3db's Secondary System.. Also doubles for HT and 2 Channel

3db

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AVR: Yamaha RX-V1900
BluRay 4K Player: Sony UBP-X800
Cassette Deck: Yamaha KX-800
Digital Libary: WD TV LIve Plus with a 3 Terabyte WD MY Book USB attached drive
Cable Box Bell
Display: Samsung UN55MU7000 55"
Speakers: Front: PSB Alpha , Center: PSB 100C, Surrounds: RBH A600 In Ceiling
Subwoofer: PSB Subsonic 5

image1 (002).JPG IMG_0076.jpeg IMG_0077.jpeg IMG_0078.jpeg IMG_0279.jpg IMG_0280.jpg IMG_0083.jpeg IMG_0084.jpeg
 
I found the harp in the corner of one of the photos most interesting.
 
You will see four different setups with this system as I bought 4 different main pairs of PSB speakers. They are the PSB 400,500,600, and 800 models. I will update the pics as I've made some changes by lowering the TV and removing the barn board shelf. I did this after my wife passed away in October 2020. What I'm about to post is my journey of dialing in the PSB Subsonic 6 in the greatroom. Its a huge room with 9ft ceilings that combines a kitchen, dining, and living room into one big room. The biggest headache with this room is not the size but its irregular shape.

I used REW (Room EQ Wizard) plus a measurement mic, a Umik1 and I started hunting for a suitable location that would give me an even sub response across all 3 listener positions. I spent 6 or 7 hours moving the sub around the room and taking measurements but I could not find a good spot. Here are the results of my hunt.
Bass@behindcouch.jpg
Location Under Painting.jpg
New-Facing-Out.jpg

I quickly came to the conclusion that I would need multiple subs and a miniDSP to tie the subs together, I found a second PSB Subsonic6 sub for a good peice in its original shipping box.

I spent a day placing the subs at the 1/4 and 3/4 position of the long wall and took some measurements and it wasnt much better than a single sub. I then placed the subs in the corners of the long wall and took some measurents. Not great but an improvement. I decided to proceed with these just to learn the REW EQ process and get better aquainted with the miniDSP.

The first measurement shows each sub on its own and then the combination of both playing at the center or main LP (listener position)
Sub@Corners Combined and Individual Sub  Measurements @ Main LP.jpg

Here's a measurement of the combined sub outputs across the three LP before applying REW EQ.
Subs Combined@Corners 3 LP.jpg

I then used REW to generate a house curve which I would load into the miniDSP to control the subs.
REW EQd  Corners L+R+1.jpg

From the EQ'd response above, I noticed a notch between 75 and 85 Hz that had to be addressed. I did a manual EQ at the miniDSP input to try and fill in that notch. I was fairly successfull.
Sub Corners REW EQed + Manual DSP Eqed L+R+1.jpg

There was a huge improvement in the response and the bass which I felt was never in control now played nicely. I quit for the night but I wanted to try again.
 
the saga continues ...

The next day (today) I decided to put the subs in the places that showed a good result with two of the listening positions, under the painting and behind the couch. I moved the sub behind the couch out of the corner and placed it under the painting and took meassurements. Not bad...what if I turned the sub 90degrees to the left and face the corner from it previous placement. It showed much promise so I started moving the sub back towards the corner in small increments and found a really good spot. I then took the sub that was placed in the left corner in the previous exercise and moved it under the window facing out. I took measurements there, experimented with rotating the sub facing the previous corner and the other corner but facing out prooved to be the best. Here's a pic to illustrate what Im trying to say.
Great44.jpg

Below are the single sub responses and combined response for this location.
L_Only_R_Only_R+L@C-LP.jpg

Time aligned but unEQd response across the 3 LP
R+L Across 3 LP.jpg

For the EQ, I chose the slope of the bass to be +10db higher between 20 and 30 Hz and be down at 10 db at a 100 Hz based on the Youtube video stating that the lower frequencies (20-30) need to be 10 db louder than at 80 Hz, aka house curve. Here are the EQ response across the 3 LPs.
R+L Post EQ Across 3 LPs.jpg

I've listened to music and some BluRays and I must say that I agree with the slope philosophy, The bass is no longer boomy but the floors are rattling because of the lower bass. I'm actually quite pleased with the results.

