Polk MicroPro 1000 Low base problem

[kenjin]

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91792

as I mention in post above.. I'm having issue with my sub in low or deep base specify in transformer movie, and some random songs with very low or deep base causing the sub to shake and rumble.

placed a mat under the woofer to stop it from moving but didnt stop it from rumbling and making the noise.
I record the sound you can download here to hear if this is normal or not..

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mmtmmhmjf4m/highbase volume.wma

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ymycdzkniyy/lowbase volume.wma


I've tried to lower the base and lower the crossover it kinda reduce it but still can hear it clearly...

please help...

[dorokusai]

The recording doesn't help with anything. Have you calibrated your system using Audyssey or an SPL meter? I believe you're either playing it too loud or expecting too much. That's not a super bottom dwelling subwoofer plus you're just too broad in your comments for me personally.

I'm not sure how low the bass hits on that opening demo....anyone know? If it's lower than the specifications, get used to it or turn it down.

[kawizx9r]

The recording doesn't help with anything. Have you calibrated your system using Audyssey or an SPL meter? I believe you're either playing it too loud or expecting too much. That's not a super bottom dwelling subwoofer plus you're just too broad in your comments for me personally.

I'm not sure how low the bass hits on that opening demo....anyone know? If it's lower than the specifications, get used to it or turn it down.

+1

I haven't heard the recordings/etc. that you've provided but I would just like to say that Doro is on the mark. Don't look at it's wattage rating or anything, it's still an 8" subwoofer....don't expect it to hit low/deep. I've got one in the setup now specifically for music in a small living room. If I were into home theater or had a bigger room, I'd go a step up or 2 (or a totally different subwoofer) for that matter. You're either expecting too much, got the volume up too high or just don't have it set up properly. There's alot more to it with a subwoofer than just hooking it up and turning it on.

[cstmar01]

Freddy pretty much hit it on the head. I played the same movie and everything on my system at about a level 30 on the sub which is what I think was very high. The thing did its job just fine and put out to me good bass, but its not going to shake your walls down. Its a sealed sub, not ported and yes 1200 watts looks big but watts is not everything. If you are looking for some ground shaking stuff I would suggest getting something different. If your in a smaller room and are not crackin' it up to me the 1K is fine. I honestly thought it did a great job in my system. It was detailed and blended really well. I loved the thing for music. But yet for HT I wanted something also with a little more ooph, thats all. and what I have now thanks to Freddy does the trick. The thing is only turned half way but shakes my apartment and the people below are pissed. Its a ported sub and its also tuned for lower response than the 1K but the watts are much lower. It really depends on your listening habits, and from what you are posting seems like you might want to try something bigger such as a 12" or 10" at least. Seems like you really want to blast it, and I remember asking before but didn't see an answer of how big your room is and what are you trying to aim for? room pressurization? detail and clarity? HT only or music? A lot of these people on the forum can help you pin point some subs that will help you get there.

[kenjin]

my room is not that big is average bed room size...i think is 15 feet length 10 feet wide.. this set is pretty much for my HT and Music, i got rid of my old JBL coz is not that great with the base since it was bought it through a whole set. and a friend told me to get this polk micropro. I dont normally crank up my volume high, normally around 60 for listening on a onkyo SR606 reciever. and yes i did use the audessy thing to tune the system. sub is now at -2DB with 12 feet away from listening and crossover set to 80hz while lower pass on sub set to 120hz sub volume phase at 0 which according to menu is default set to 20 volume on sub...

my onkyo have to set it to like 80 to be blast. and i was listening in around 60 which is normal not too lound. even with volume at 50ish i still hear the rumbling noise on the movie or certain low base song such as the song by drake title "I'm going in". i tried setting the base on sub at around 10 still hear it for transformer movie...

[kenjin]

doro did you you hear the noise in the recording ? is that a normal sound or is the sub sound broken to you?

[dorokusai]

I can't make an informed comment based on that recording. If you feel that something is truly wrong I would suggest you just give CS a call on Monday. Let them know what you posted here and perhaps they have heard the same question or can guide you in a different way. Good luck Kenjin.

[kawizx9r]

Hey kenjin, I gave one of the recordings a try.

