Is this how a Subwoofer Crossover is supposed to work?


I bought two Starke SW12 subwoofers that I installed.  So far I'm not particularly happy with them.  They are way too loud even with the volume set almost to off.  More importantly, I'm having trouble integrating them into my system and I'm wondering if that is because their crossover setting is really functioning as I understand a crossover should. Attached please find measurements from Room Equalization Wizard with SPL graphs of the two subs (no speakers) taken at my listening position with the crossover set at 50 Hz, 90 Hz, and 130 Hz. Ignore the peaks and dips which I assume are due to room nodes.  All of those settings appear to actually have the same crossover point of 50 Hz. All that changes is the slope of the rolloff in sound levels. This isn't how I thought a properly designed crossover was supposed to work.  I thought the frequency the levels would start to roll off would change, i.e. flat to 50 hz then a sharp drop, flat to 90 hz then a sharp drop, etc. etc..  But Starke says this is how a subwoofer crossover is supposed to work.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8x4cr32pagwg48i/Two%20Subs%20Different%20Crossover%20Points%20No%20Speaker...
Any experts on here with an opinion about this?  Is it possible to buy an inexpensive active crossover that I could use in place of what is built into these subs?
pinwa

Showing 1 response by timlub

@pinwa
I don’t see anything that tells where your sub placement is.
To start, make sure that your subs are at least 3ft from any wall and make sure that your subs are not near each other. Starting here will help reduce any room boundry reinforcement from the corners. In fact stack some things in the corner to help break up standing wave.. Pulling them out in the room normally helps reduce peaks.  Next, turn your subs all the way down, bring one up a hair and measure. See where the peaks are. Turn this one down and check the other, measure and see where the peaks are.... Move them around checking independently trying to remove frequency peaks. Once you see that the peaks are down, bring them up together just slightly, measure and adjust as needed. This will all take some time and this is only a starting point. I hope this helps, Tim