Now integrating this with YPAO was a process I had to think about and run a few measurements. What I ended up doing was disabling the two sub outs on the miniDSP and running YPAO. I also ran YPAO for the main or center LP as I did NOT like what its was doing when I ran it across the 3 LPs. I realise that this would set the mains to large so just for shits & giggles (my favourite English expression) I ran a measurement as shown below.
YPAO Flat @C-LP.jpg

I enabled the sub outputs on the MiniDSP, went into the AVR config menu, set the bass to sub only, set mains to small, and set the cross over to 90 Hz..(I experimented with that and 90 gave me the best result) . I also played with the sub distance and found that 10.5' gave me the best response. I also took a measurement of YPAO set to through which means no YPAO EQ but bass management is still employed.
YPAO Flat Verses Through.jpg
 
Here are the updated pics of my system based on the PSB 600 towers. I've also removed the barn board shelf and lowered the display substantially.

Great39.JPG
Great44.jpg
Great41.jpg

These next two pics were taken from the main LP.
Great47.jpg
Great48.jpg

The miniDSP that I velcrod to the back of the cabinet to keep hidden
Great42.jpg
 
I decided to redo the measurements here as well with the mic just popping above the chair back by a couple of inches. Here are the results across the 3 LPs
R+L Subs Post EQ Across 3 LP.jpg
 
I decided to swap in the PSB500 and swap out the PSB600. I found some stands for the 500s and the tweeters are now at ear level.
Great49.jpg Great50.jpg Great51.jpg

Here are the measured responses;

Sub Only Across 3LP.jpg

Mains set to large subs turned off at CLP
Mains Set To Large No Sub @ CLP.jpg

YPAO set to flat across all 3 LP
YPAO FLAT Across 3 LP.jpg

YPAO Off, Mains Set to small across all 3 LP
YPAO OFF Mains Set To Small Across 3 LP.jpg
 
I finally dialed in the 3rd sub into the Greatroom. The bass is much more even now when walking around. Still not perfect but I'm not going to invest into another sub. Here are the pics.. The last sub added is the sub on the left. The other two subs I had in their present location since March of this year. The 3rd sub is holding up the lamp.
Great52.jpg Great53.jpg

Here is the bass response.. each response at a different listening position, NON EQ verses EQ (miniDSP). The LLP is closet to the hallway and the RLP is closted to the backwall. The couch is not considered a listening position.

NonEQ-EQ-LLP.jpg NonEQ-EQ-CLP.jpg NonEQ-EQ-RLP.jpg

Here are the full frequency sweeps across the listener positions (LP). First graph is with YPAO set to flat, second graph is YPAO turned off but using bass management, and the third graph is Pure Direct.
YPAO-FLAT-3LP.jpg NoEQ-BassOn-3LP.jpg Pure Direct-3LP.jpg
 
Swapped out the PSB500 for PSB400 on new (used) stands and decided to play more with sub placement.

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Here are the measured results.
Subs 1-3 Raw response across all 3 LP
3LP-Sub1-3_Raw.jpg

Post EQ response of Subs1-3 across only 2LP. Missing the Left LP
2-LP-Sub1-3_PostEQ.jpg

Full frequency with speaker set to small and YPAO PEQ results turned off
3-LP-Through.jpg

Full frequency with YPAO PEQ filters set to flat
3-LP-Flat-EQ.jpg
 
I was doing the Geddes 3 sub approach before moving to 4 subs following the Harman method. This all for stereo music. Fun stuff!
 
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I was doing the Geddes 3 sub approach before moving to 4 subs following the Harman method. This all for stereo music. Fun stuff!

I can't put a 4th sub in that room because I suspect it would end up in the kitchen area of the great room, not a good place for a sub to be. :rflmao:
 
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