You mentioned you turned both the crossover AND the subwoofer volume down? If anything, you should turn the crossover UP.

Turning the crossover DOWN does not cancel out the low frequency effects that you are hearing...if anything you're making your subwoofer ONLY play those lower frequencies. The crossover is your 'cut off' or in other words your 'high-pass' filter. The higher you have it set, the higher bass frequencies your subwoofer will reproduce. When you turned your crossover down, you continued to hear the deep/powerful bass tracks that home theater (especially bluray) has to offer. In doing that, you've also filtered out any and all bass frequencies above that...hence why you didn't 'hear' anything from your sub other than those low frequencies. Turn the crossover up, and keep the volume at a good 23-25 to start off with. What your sub was doing, if I'm correct, is bottoming out.

Like I stated earlier, the MicroPro is not a deep-digging, home-theater based subwoofer (in my opinion) or one for a large room. Go with Polk's DSW line and get yourself a Pro600 or better yet check out what SVS and HSU Research have to offer. This forum and the members here (as well as the top-notch CS/support) will do what we can to help out, you just have to listen to the suggestions given and be a bit more descriptive as to what your issue may be.

Btw, welcome to CP!

-Freddy

[leroyjr1]

Is the noise you're referring to sound like it's coming from the dust cap itself? My findings is that the micropro line makes a weird dust cap noise when the crossover is set high. Set everything to 80 hz and see if the noise goes away. There's a couple older threads on this same issue and the crossover setting was the problem.

[kenjin]

thanks for the respone.

just got back from mini vacation I will give it a try and see whats the result on it.

[kenjin]

Is the noise you're referring to sound like it's coming from the dust cap itself? My findings is that the micropro line makes a weird dust cap noise when the crossover is set high. Set everything to 80 hz and see if the noise goes away. There's a couple older threads on this same issue and the crossover setting was the problem.

yes thats how it sound like.. I will try 80 on reciever/sub and maintain volume on sub at 20 see if that would help.

[leroyjr1]

yes thats how it sound like.. I will try 80 on reciever/sub and maintain volume on sub at 20 see if that would help.

Mine does the same thing when set high (120 hz). Can't explain why it does it but dropping the crossover fixes it.

[JotGloky73]

Moved to troubleshooting. Why the hell would you want to play an emulator inside of an emulator? Its kind of stupid.

[Squishy Tia]

yes thats how it sound like.. I will try 80 on reciever/sub and maintain volume on sub at 20 see if that would help.

no No NO! Dear god NO!! DO NOT set your AVR and subwoofer to the same crossover frequency. Put the sub's crossover at its maximum and set the AVR to the 80 Hz mark. Putting them both on the same exact crossover will not only diminish bass, but distort what sound does get put out by the sub.

It seems that all of the MicroPro subs suffer from the rattling problem. Mine has it too. Oddly enough it manifests itself mostly when either the sub hits exceptionally hard (it can, as it's a MP4K), or the driver transitions from one frequency range to another rapidly. I've not completely eliminated this rattling and it's irritating, but it's only audible if the mains aren't active (usually).

Just whatever you do, don't set both crossovers to the same point. You'll regret it.

[concealer404]

^I'm not sure i understand why that would be a problem... would you mind explaining the "why" in detail?

[leroyjr1]

no No NO! Dear god NO!! DO NOT set your AVR and subwoofer to the same crossover frequency. Put the sub's crossover at its maximum and set the AVR to the 80 Hz mark. Putting them both on the same exact crossover will not only diminish bass, but distort what sound does get put out by the sub.

It seems that all of the MicroPro subs suffer from the rattling problem. Mine has it too. Oddly enough it manifests itself mostly when either the sub hits exceptionally hard (it can, as it's a MP4K), or the driver transitions from one frequency range to another rapidly. I've not completely eliminated this rattling and it's irritating, but it's only audible if the mains aren't active (usually).

Just whatever you do, don't set both crossovers to the same point. You'll regret it.

When hooking your sub up via LFE it bypasses the croosover in your amp plate using the crossover in the AVR. So whatever your amp plates crossover is set at doesn't matter. Now if you use the left/right input on your subs amp plate then the crossover in the plate is being utilized.

LFE input is the preferred way.

