help out someone who knows nothing

[Rehpotsirhc]

I have a sony receiver and all polkaudio speakers. Everything sounds great from cds to 5.1 surround. The only problem is the hiphop i play that has really low/big bass output. It seems a bit distorted. Is there something i can do to make it sound. . .'tighter'? I turned down the volume on the back of the psw350 which made the hiphop sound better but then the dvd explosions and whatnot sounded weak. Maybe it isn't speakers that are the problem but my receiver setup? I don't know much about this stuff so i'm kinda stuck, thx.

[Zero]

Traditionally speaking, hip hop trademarked by the sheer volume of bass in most songs and titles. Most listeners who enjoy this type of music generally love bass, and lots of it.

The unfortunate part is that it demands quite a bit from subs. Most affordable home-theater subs simply wont give you the same bang that a cheap rig in a civic will give you. Just the nature of home-audio I am afraid.

The problem is not your reciever (although, I could be wrong). I would venture to say its your sub-woofer. It seems to be incapable of producing the volumes you really want for that type of music. Polk subs are not known for their "umpf", if you will....

Are you willing to upgrade the sub, or have the funds to do so? Give us a run down on your expectations of a sub and many qualified individuals will lead you down the right path and assist you all the way.

[Rehpotsirhc]

I bought a psw350 to go along with 2 r40's as fronts, csi20 center, fx300i for surround. I have a sony de885 receiver and sony dvpns755 dvd. I do indeed like lots of bass. . .do you think the 350 isn't enough, i was torn between the 350 and 450, would the 450 be enough? any help is greatly appreciated.

[Rehpotsirhc]

to give you an idea of the kind of bass I like. . .you can't ever have enough =)

[HBombToo]

I have the 350 and your not alone.

Do a querry on Dr. Spec and you will learn ALOT regarding Subs.

Good Luck

HBomb

[Zero]

Rehp,

Whats your budget?

You want a long of bang? You want deep extension that makes car subs blush with envy?

Research these two brands -

SVS
http://www.svsubwoofers.com/

HSU
http://www.hsuresearch.com/

Polk Audio just wont give you that slam you need - period. The only Polk product I can recall rattling my walls was the RT2000p powered tower, sporting four 8'' subs.

Also check out

Pardigm - SERVO-15 SUB
http://www.paradigm.com/

Klipsch - RSW series
http://www.klipsch.com/

Miller & Kreisel Subs
http://www.mksound.com/

Velodyne hsu subs
http://www.velodyne.com/

Sunfire subs
http://www.sunfire.com/

[goingganzo]

if you wnat more bass get a better sub. i am going ti have a dual 15 setup whenever the drivers arive. i will go from around 110db at 25 hz output to around 124db at 16hz output the 110 is wth room gain the 124 is moddled with olny the sub output. when i had my velo in the liveing room hen i was remodleing the home theater. it sounded very good and alot boomer than it dues in the ht. in the liveing room it was corner loaded and had the floor to give it gain. and in my ht it is bult into a wall on the concrete floor.

[scottvamp]

Polk Audio just wont give you that slam you need - period. The only Polk product I can recall rattling my walls was the RT2000p powered tower, sporting four 8'' subs.
Hey now ATC lets not forget about the PSW1200.

[Zero]

Ahhh Scott... how could I forget that beauty! My apologies, not thinking this evening!

:D :D

[Dwain]

I may sound a little biased but the confirguration I have works fantastic with hip hop music. Both the Cht 10 and cht 12 from velodyne have no problem in keeping up with the bass. My cht 10 is set at half power and -3 on the sub setup, with the crossover turned off. My cht 12 is set at half power and -3 with the crossover set at 65 hz. I have numerous base cd's for testing purposes as well as music. For the music side I have found that cd's from base erotica have oustanding recorded tracks that surf the the hole spectrum of hz. I also read in one of the home theatre mag's where they recomended when testing your sub to play the movie "The End Of Days scene 17". This was one of the criteria they used when teating sub's and there ability to fluctuate between multiple frequinces and hz drop.


Denon 3802 receiver
Denon DvD 1600 progressive scan
CS240i center
RT1000 fronts
RT28i surrounds
FX300i Rear back surrounds
Velodyne CHT 10 sub
Velodyne CHT 12 sub
Mitsibishi 27" tele
Monster cables/ 10 ga speaker wire

[RuSsMaN]

BASS

Not a fish, not the padded white squares on a baseball diamond, not a military installation, not a tasty ale.

[scottvamp]

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
BASS

Not a fish, not the padded white squares on a baseball diamond, not a military installation, not a tasty ale.

Russ - I soooooooooo agree.
I can't stand it when people spell it wrong.
Not mispelled - but just wrong.
This is not chemisty or baseball.

[Dwain]

Did not mean to step on anybody's toes. Sometimes I think, faster than I can type. I made the correction for you guy's.

[scottvamp]

Nothing personal Dwain - just a pet pieve.
Sometimes I will see something that has the word Bass in it - and when I futher investagate it's about freaking fishing. :D
In the audio world the word base is a big no no.

[RuSsMaN]

Didn't want to step on your toes either broham, I just think it's hard to take someone seriously that can't even get the terminology straight.

No hard feelings, seriously.

Cheers,
Rooster

[burdette]

Spelling is one of my pet PEEVES...

Hey Ganzo.. no doubt you mentioned this somewhere before, but what drivers are you buying and how did you decide on them??

I think I'm going to build a subwoofer for my birthday (easier to justify the $$ to my dear sweet wife)... probably PE's 250watt amp and a single 12" driver. I was leaning toward the Shiva... PE also has a 12" driver in the $125 range...

This question is actually for anyone with knowledge.. I know RonP has built subs...

[Dr. Spec]

Build a vented sonotube subwoofer with the Adire Tempest 15" driver, or the Stryke AV-12 or AV-15. They are not hard to build and the performance is great. Easy to tune them into the teens with high output. Endcaps can either be dual layer MDF or birch.

A box is tougher to build without encountering flex and standing waves. Generally, you need pretty decent woodworking skills and a set of plans to build a good, strong subwoofer box.

I would have built a "sono-sub" (I have a pretty decent shop in the basement), but the enclosure, driver, and the amp on the SVS are unique and cannot be purchased anywhere else.

Doc

[elsid88]

I haven't been dissapointed with my PSW650.

It has been known to shake the neighbors walls in both environments, HT and music.

If you truly want to see what your sub can do, play the avalanche scene from the movie "XXX". About 2 minutes of window rattling bliss.:lol:

As far as music, the song "Stand Up", track 1 from Sammy Hagar's new title "Not 4 Sale" is quite nice.

My $.02.

Tom...

MEXPLEX:
Denon AVR4800, POA5200; Panny CP72K; Tosh 57HX81 ISF Cal.
POLK: (L/R) RT1000i's, (C) CS400i, (SL/SR) f/x500i's,
(SBL/SBR) RT35i's, (S)PSW650
:cool:

[dbournival]

I just got a PSW404 3 days ago, it give more bass than I will ever need. I use the system 80%HT/20% music....

[goingganzo]

i would watch the 404 i have read posts of peeps blowing them very easly.