phansson Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 SOS Subwoofer Optimizer anyone tried it? I read an ad yesterday for the new velodyne Digital drive series subs and thought it looked like a really good idea. I started looking on the net and found a SOS subwoofer optimizer that goes between the sub out and the sub input. It looks kind of interesting. I have a large room that has muddy bass and was thinking this might work.I am running KSP 400's Anyone tried this???? Take a look (cut and paste) www.speakercity.com/Sos/SubwooferOptimizer.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 hmmm, I'd be really ify about buying that thing. so expensive....and seems like one of those gimmicks you'd see on a late night infomercial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinsrme Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 Interesting. I thought peaks and valleys were caused by the characteristics of the room and this little magic box corrects those peaks and valley? I think the idea behind the box is good, assuming it will antennuate the various frquencies to prove a flat response to the driver but doesn't take into account the room characteristics. $300 I think I can spend my $$$ on something more worth while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin B Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 Major rip off. $300 for a single parametric EQ band that some cheesy electronics/software will determine the best setting for. Instead spend $120 on this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_pid/182467/sourceid=00314479636732461224 And another $30-$50 on a Radio Shack SPL meter. Then burn some 12th/octave test tones (this way is time consumes, but effective) or install a demo copy of some ETF software on a computer. Plot your room and set up to 24 parametric EQ bands to tame any room induced peaks (in reality you'll likely only need 3-6). I personally needed 5 bands to get a good response out of my sub. This link should also get you past any hurtles in the setup process. http://www.snapbug.ws/bfd.htm PS- you can't correct nulls with EQ, but you can tame peaks. It's amazing what getting ride of the major room induced response peaks can do for how your sub sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 Yes I tried the SOS GANGASTA BASS BOSTA DELUXE It EQUA-LIE-ZED my woofaz so much all I heard was brainiac like ear tearing subsonic overload,brain damage resulted and now I sound like lunatic.And may I add buy any sub I may find a use for! Stay in a galaxy far far away from anything with a SOS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phansson Posted September 21, 2003 Author Share Posted September 21, 2003 I think it sounds pretty interesting. If I would have had the money I would have purchased a Lexicon MC-12 balanced. It has a microphone system that "levels" out a room. I am not talking about output levels. I am talking about the rooms resonance making certain octaves sounding louder or muddy. No it can't know what your room looks like. It can take into account the accoustics of that room though. Anyway, thanks for the input. I just thought it made a lot of sense. Velodyne is doing the same thing. The sub just costs around $2500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin B Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 What the Lexicon will do for room problems is signficantly more than what that SOS will do. If you really want to get into room correction though, check these guys out. http://www.tactaudio.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 TacT and Z Systems are true room acoustics correction systems,with those you can make a system sound great in almost any room! The only real problem with these...they will cost ya. Never tried any,I was told to try them but never did.Maybe I should try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabulousfrankie Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 At $300 it's way overpriced. My RS SPL meter and BFD can do a much better job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 ---------------- On 9/21/2003 8:41:56 PM phansson wrote: I think it sounds pretty interesting. ... I am talking about the rooms resonance making certain octaves sounding louder or muddy. I just thought it made a lot of sense. ---------------- Yes EQ a sub for room response is a good idea, and Velodyne is wise to include this feature on it's higher end subs. After all the room resonances play a major part in reproducing the bass frequencies. Dustin and the others are just suggesting that there may be less expensive / better ways of accomplishing the same thing the SOS does. The Behringer Feedback Destroyer PRO (BFD) at 100$ is a fully adjustable parametric EQ and will do the same thing except manually. It is very popular and VERY flexible... the only catch is that you have to take the time to test your room and adjust it yourself... but it'll be done to a VERY high precision. If it's the "auto" feature that you like, Behringer sells the ULTRA-CURVE PRO DSP8024 which has a built in analyser and EQ... and will automatically calibrate the room. Unfortunately it isn't as flexible as the BFD... but it is EASY and should perform better than the SOS unit. They would have to lower the price of the SOS in order to compete and capture a portion of the market... but the idea is on the right track. Just my 2cents... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I bought and tested the SOS unit. If it did what they claimed, it wouldn't be too bad of a deal. But using some very nice test equipment we found that 4 out of 5 times it applied EQ in the wrong place i.e. putting a parametric notch where there was already a suckout in the in-room repsonse. Clever implementation and package but doesn't do what it advertises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstanton Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 What Formica and Dustin said. I have both the BFD (Behringer Feedback Destroyer 1124P)and the Behringer ULTRA-CURVE PRO DSP8024 for sub EQ. These two units will actually DO what that POS attempts to do. Dirt cheaply...$120 for the BFD and $180 for the UltraCurve. You'll also need a $30 Behringer mic to plug into the UltraCurve if you want to RTA and Auto-EQ your sub. With the BFD you'll need a rat-shack SPL meter and a test tone disk. The Ultracurve has its own built-in test tones, 31 one-third octave EQ settings (only about 8 or 9 of these are in the subwoofer region but with 3 extra fully-assignable parametric filters, this should be enough). The BFD has 12 fully assignable parametric filters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabulousfrankie Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 ---------------- On 9/22/2003 12:35:39 PM jstanton wrote: The BFD has 12 fully assignable parametric filters. ---------------- 12 per channel, so 24 filters total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstanton Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Fabulous: Of Course, Silly Me!! Jeff S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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