R10SWi is...muddy and farty

[alxlwson]

So the first bit of my new gear came in, the R10SWi. The Sixes will be here later this month. So, in the interim, I went ahead and hooked up the sub. I set the subs low pass to ~50Hz which is the low end of my speakers. I enabled the sub out on my receiver. It's an old Pioneer, can't remember the model number off the top of my head. I set the sub output level to "min", that ranges from there to 5, 10, 15, and max. I set the sub's gain to 3. Cranked up the volume to where I enjoy listening, which is rather loud, but not deafening by any means. The bass hits sound terrible! They are muddy instead of punchy (lots of double kicks, I listen to heavy metal. Here is one of the songs on was listening to, but @320kbps br). I was expecting these to be punchy and clean.  I have the sub port approximately 8" from the wall. It's not in a corner, and is centered on one of the long walls in my office. There are times where it even sounds like it's being over driven, very distorted and flappy. 

So I got on youtube and found a frequency sweep that started at 2GHz and went down to 1Hz. Even though I had the subs low pass set to 50Hz, it starts blowing it's load at 150Hz. I even verified the sub setting. Unfortunately, my receiver does not have an actual LFE option where I could limit the signal at the receiver.

 

So, what's the deal? Am I expecting too much from the sub, is it garbage, or is my receiver to blame.

 

Thanks for any input. This is disappointing.

[ACV92]

I would try different placement options first.  Move it around the room and play the same track until you find a sweet spot.  I would aim more towards a corner.  Also, I would set the crossover point at 80hz and go from there, bring it up a bit from the bottom of your mains, just makes them all happier.  Has great reviews on Amazon.  It's not a powerhouse sub, 150 watt rms, but ported with a 10 it should play reasonably well.  Let us know what you find.

[alxlwson]

7 hours ago, ACV92 said:

I would try different placement options first.  Move it around the room and play the same track until you find a sweet spot.  I would aim more towards a corner.  Also, I would set the crossover point at 80hz and go from there, bring it up a bit from the bottom of your mains, just makes them all happier.  Has great reviews on Amazon.  It's not a powerhouse sub, 150 watt rms, but ported with a 10 it should play reasonably well.  Let us know what you find.

 

 

Thanks! I'll give it a try when I get home from work.

[Frzninvt]

What were you expecting from an entry level subwoofer?  Sounds like you were over driving it.  Back the volume down some and have the sub gain on the receiver set to "0"

[alxlwson]

I expected it to perform better than the crappy Sony floor standings I have. In the OP, I described that I had the the receiver's sub gain already set to the minimum.

[alxlwson]

Played around with it for a few minutes before heading to work. Turned the sub's gain down to notch 1, and pushed it back closer to wall, 3" away. I do believe I'm happy with it now

[K5SS]

Sounds like you are happy but Google “sub crawl”. It might help you maximize the subs potential and probably let you turn the gain down a little, which would ultimately help take some strain off the sub and prolong the amp’s life.