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Looking to add a subwoofer to my setup

AutonomousRedux
By AutonomousRedux
in Audio
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Go to solution Solved by cmndr,
3 hours ago, AutonomousRedux said:

So the way it would work for me would be I would Y split from my motherboard. One branch goes to my speakers. The other I would split again and send to the L and R of the subwoofer, correct?

There's several ways and that's one of them. 

 

If your computer has the ability to do an active crossover, that's ideal. I mostly use an AVR but I think the idea would be:


1. Open up realtek sound config (or whatever you have), tell it there's a subwoofer (might be 2.1 as an option), set the cross over to around 100Hz, then try to level set the subwoofer and the speakers so that they have similar loudness where you sit. You might have to reassign the line out/sound out aux ports on the motherboard. Think 1 going to your speakers and then another going to your subwoofer (potentially via an aux to RCA connector, if you're going from the motherboard directly like this you don't need dual RCA to aux just one)

There's also the option of using an AVR or a receiver, this has its own pros and cons. 

 

Sending the same signal and then fiddling with the crossover knob on the subwoofer is "good enough" in many cases though. It'll "always" work. 
 

 

some gotchas - make sure your L+R speakers aren't set as "large" or "full range", sometimes the "center" out is shared with the subwoofer. 

As an FYI I've never used onboard sound for a multi-channel set up, I went straight to a $$$ AVR. 

Posted

Niceee. Enjoy the lows...and welcome to (possibly) chasing the tail of the dragon for ever deeper, cleaner, and impactful low-end frequencies 😄

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Enjoy and have fun. 
One fun trick - do bass sweeps (youtube video should work) from 20 to 200Hz or so (exact range doesn't matter). Then tweak things such that you get good consistency. You can use a phone app like the NIOHS app to measure dB from where you'll listen. Consistent is what you want. No gaps. 

1. fiddle with the crossover so that there's minimal gaps. Go from ~70-120Hz or so. There's no right setting per se, it depends on the room and the speakers. 
2. After you've got that "not bad" try fiddling with subwoofer positioning (try 3-4 spots) to see which one gets the most consistent experience from ~20-200Hz. You could try doing this with the L+R speakers disabled and the crossover on the sub at full as well as the L+R on and the crossover set. 
3. After #2 repeat #1 if you're so inclined. 

 

This should get you pretty much dialed in. These things are done to deal with the fact that sound waves bounce around the room and cancel out/reinforce each other. 

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8 minutes ago, cmndr said:

Enjoy and have fun. 
One fun trick - do bass sweeps (youtube video should work) from 20 to 200Hz or so (exact range doesn't matter). Then tweak things such that you get good consistency. You can use a phone app like the NIOHS app to measure dB from where you'll listen. Consistent is what you want. No gaps. 

1. fiddle with the crossover so that there's minimal gaps. Go from ~70-120Hz or so. There's no right setting per se, it depends on the room and the speakers. 
2. After you've got that "not bad" try fiddling with subwoofer positioning (try 3-4 spots) to see which one gets the most consistent experience from ~20-200Hz. You could try doing this with the L+R speakers disabled and the crossover on the sub at full as well as the L+R on and the crossover set. 
3. After #2 repeat #1 if you're so inclined. 

 

This should get you pretty much dialed in. 

Well, I think I have it dialed in. Now I'm just having a new issue.

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12 hours ago, Omon_Ra said:

Niceee. Enjoy the lows...and welcome to (possibly) chasing the tail of the dragon for ever deeper, cleaner, and impactful low-end frequencies 😄

Unfortunately, it seems like the tail of the dragon has turned into a Harpy's shriek. Any chance you might be able to help with this nonsense?

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