Running my 4000's at 80hz with zero rattling even at max (40) on the sub.

[mmadden28]

That rattling sound in your recording is not at all normal and would drive me batty. I don't recall if the MP1k also has the bottom passive radiator on it (like the MP4k) , but is there anything under the sub that could be rattling against it? Could it be the sub dancing that is causing the noise? Could it be something else nearby that is getting rattled? My room resonates all over the place-especially display dishes on glass shelves (Uhg how annoying)--even my windows rattle.
Check the surround to see if there are any slices or holes - make sure its all intact--could be something came loose and the surround is flapping at certain frequencies.

Try putting something very heavy on top of the sub to keep it from dancing to rule that out.

If all else fails, take it to the place where you bought it and see if they can reproduce the problem. Or even to a friends house (Its small enough). If anything this will help rule out setup/equipment/room effects. Or call Polk CS--Perhaps if they hear that sound they might know what it is-it's a pretty distinctive sound that I haven't yet heard in all my twiddling with my HT rigs.

Good luck.

[dorokusai]

no No NO! Dear god NO!! DO NOT set your AVR and subwoofer to the same crossover frequency. Put the sub's crossover at its maximum and set the AVR to the 80 Hz mark. Putting them both on the same exact crossover will not only diminish bass, but distort what sound does get put out by the sub.

It seems that all of the MicroPro subs suffer from the rattling problem. Mine has it too. Oddly enough it manifests itself mostly when either the sub hits exceptionally hard (it can, as it's a MP4K), or the driver transitions from one frequency range to another rapidly. I've not completely eliminated this rattling and it's irritating, but it's only audible if the mains aren't active (usually).

Just whatever you do, don't set both crossovers to the same point. You'll regret it.

The only thing you're doing is double filtering and it doesn't have any adverse or physical effect on the subwoofer. You'll lose or diminish some bass frequencies due to the rolloff of each side.

[leroyjr1]

That rattling sound in your recording is not at all normal and would drive me batty. I don't recall if the MP1k also has the bottom passive radiator on it (like the MP4k) , but is there anything under the sub that could be rattling against it? Could it be the sub dancing that is causing the noise? Could it be something else nearby that is getting rattled?
Good luck.

It's the cone/driver itself and found to be normal when running the subs frequency high at higher volumes. Don't know why. I've owned four micropro subs and all have done it, but when dropped to 60-80hz it goes away.

[mmadden28]

It's the cone/driver itself and found to be normal when running the subs frequency high at higher volumes. Don't know why. I've owned four micropro subs and all have done it, but when dropped to 60-80hz it goes away.

I've heard some cone or passive noise in my MP4K, but never anything like what I heard in the recording. Of course I am crossed over at 80 so.

[comfortablycurt]

I dont normally crank up my volume high, normally around 60 for listening on a onkyo SR606 reciever. and yes i did use the audessy thing to tune the system. sub is now at -2DB with 12 feet away from listening and crossover set to 80hz while lower pass on sub set to 120hz sub volume phase at 0 which according to menu is default set to 20 volume on sub...

my onkyo have to set it to like 80 to be blast. and i was listening in around 60 which is normal not too lound. even with volume at 50ish i still hear the rumbling noise on the movie or certain low base song such as the song by drake title "I'm going in". i tried setting the base on sub at around 10 still hear it for transformer movie...

I have no idea who "Drake" is...but I'm guessing a rapper. I'm guessing that song has some very loud bass.

You mentioned that you normally turn it up to 60 on your Onk 606. You do realize that the max volume is 80...correct? You have it turned up 3/4 of the way to max. That would definitely classify as loud.

I have a 606, and when it's turned up to 60, it's freakin loud.

I think you're just expecting a little much from a small sub.

[cstmar01]

I turned off my internal TV speakers and have it set for just the soundbar to play. Well I turned on The Dark Knight (opening bank robbery scene) and turned it up. For awhile it sounds great (TV volume is at 80 out of 100) and then it clips out on me. (The gain is at 1, lowest setting) The subwoofer continues to play but nothing from the soundbar. I've tried turning down the volume on the soundbar but during loud sequences it still turns off.

nice sig, too bad that we don't like that, so its been reported. bye bye.