Subwoofer tweaks



Hi,

I have a Velodyne DD-10 and a friend recently let me borrow
a pair of brass spikes to try. I stuck them under the sub
and noticed an improvement. The sub sounded cleaner and
had better definition. I was wondering if anyone has
tried any other products (Aurios,cones, etc) that have made
an appreciable change (for the better I hope) on their sub.

Thanks
cmach
I haven't ttied anything like the ones you mentioned, other than the spike. I have tweaked the subwoofer distance (almost doubled the actual distance) and noticed the bass was a bit more responsive, less sluggish.

Craig
I have sets of the new Aurios Pro-MAX under both of my Aerial SW-12 subwoofers - they sound incredibly tighter, faster, better!
(I am also a Dealer for these gems.)
I have a velodyne DD-15 and puchased a symposium svelt shelf to put underneath.I replaced the rubber footers with the svelt so the bottom of the whole sub cabinet rests on the svelt.What a difference without trying to listen.Clean bass just popped right out,almost as good as no sub cabinet,I guess you could say that most of the bass was freed up from from the physical part of the cabinet.So i replaced the spikes on my revels(50-as)with the svelts,For me I won't go back to spikes or rubber feet.I like upgrades or tweaks that you don't have to try to listen,They make you listen,I like surpizes like that,Hope that helps(it does for me).
I've had excellent experiences with Star Sound's Audio Points on my custom racking systems. In fact, not too long ago, I became a dealer for them.

You might also try experimenting with ics for your sub. All ics generate time smear to either a very small or great degree which leads to ill-defined and sloppy bass (and other things for main speakers). My limited experience tells me the vast majority of scs and ics generate great degrees of time smear and you'll never know it until you try one with less time smear.

Audience (AU24, Maestro, and Conductor series) or Audio Tekne are two names that come to mind that generate an absolute min. amount of time smear. Speltz Anit-ICs is another.

Properly addressing vibration mgmt techniques along with installing good quality ics can make the sloppiest of subs sound extremely tight, deep, fast, and well-defined. Which is what true bass is supposed to sound like.

-IMO
Place the sub on a granite block & another on top of the sub maybe cut to the size of the sub. This will certainly impore tightness & definition.
Stehno: Please explain how you measure time smear in cables. Do you have a white paper that you can share? I'm sure a lot of Audiogon members would be very interested in learning more about this. Thanks!
I too noticed an improvement when I placed three medium-sized cones under the sub. The cones were resting on a piece of granite block. Slow plodding bass was gone and the speed and definition were significantly improved.

This was compared to the sub directly on a carpet floor.

I was surprised you can support the sub with "a pair" of brass spikes? I thought we need a minimum of three?
Member Dgarretson reports serious improvements in his Velodyne by replacing the diode bridges. Take a look at his system.
Have fun keeping up with Dgarretson. I wish I had more time to do some of this stuff.

Tim
Auralex SubDude is a winner for me. By isolating the sub from the floor, it smooths and extends the response. I use them with my Velodyne HGS-15 and HGS-10. Really a big improvement for not much money.

db
Dbphd. You are absolutely right. SubDude is one of the most effective ways to isolate sub from the floor and as you mention all ready smooths out response.
Right on "D".
M.

Hello, I also have the Auralex SubDude under my MK 70s (push/pull) in a frame house. I've been bouncing around the idea to top off the cabinets with 5/4 granite & see if there's any improvement. I'll be back!