Subwoofer boom is too much for me...


Could I tone down the boom on my subwoofer by plugging the port with something like a washcloth?  Have you ever tried this and had success?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

 

128x128mikeydee

Earl Geddes:

"There is a whole mystique around subwoofers I won't get into. This is the LEAST critical of all speakers because of its limited bandwidth."

pg 236 (12.3.b The Subwoofer)

 

@kota1

No I am not saying a layman should not use subs. I am saying he should learn about subwoofers and their placement and use the great tools available to help him… for instance that great video that explains the physics of placement. They actually have a series.

Try an isolation device under the sub.  When I did this with my previous sub and turned the system back on, I thought I had forgotten to power up the sub.  All the settings were the same but the boom was missing.  This was a better tweak than the full wall of panels and bass traps I had at the time.

Also, the less expensive subs made me think I could never properly integrate a sub with the mains, be it monitor or floor standers.  Having a quality sub changed that perspective. I run a JL Audio E112 now.

Good luck get set up.  Usually winds up being an experiment of sorts.    

@ghdprentice

So audiphiles go through the expense and toil of getting a subwoofer but refuse to use the high pass filter for fear it introduces more noise and distortion, which if true, would be hundreds of times smaller than the problems it fixes. They want a pure benefit, no downside solution only. Never mind the pure benefit is so vastly superior to the downside.

All audiophiles EXCEPT @ghdprentice of course. You are baffled by subwoofers. don’t use them, and are publishing misinformation.

Earl Geddes (look him up) shoots down the mystique stating a sub is the LEAST critical of all speakers. "Audiophiles" are not toiling except the one in your imagination. Before you respond with more stuff you make up find some research that backs it up. Just because you are toiling with your sub doesn’t mean anyone else is.

I read the quote by EG with some amusement. For the following reasons:

  • Least critical to whom? Just because they cover about two octaves does not make them less important just because he says so. This is very much a personal judgement call. I suspect the quote is out of context, and he was talking about driver design, in which case it would make more sense to me.
  • Those last two octaves are the hardest to get right consistently by the average consumer or even audiophile. Meaning, sometimes you luck out and a lot of times you don’t and need to put a lot of time and effort into it.  Most audiophiles who care about bass have had to go through a number of experiments before they were happy.