Total bass suck out at 40hz


So I'm a little slow, but it occured to me today to see if there were test tones recordings on Tidal of Qobuz. Yes there are. I have a radio shack SPL meter so I went to work playing them to see what I had in my room. I was shocked to find a total lack of audible bass at 40hz. At first I thought they must have made an error in the recording. Then I went to a different set of test tones and wow same thing. I never dreamed something like that would take place. I have read a lot of discussions about bass peaks and nulls and always thought it would just be slightly less in volume at the null, not completely gone. So Am I imagining this and if not what do I do to remedy it. I am apparently missing a lot of music and never knew it. I am currently listening to my freshly refinished Yamaha NS 1000m speakers(just put them in the system Wednesday after work) with a Modwright KWI 200 integrated amp and a Lumin streamer/dac. I also have stereo Rythmik  F12 subs. Thanks, Allen.
mizike

Showing 4 responses by millercarbon

no matter what you think tony1954, I could not possibly care less what you think. If you feel you're so much better than me, please feel free to explore options for where you can take it, and what you can do with it. 
I do have them set up symmetrically I will try that first. I was thinking the swarm is the way to go. Just not sure how to implement more subs with long cable runs. Is 30' of single ended cable on a sub a bad thing? Random is better, this is what I am getting mostly.
Symmetry is death for bass. All symmetry does is ensure even more modes and suckouts. What you want is asymmetry, so the modes are all different frequencies and locations. More subs helps even more with this. More subs also means each one has to put out less total volume, because they all add together. This further smooths out response.

Long runs are no problem at all. Wire quality is much less important with subs. We just aren't that sensitive to fine differences in low bass the way we are with midrange and treble. Biggest problem guys have is getting their minds around just how different low bass is and how important it is to treat it completely differently than everything else. 

My DBA is four subs driven by 2 Dayton amps, and a 5th powered Talon Roc sub. You can easily hook them up in a chain one to the next around the room. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367#&gid=1&pid=10 My one pre-out goes to the Daytons, then from one Dayton to the Talon Roc. You could go from pre amp to sub to sub, etc around the room. 

Start with one near each corner facing the wall, with each one a different distance from each corner. Its so simple when you do it you will be shocked that there's so few telling you about this. Its totally the way to go. Everyone knows it. They just won't admit it. 
I wonder how many have actually done any of the stuff they recommend. I did the sub crawl. Subs wound up right back where they were, along the walls, asymmetrically different distances from the corners. Tim did the crawl, his are in the corners, same thing. Its no big mystery. Bass is ALWAYS strongest in these locations! 

Want good bass? Put a sub near each corner. 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled missing the point comments. 
Sad to see so many who have been here long enough to tell the OP exactly what is going on, and yet they don't. I don't get it. What explains this reluctance to learn?

mizike, this is very common. Bass frequencies bounce around the room, canceling and reinforcing at different points depending on the frequency, room dimensions, and speaker locations. All you can do is move them around trying to find locations that are less lumpy. Symmetrical locations are worst, because they'll double up the cancellation and reinforcement. As you noticed there's bass lower than 40, just none at 40. Move them around you will probably be able to get bass at 40, but then none at 30.

The solution is more subs. This is what everyone here knows but shamefully is keeping from you. Do a search for Distributed Bass Array, DBA, or Swarm subwoofer system. That is the answer. None of the other stuff they're talking about is anywhere near as good. And they know it.

2+2=4