Weird


I have a pair of GoldenEar Triton 1 speakers, which have built-in subwoofers. Evidently, the right subwoofer lead fell off the speaker some time ago without my knowledge. I’ve been listening for quite a while with only one subwoofer, really enjoying the sound in blissful ignorance. Everything sounded great including pieces with deep bass such as formidable organ recordings.
Today I discovered the plug out of the wall and plugged it back in. The system immediately closed up, became dull, lacking ambiance. I pulled the plug back out. Sound was wonderful. Everything sounded just right, including the bass which was full and rich.

I’m now listening without the right subwoofer for good.

Weird!

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xrvpiano

I have T1s as well. Odd about the sound changing when you unplugged it if the sub wasn't working anyway.

That sounds like the subs are out-of-phase. Could have come from the factory that way. You should check this and correct it!

Do you think it’s due to the acoustics of my listening space?

Its not a subtle difference.

I agree with jasonbourne52.  What you describe sounds very much like the subs are out of phase with each other.  If possible try reversing the speaker wires on one of the subs. 

Do you think it’s due to the acoustics of my listening space?

My guess would be you’re sitting in a null created buy how both subs are interacting with your room and each other.  Try playing with speaker positioning and your listening position and see if that changes things and/or reversing sub terminals on one speaker if possible.  I don’t know how GoldenEar’s customer service is but I’d give them a call too as I’m sure they’ve run into this before.  Best of luck. 

Unfortunately, the subwoofer only has a wall power connection.  No leads to reverse.

Actually, I’m happy with the way it sounds now.

‘But I’ll call GoldenEar and hear what they have to say.

Not sure if this will make any difference, but if the passive radiators are only on one side of the cabinet you might try just switching the speakers to the other side and see what happens.  Just spitballing here. 

Just did some work on my Forte 4s. After removing the bi-wire binding post assembly, I discovered that one bass hook-up pair was wired out-of-phase at the factory. Hadn't noticed possible because my subwoofer (single) located directly behind this speaker.  

Here’s a possibility:  From the manual of my preamp

“THE LINE STAGE OF THE PV11 INVERTS PHASE OF ALL INPUTS

(including phono). If your system has an odd number of inversions, then

you must add one phase inversion. THIS IS CONVENIENTLY DONE BY

REVERSING THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CONNECTIONS TO

YOUR SPEAKERS (be sure to reverse both channels).”

I have reversed the positive and negative as indicated. 
I wonder if the subwoofers are affected by this.

I doubt that the inversion of absolute phase has anything to do with your problem. What strikes me as possible though is that with both subs running perhaps you are just getting too much bass and this excess bass is muddying up your upperbass/lower mid range. You have a bass control on the back of each speaker. Play with this for a while, starting out with minimum bass on each speaker and increasing it until the bass can be heard/felt - you might do this one speaker at a time - perhaps because of your set up/room interface only one speakers location is problematic. From your pictures nothing is obvious re room acoustics, etc. (Except they appear to be on the long wall - in my experience speakers usually sound better on a short wall firing down the long dimension of the room. (Think shoe box type concert hall.) 

Maybe plug it back in and then unplug the other one?
You’ll have an extra data point at least…

There are leads to reverse, but they’re a bit of work to access. Remove the cap/top and take the sock off. This will allow you to access the connections for the sub amp. If I can do it, it’s not difficult. Hardest part is getting the sock back on the same way it was from the factory. 

IMO, the usually level headed Jason is wrong here…do not attempt to disassemble the speakers!  Newbee is on the right track.  This is about room interaction and too much low bass energy when both active woofers are powered up. Try reducing the levels by a lot on both to see if you can get back to the same overall bass performance with both working as you have with one turned up higher. If you succeed with this you should benefit from lower distortion and more uniform response across seating positions. 

I may have solved the problem but I’m not absolutely sure.

I had the left subwoofer plugged into a cheap power hub and the right subwoofer plugged into the wall. Ironically it sounded better with the right power cord (the one plugged into the wall) pulled out.

I’m listening now with both plugged in the wall and I THINK it sounds fine.

Dear @rvpiano  : Looking to your speakers specs I read that the subs are controled by DSP software. Now, due that the subs goes to a deep low bass frequency as 13hz could be that you can help you to optimize your room/speakers quality performance levels at your seat position through and external DSP software/unit that can makes measurements about.

 

Just a possibility to improve what you already have.

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

I have a pair of GoldenEar Triton 1 speakers, which have built-in subwoofers. Evidently, the right subwoofer lead fell off the speaker
 

Unfortunately, the subwoofer only has a wall power connection.  No leads to reverse.

I’m confused. Did a wire fall off your subwoofer or not?

I have the grandfather speakers to your GoldenEar's

the Definitive Technology Mythos ST's that have powered subwoofers also

When l walk by to get a wobbly pop l aways lightly touch the drivers

and woofers of both speakers to make sure everthing is working 

Mine also has seperate volume controls and assuming yours also has the same and more with DSP Double check that everything is set in balance 

Richard, remember when we tried the Ayre AX-7 and it kept going into protection mode? This makes me think your subs may be out of phase.

But, if plugging directly seems to have corrected this, then, please ignore.

B

Curiousjim,

The power cord fell off the subwoofer.
I mis-spoke calling it a lead.

Just a thought…

With two subs active now you’re probably exciting the room bass nodes and the added bass just overwhelms the rest of the frequency range. 
Dial the bass output down on both speakers until you get tight bass that doesn’t overpower the mids and highs.
 

I’ve experienced this with the Martin Logan Montis speakers that also feature powered woofers. 

you can use low frequency test tones to dial in your bass output.