoofer frequencies.

Lou

[willland]

I think a sub may be the way to go. What does anybody think about the Klipsch SW-115.

No reports as of yet from any forum members.

I want a sub that can get down to at least 20 Hz.

Where are you located? We can help you search if you are open to the used market in your area(c-list, a-gon, ebay).

If you are using this system mainly for music, I think a sealed sub may be the way to go.(just my preference and experience in recommending)

Bill

[glennconti]

I live in NJ at the shore (Bay Head). Our Craig's list is http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/ There are a two RW-12D available for around $350 each in new condition.

[willland]

I live in NJ at the shore (Bay Head).

This may be worth a shot.

http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/ele/2916859630.html

I have never heard it but have read very favorable reviews. Maybe someone on the forum will chime in about SVS cylinder subs.

Bill

[Dennie]

I live in NJ at the shore (Bay Head).

This may be worth a shot.

http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/ele/2916859630.html

I have never heard it but have read very favorable reviews. Maybe someone on the forum will chime in about SVS cylinder subs.

Bill

I have this sub and I would recommend you grab it ASAP!!! I think I paid $1000 delivered for mine. When sub shopping I contacted SVS and I told them, music was most important, but I wanted to shake the house for movies. The 20-39pc plus is what was recommended. It can be tuned to 12hz, but I have mine tuned to 16Hz and love it.

Keep us posted and Welcome to the Klipsch forums,

Dennie

[glennconti]

I contacted the sub owner and he said he already had three buyers at the asking price. So its a no go.

[glennconti]

The Hsu VTF-2 MK4 looks like it will fit the bill if I go new. For $519 plus shipping. They (Hsu) also have a high pass filter box for another $100 that goes between the Marantz 2245 preamp-out and main-in to filter out any bass below a setable frequency (60 or 80 Hz) so the Heresy III's will never see any freq below say 60Hz. Any more thoughts on this set up or leads on any used equipment? Thanks for every body's help by the way.

[wdrazek]

Personally, I have happily run a Sunfire True sub (flat to 20 or so) since 1998 and it has never missed a beat with anything I've used it with.Whether 2 channel music or HT it delivers the goods. It has dynamite WAF, being only an 11" cube. It also will play insanely loud with the built in 2200 watt amp. Can be had for around $500 used.

Of course, if you want a big and bad looking sub, it won't fit the bill. Personally, I love the stealth.

[glennconti]

Thanks for the input. I like the Sunfire True! I got one on ebay. This one was 2700 watts with dual 12" woofers. Hopefully I didn't pay too much which I tend to do. This one appears to be in excellent condition. I paid $675 and that included freight. This is less than I would have paid for a new delivered HSU VFT-2 with High Pass filter box.

[willland]

I think the price you paid is about right. I sold my TS Signature with 10 inch drivers for $700.00 last summer and that was about the going rate.

Be careful with this baby, the volume rises very sharply and can get away from you. It also can walk across your tile or wood floor if you let it.

Bill

[glennconti]

Thanks for the advice. I have a rubber pad/runner 2' x 4' to keep carpets from moving that I can cut to size and put underneath. This should keep the sub from "walking". Its funny you said that. One of the reviews I read said the same thing as you about the sub moving. They called it a "neutron star" because it is so heavy (53 LBS) in such a small package (13 x 13 x 13"). I will also be very careful with the volume settings on the sub. It sounds like I've gotten a real beast. I don't do HT with my set up but can. So I think I will give it a go with movies too.

[glennconti]

I made a test tone CD from .wav files I found on the internet. Very Interesting!!! I played 20KHz down to 20Hz in increments. First thing I found is that I cannot hear anything much above 10K Hz. I know the H3's are pumping the high frequencies out; I just cant hear them! The second thing I found is that the H3's still make sound at 40Hz!!!! These babies are suposed to roll off at 58HZ. The Heresy III are damn fine speakers. From what I understand Cymbals are 15KHz at the high end and a Bass is 40Hz at the low end of possible sounds from musical instruments. I'm can't wait until I get my Sunfire True subwoofer and can do some testing with it and the rest of my system.

[LHF63]

First thing I found is that I cannot hear anything much above 10K Hz.

Not too surprising if (A) you've been to lots of rock concerts or ( you've seen more than 40 winters.

The second thing I found is that the H3's still make sound at 40Hz!!!! These babies are suposed to roll off at 58HZ.

Yes. When we say that they roll off at 58 Hz, what is meant is that the output is down 3 dB at that frequency. It doesn't mean that the speaker won't produce any sound at all below that frequency. It will, but it produces less and less output relative to the rest of the spectrum as the frequency continues to drop. And of course there is a similar roll-off above some frequency at the other end as well.

Let us know how the Sunfire matches up for you.

Lou

[glennconti]

Is this why a powered subwoofer sounds so good? Or why I like to turn up the bass tone control on my receiver with no sub? It looks like for the frequencies between 300 Hz and 15Khz there only is a 10 dB volume requirement. But to hear below 300 Hz the volume needs to be increased like 30 more dB. I am looking at the bottom red line the "Threshold of Hearing" line. With a powered subwoofer you can set the low frequency volume (higher) independent of the 300 Hz to 15KHz range (which is controlled by the receiver volume). Or is my head up my rear on this?