ACV92 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Just curious. I've owned the 5.5's since new. I've never thought of them as having any kind of substantial bass. They've always sounded like they had a glorified midrange driver when running by themselves. With a sub they always sounded good to me. I bought an SW-10 and these together so I just thought that's the way they were. I've read a bunch of reviews lately on these saying that they have great bass, or that they are using these with no sub. Do you think I've had a problem with the crossover's this whole time? I've checked the wiring, the drivers, no scraping, checked at just over 8 ohm's each, and checked the cabinets. I've used them with a Marantz 110wpc receiver and currently am using a Yamaha 75wpc receiver. I made sure that with the Marantz the front setting was large and with the old Yamaha it runs the fronts full range regardless. I added bucking magnets to all the drivers years ago but never really noticed a difference in the sound. I've tried different positions, corner, out from the wall, etc. Has anyone else ever had a pair of these and had a similar experience? It's only taken me over 20 years to think about this. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnote Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I would think something is wrong . Mine had great bass. I'm stumped as to why yours have never had great bass . I'm with you on the crossover after having checked the drivers, wiring , and cabinet but hard to believe they came with both XO's bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Thanks. I just pulled out one of the networks to see if I could see anything wrong but everything looks fine. I'll have to look into testing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Here's a basic chart of what I came up with. I don't have a mic, I need to get one. So, I ran individual tones so that I could read them with my meter. I ran the tones from my laptop, volume on the laptop and receiver stayed the same the whole time, and I ran each tone twice to confirm the SPL. I don't know if some of this is caused by the sound card in the laptop. I'm sure some of this is room acoustics, but I don't know what's causing such big peaks and dips. Your thoughts are appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Is the graph of just the Mains set to Large? Was the subwoofer also on? Set the speakers to small and sub on, Then do another graph. You are getting some bass from looking at the posted graph. Do you have any kind of auto EQ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter P. Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Well; you at least know the woofer is working. You could perform the test again, driving only one speaker at a time. That way you could compare left vs. right and if they're pretty equal in their output, you can assume they're operating correctly. Tip: You should position each speaker in the same location when performing the test. My suspicion-room acoustics. Move your system to a different room just for experimental purposes and see if you get different results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 3 hours ago, derrickdj1 said: Is the graph of just the Mains set to Large? Was the subwoofer also on? Set the speakers to small and sub on, Then do another graph. You are getting some bass from looking at the posted graph. Do you have any kind of auto EQ? Graph is just the mains. The Yamaha receiver is old and has no settings for large/small, they run full range. The subwoofer was off. I will have to do another graph with sub on with the same settings for comparison. No auto EQ. I was running everything flat, no boost in bass/treble either on the receiver, or the laptop. I would like to go with a preamp/amp setup and use something like a miniDSP eventually. I have a UMAX 15 and Inuke 3000DSP that aren't in operation yet. Still finishing the cabinet. I'd like to smooth the upper level bass in 5.5's and lowpass the UMAX at 50 - 60 with a highpass at 20, mainly music listening. 3 hours ago, Peter P. said: Well; you at least know the woofer is working. You could perform the test again, driving only one speaker at a time. That way you could compare left vs. right and if they're pretty equal in their output, you can assume they're operating correctly. Tip: You should position each speaker in the same location when performing the test. My suspicion-room acoustics. Move your system to a different room just for experimental purposes and see if you get different results. I'll try the same location test. I've had these in a couple of other rooms before and have always felt the same way. I'll be out-of-town for a couple of days so I'll have to run some more tests when I get back. Thanks guys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 I moved the mains more to the corners, they do sound better there, checked wiring again, checked for blown woofers, etc. and still had the same low bass issue. What I've found, I need a new receiver. I maxed out the bass gain on the receiver, just for fun, and they actually sounded like there was a little life there. What was surprising was that the bass was not dramatized as if I had done this with one of my old Marantz receivers. It sounded like what I would expect with most decent receivers with the bass gain flat, or even turned back some. They sounded more 'normal'. I should've known better. The cheap/old Yamaha doesn't have the guts to make these come alive, or it's the Natural Sound Chip. I can't get a preamp/amp now, but I did find a really good condition Marantz SR-8500 for around $250. I think I'm going to get it. I've got an SR880 in the garage for some outside tunes and an SR8400 in the HT setup in our rec room. Might as well complete the Marantz circle, I've always liked the way that they sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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