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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
audiokinesis
2,724 posts
 
Cheeg wrote:

"There is some great information here, but this thread REALLY has me wondering if I want to mess with subwoofers!"

Well said. This thread would be an extremely discouraging introduction to subwoofers.

There are some very successful schools of thought when it comes to subwoofers and integration with the mains, and that fact is not at all obvious from this thread. REL, Rhythmik, Vandersteen, Hsu, JL Audio, and others embrace various different approaches which have worked very well for many people. Yes these subs are more expensive than the ones in this thread but imo they are worth it. Erik has a blog post about his approach, and while I’ve been known to gripe about parts of it, I’m going to post the link because imo it offers a well thought-out roadmap to success:  

https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-to-not-buy-subwoofer.html

Erik and I may disagree on some of the finer points of subwoofers, but we both think they can be well worth messing with.

Duke
scottscottsdale
103 posts
 
Digressions and name calling are exactly what this forum is.  
pinwa OP
238 posts
 
audiokinesis  Duke, Thank you for that elaboration. Very helpful and informative.  I'll make some measurements of a single Starke SW12 this evening as well as a very cheap Klipsch R-12SW that I have lying around and post those results.
erik_squires
15,877 posts
 
OP:

Nothing like measurements.  They are a type of fact, and a lot better than opinions and theory. :)

E
erik_squires
15,877 posts
 
There is some great information here, but this thread REALLY has me wondering if I want to mess with subwoofers!


Cheeg,

To be fair,  it isn't the sub, it's the lowest octaves.  There be dragons there.  Sometimes you are lucky and they don't notice you, but if you are going to take them on, a sub is the best way to go.

Having said that, for the single and dual sub use case I've stopped trying to advise anyone to integrate their subs, but rely on built in systems like JL Audio or automatic room correction.

And like Duke, I think the depths are worth having.
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